Sri Lanka’s government has formally extended the state of public emergency for a further month, following parliamentary approval on Friday, amid continuing recovery efforts after Cyclone Ditwah.

Four Buddhist monks, including Balangoda Kassapa Thera, and five others have been further remanded until 11 February in connection with the unauthorised construction of a Buddha statue within the coastal protection zone in Trincomalee.

A protest was held in Jaffna demanding the disclosure of information relating to the enforced disappearance of Lalith Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganandan, and condemning the continued failure of former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to appear before court in the long-running case.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has signalled a renewed effort to strengthen ties with India, as the party’s General Secretary Tilvin Silva undertook a weeklong official visit to the country at the invitation of the Government of India.

A new report by People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) examines the Sri Lankan state’s ongoing project of Sinhalisation in the North-East, with a detailed case study documenting land dispossession and violence targeting Tamil dairy farmers in Mayilaththamadu–Mathavanai.

Last month's UN report adds yet more weight to a body of evidence that is now overwhelming. The time has come for the international community to call these crimes by their proper name: genocide.

The 69th anniversary of the killing of Thirumalai Natarajan was commemorated on Wednesday, in Jaffna, with Tamils gathering to honour a young life cut short during one of the earliest protests against Sinhala majoritarian rule on Sri Lanka’s ‘Independence Day’.

Sri Lankan military intelligence personnel have been accused of intimidating relatives of the forcibly disappeared travelling from the Amparai District to Batticaloa to participate in a protest march to mark Sri Lanka’s ‘Independence Day’ this week.