French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France will officially recognise the State of Palestine, a move he described as “solemn” and necessary, amid intensifying international outrage over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

^{NPP officials in Jaffna this week.}

Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) leader and Member of Parliament Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam delivered a scathing speech in Sri Lanka’s parliament this week, condemning the government for whitewashing the memory of the Black July pogrom and enabling continued land appropriation in the North-East.

Commemorations marking the 42nd anniversary of Black July were held in Jaffna yesterday, as Tamils across the North-East remembered the victims of the state-sponsored anti-Tamil pogrom that took place in July 1983.

A symbolic protest titled “Viduthalai” (Freedom) was held at Kittu Park in Nallur today, with demonstrators demanding the immediate release of Tamil political prisoners still held under Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Marking the 42nd anniversary of Black July, Canadian Leader of the Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre issued a statement in solidarity with Tamil Canadians, reaffirming his party’s recognition of the Tamil genocide and pledging “concrete” steps towards accountability for mass atrocities.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has issued a statement commemorating 42 years since Black July, the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom, describing it as “a tragic chapter in Sri Lanka’s history” that left “thousands dead, families shattered, and countless others forced to flee.”

The Divisional Secretary of Valikamam North has issued a formal written notice to the chief monk of the Thaiyiddy Buddhist vihara, ordering him to immediately vacate land identified as illegally encroached, or face legal consequences.

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Agriculture, Land, Irrigation and Livestock Development, K.D. Lalkantha, has reiterated the government’s firm commitment to fully implementing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, regardless of public dissent or political opposition.

Sri Lanka has signed on to a joint statement alongside a cross-regional group of countries expressing concern over punitive actions and coordinated attacks targeting Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories.