A commemorative event honouring artists whose works contributed to the Tamil liberation struggle was held in Switzerland with the 11th edition of the Ezhuchikkuyil 2026 Tamil Eelam patriotic song competition.

The event, held in the Canton of Bern on May 8, 9, 23 and 24, paid tribute to 72 artists whose songs and artistic contributions were associated with the Tamil liberation movement. Floral tributes and respects were offered before portraits of the late artists during the programme.

Nine-year-old Kayal Vijay, a British Tamil chess player from Bishop’s Stortford in the United Kingdom, has been crowned Under-9 Girls Champion at the European Schools Chess Championship 2026 after representing England at the prestigious tournament in Croatia.

Held from 27 April to 5 May, the championship brought together young chess players from across Europe, with Kayal competing against leading players from multiple countries in the Under-9 Girls section.

A community sports event organised by the Netherlands Tamil Women’s Organisation was held in Limburg, the Netherlands, on May 9 to commemorate the 38th remembrance of Annai Poopathy.

The programme brought together members of the Tamil community, including women, children and families from across the Netherlands, in an event that combined remembrance activities with indoor sporting competitions.

The devotional film genre had disappeared from mainstream Tamil cinema for a while until radio jockey turned actor turned director RJ Balaji brought it back with his 2020 directorial debut ‘Mookuthi Amman’. For his third film, RJ Balaji dives back into the genre, this time teaming up with actor Suriya for ‘Karuppu’, a devotional-courtroom-masala film centring the guardian deity Karuppuswamy. 

Despite being attached to five projects in the last two years – as well as directing two – actor Dhanush certainly has been busy. However, he has not managed to land an outright critical and commercial success with any of these ventures. For his latest feature, he has collaborated with director Vignesh Raja. ‘Kara’ is Raja’s sophomore film, following his 2023 hit film ‘Por Thozhil’. Also starring Mamitha Baiju, Karunas, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Jayaram and KS Ravikumar, and composed by GV Prakash Kumar, ‘Kara’ is a step in the right direction.

In an era where genre boundaries are constantly being blurred, a new collaboration is proving just how powerful cultural fusion can be. Eelam Tamil Producer Jony Beats and violinist LaaViolin have come together to create “Red Line” with Nafe Smallz — a track that seamlessly blends Carnatic influences with UK rap.

Jony Beats, whose production credits include well-known names such as Pop Smoke, AJ Tracey and Potter Payper, describes the collaboration as something that came together organically.