Sri Lankan police have failed to take any action on three Sinhala fishermen who were caught engaged in illegal fishing methods in Mullaitivu, local fishermen told Tamil Guardian. 

The three from Trincomalee were caught by the Mullaitivu fishermen using prohibited light machines, and handed over to the police on August 4. All three were released without any charge however. 

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor said his government would be seeking a waiver from the International Monetary Fund after it missed a June forex reserve target.

Indrajit Coomaraswamy said that the forex reserve target was set last year, but “external conditions had since changed,” according to Economy Next.

Sri Lanka will not seek a waiver of the performance criteria, he added.

At a review earlier this year, the IMF said Sri Lanka has “many challenges” and called for Colombo to pick up the pace of slow structural reforms.

A demonstration by fishermen in Mullaitivu has entered its third day, as they continue to protest illegal fishing by Sinhala fishermen.

A United Nations report has accused Sri Lanka of continuing to accept imports of North Korean textiles, despite a ban being in place.

The report, written by a group of independent experts examining the implementation of UN sanctions and submitted to the Security Council, found that North Korea had not stopped its nuclear and missile programs.

Pyongyang was also accused of violating a textile ban and exporting more than $100 million in goods to countries including Sri Lanka between October 2017 and March 2018.

The US Secretary of State has announced plans to provide almost $300 million in security assistance to improve security relationships across the Indo-Pacific region, which will include funding to cover projects in Sri Lanka.

Announcing the funding plans at the ASEAN Regional Forum on Saturday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the funding will cover projects in maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief assistance, peacekeeping operations and countering transnational crime.

This assistance includes $290.5 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF).

On August 4th 2006, Sri Lankan troops lined up and summarily executed 17 aid workers with the French NGO Action Contre la Faim (ACF) in Muttur. Sixteen of the aid workers were Tamil, one Muslim. Twelve years on, no one has been held to account for this crime.

The lawyer and TNA MP, M A Sumanthiran has represented a petitioner challenging the appointment of the TNPF national organiser, V Manivannan to the Jaffna Municipal Council, who is currently opposition leader within the Council. 

Mr Sumanthiran, who is also one of the president's counsels despite being the spokesperson for Sri Lanka's official opposition party, appeared for the petitioner Stephenson Ronoldan, who argued that Mr Manivannan was not a resident of the JMC when he cited 'Ramanathan Road, Jaffna' as his residential address on the ACTC nomination paper before the election. 

The chief minister of the Northern province, C V Wigneswaran reiterated the Tamil people's demand for autonomy and self-rule at an event of the Office for National Unity & Reconciliation in Jaffna on Thursday. 

"Give us autonomy [and] let us rule ourselves," Mr Wigneswaran told the event, which was presided by Sri Lanka's former president, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. 

"The government must give us this," he stressed. 

Despite ongoing criticism of its involvement in civil affairs in the North-East, the Sri Lankan military arranged another pre-school visit to Palali military airport yesterday. 

Pre-school children and their parents from Achchuveli, Koppai, Vallipuram were escorted around the airport, which falls within a high-security zone.

The festival of Aadivel was celebrated in Paala Kathirkaamam in Jaffna on Wednesday with street parades, fire dancers and decorated floats. 

The parade, which began at the weekend, travelled around Jaffna town, finishing at the temple on August 1.