As Sri Lanka continues to struggle to maintain a tourist-worthy destination on all fronts, a reoccurring issue hits the headlines again: the nurdles that are decorated along the south and west beaches of Sri Lanka.

In May, 87 containers of nurdles, which are essentially small plastic pellets - used to make just about anything, escaped into coastal areas in Sri Lanka following the fire and sinking of an X-Press Pearl cargo ship.

The International Truth and Justice Project has released a damning video calling on the British Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office to impose Magnitsky-style sanctions on retired Sri Lankan General Jagath Jayasuriya for heinous human rights abuses.

A court in Sri Lanka has sentenced Daya Master, a former media co-ordinator with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to two years’ imprisonment, almost 13 years since the end of the armed conflict.

Daya Master surrendered to the Sri Lankan army in April 2009, in the midst of a massive Sri Lankan offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamils civilians and executed many other Tamil surrendees.

In an interview with the Island, former Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremasinghe lamented the government’s disastrous economic policy which has seen a surge in the price of basic goods and shortages in food and medicines.

Twelve years ago on 24 January, journalist, political analyst, and cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda was reported missing, exactly two days before the presidential election in 2010, which Rajapaksa won.

Eknaligoda’s wife, Sandhya, insisting that the truth be revealed, sought guidance from a higher power today, after having said that she had given up faith in authorities and the judiciary system. This morning, Sandhya shaved her head at a Kaali temple in the outskirts of Colombo during a special pooja. 

A Tamil driver in Mullaitivu has been admitted to hospital after intoxicated Sri Lankan military officers assaulted him with a palm stick wrapped in barbed wire on Monday.

Navaratnam Uthayaseelan was driving his tipper vehicle in the Kaiveli area in the early hours of Monday morning, when he reports being stopped by plainclothes Sri Lankan military officials.

Responding to a damning Human Rights Watch report, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry has lashed out against the findings claiming that “sensationalized and biased reporting” risks “risks igniting and aggravating domestic discord”.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has published a gazette notification, mandating that hotel services accept payments from tourists only in foreign exchange as the islands economic crisis worsens. 

The gazette notification notes that hotel services registered with and licensed by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority are required to,  

Accept payments for services rendered to persons resident outside Sri Lanka only in foreign exchange.

The newly appointed Vice Chancellor at the University of Colombo launched a scathing attack on undergraduates at the university this week.

Professor H.D. Karunaratne was speaking at an event aimed at sending students from Sri Lanka to Tokyo University, with Sri Lanka’s education minister, Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and Japan’s ambassador to the country were all present at the event.

In their year-end report, Human Rights Watch detailed how the Rajapaksa regime has placed fundamental rights under “serious jeopardy” with “escalated surveillance and intimidation targeting victims’ families and human rights defenders”.