_{Ambassador Qi Zhenhong}

New Chinese ambassador, Qi Zhenhong, for Sri Lanka arrives in Colombo on 30 October 2020, and will take office after 2 weeks of quarantine. Ambassador Qi is a senior diplomat and former President of China Institute of International Studies.

Upon arrival Ambassador Qi issued a statement saying: 

“Our two countries are strategic cooperative partners based on sincere mutual assistance and ever-lasting friendship.” 

The locals of Neduntheevu, Jaffna have complained about the heightened illegal occupation efforts by Buddhist monks and the archaeology department - in particular the encroachment of the Vedi Arasan fortress in the Neduntheevu area.

The Buddhist monks claimed the Vedi Arasan fortress belonging historically to a Tamil Buddhist King and then went on to assess the archaeological details of the area with the archaeology department

Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa “has made explicit the link he sees between an all-powerful state and the centrality of Buddhism, whose more chauvinist priests he courts,” writes the Economist this week, as it warned that Rajapaksa is “amassing personal power”.

“Gotabaya’s message of security and competence, along with jabs at the Muslim and Tamil minorities designed to please the Sinhalese Buddhist majority, propelled him to the presidency,” wrote the Banyan columnist.

A local United Nations official in Sri Lanka reportedly “laughed at” concerns expressed by Human Rights Watch over the invitation of Sri Lankan prime minister and accused war criminal as the ‘Chief Guest’ for an event last week, a move the group had called a "slap in the face for victims of human rights abuses and war crimes”.

“They now want to take decisions on behalf of the UN,” the official was quoted by Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times as stating. “How much more stupid can things take,” he reportedly asked.

Sri Lanka will continue to benefit from the GSP+ trade preferences from the European Union (EU) despite being in breach of many conventions. 

"The EU GSP+ scheme will be available for a period ahead until there is reclassification," Thorsten Bargfrede, the Deputy Head of the EU Delegation, reportedly said at a webinar titled 'GSP+ for Enhanced Market Access'. 

GSP+ is granted if the 27 international conventions related to human and labour rights, environment and good governance are implemented. 

Sri Lankan MPs have signed a petition urging the President to pardon former MP, Duminda Silva, who is currently serving a sentence for murder. 

The Sunday Times reported that at a meeting last week, the Chief Government Whip's office staff circulated the petiton for MP signatures, highlighting that a pardon is a stong likelihood.

Sri Lankan police arrested 15 Tamil devotees last week, including a priest, who were worshipping at a temple in Puliyankulam, Vavuniya.

Special arrangements for the full moon day special pooja at the Shiva Nagathambiran Temple were taking place when Puliyankulam police came and arrested the individuals and detained them at Puliyankulam police station. They stated that the reason for the arrests was because the individuals from outer districts “did not follow [COVID-19] health guidelines.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called featuring Sri Lanka’s prime minister and accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa as the 'Chief Guest' at a UN event a "slap in the face for victims of human rights abuses and war crimes."

The Sri Lankan prime minister’s office has denied a meeting was scheduled to take place with visiting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, contradicting a US State Department official’s comments just days earlier.

Mahinda Rajapaksa was conspicuously absent from high-level meetings with Pompeo, who met with Sri Lanka’s president and foreign minister. As speculation grew over a potential snub, a government minister claimed that both prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his sibling president Gotabaya Rajapaksa were “opposed” to Pompeo’s trip.