Britain’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst conducted a training session for the Sri Lankan military this week, despite the long standing reports of human rights abuses and massacres committed by Sri Lankan soldiers.

Tamil families of the disappeared reacted angrily to the Sri Lankan president’s assertion that the thousands of forcibly disappeared and missing Tamils “are actually dead,” stating that as defence secretary at the time of the abductions he should be fully aware of their fate.

Tamil families of the missing held demonstrations in Vavuniya yesterday, demanding that the Sri Lankan government assurance the security of Tamil journalists, who have recently faced increased harrassment and intimdiation from the security forces

A court in Mullativu has issued an arrest warrant for former Northern Provincial Council (NPC) member M K Shivajilingam, after he failed to appear before a hearing in a case regarding a land grab protest in the district last year.

The US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells said that both Sri Lanka and the United States have “compelling shared interests” as she spoke to reporters on her return from the island.

“As you know, Sri Lanka occupies some very important real estate in the Indo-Pacific region, and it’s a country of increasing strategic importance in the Indian Ocean region,” Wells told reporters.

The Sri Lanka army has held several events in Tamil schools across the North-East this month, as uniformed soldiers were seen giving handouts to Tamil schoolchildren.

The events, where senior military commanders are invited as chief guests and garlanded, before being photographed handing out schools upplies to tamil children, have come under fire as part of the state’s extensive miltiarisation of civilian life in the region.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa president announced that he will further expand the role of the defence department, as he assigned the Immigration and Emigration Department to Defence State Minister, and brother, Chamal Rajapaksa.

The move further expands the control of the powerful defence department, which already was granted control of state institutions that govern for non-governmental organisations, as well as the technology, telecommunications and media agencies.

Journalists in Batticaloa gathered at the Gandhi Park on Saturday to remember their colleague Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, who was shot dead in Trincomalee after exposing the Sri Lankan Special Task Force's killing of 5 Tamil students, in a case that has been dubbed the 'Trinco 5'. 

At least 11 people have been arrested after the Sri Lankan army launched two days of search operations in Vavuniya this week, as security continues to remain tight in the Tamil homeland

Stop and search operations were conducted in Puliyankulam, Omanthai and the other adjoining areas of Vavuniya, though the police and army did not cite any specific reason for launching the operations.

<p>Tests for coronavirus on patients in Colombo have all come back as negative so far, according to the Sri Lankan government.</p> <p>Four people including a Sri Lankan medical student who travelled to the Wuhan province and three Chinese nationals with suspected symptoms of coronavirus had been admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in the south.</p> <p>Fifty-six people have died from the virus in China so far.</p>