The Sri Lankan military has refused to dismantle an occupying base in Karkovalam, Jaffna, despite a decision by the cabinet that the camp be removed.

Jaffna District MP Dr Ramanathan Archuna claimed that he was assaulted on December 3rd within the premises of the Opposition Leader’s office in the parliament by Sinhala parliamentarian Sujith Sanjaya Perera.

Speaking in Sri Lanka’s parliament last week Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) parliamentarian S Shritharan called on the Sri Lankan president to enact a political solution that respects the identity and rights of Eelam Tamils.

Bashar al-Assad has fled to Russia after opposition forces entered the capital Damascus.

The leader of the main Syrian opposition armed group that seized Syria’s capital, Abu Mohammed al-Julani, has said the Syrian people are the “rightful owners” of the country after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, and declared a “new history” has been written for the entire Middle East.

The Colombo Additional Magistrate has called on Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to arrest the organisers of the Maaveerar Naal commemorations that took place across the Tamil homeland last month, as thousands paid tribute to fallen Tamil fighters.

On the same day that eight Indian fishermen who were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy were flown to Chennai, the security forces announced it had detained two more Indian fishing boats and 14 Tamil Nadu fishermen, as tensions across the Palk Strait continued.

The Indian High Commission celebrated the repatriation of the eight fishermen with a tweet on Thursday.