Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 cases rose to 2,810 after five new persons tested positive on Tuesday, according to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health. 

The epidemiology unit’s latest situation report indicated 503 patients are currently receiving treatment in hospitals, with 80 suspected and hospitalised cases, pending diagnoses as of 10am IST on Tuesday.

Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa insisted that Sri Lanka would be “free from drugs [the] same way as it was freed from terrorism” during a gathering organised by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), according to Colombo Page.

Tamil families of the disappeared were blocked by Sri Lankan police from holding their protest in Chenkalady, Batticaloa. 

The families were met by a heavy police presence who claimed to have obtained a court order from the Eravur Magistrate Court to stop the protest from going ahead. 

<p>A group of unidentified individuals threw bottles at candidates during the Tamil National Alliance’s campaign meeting in Jaffna this week.</p> <p>It is reported that the attack took place during an election campaign held in the Chulipuram - Kalvilan area on Friday night.</p> <p>The attack took place while the TNA candidate and also Jaffna’s mayor Emmanuel Arnold was making a speech at a campaign meeting.</p>

Civil society organisations in the UK have criticised the passing of a reviewed counter-terrorism bill, saying it will not enhance public security but instead further criminalise vulnerable communities, with the Tamil community mentioned amongst potential victims.

The UK government claim that the Review of the Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill is to safeguard the community from terrorism by reinforcing legislations regarding the sentence, release and surveillance of terrorism offenders. However with the bill drafted in the midst of the Coronavirus lockdown, rights campaigners have said the bill evades proper scrutiny from parliament and civil society.

The Sri Lankan army is set to be deployed in place of up to two-thirds of the police force at Nallur to supervise the annual festival of Nallur Kandaswamy Temple, according to reports from Jaffna.

The annual festival of the Kandasamy Temple began on Tuesday, 25th July with the ceremonial hoisting of the flag- Kodiyetram- and ends on August 20. 

Migrant workers who have been stranded in Jordan and looking to be repatriated to Sri Lanka were teargassed earlier today, as they stand a protest outside the Sri Lankan embassy in the country.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the United National Party (UNP), has stated that the party will decide on a new leader “when the time is right”.

Last week, the Court of Appeal (CoA) overturned a life sentence given to Jaffna University lecturer and former LTTE cadre, Kanesasundaram Kannadasan, under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) for allegedly recruiting 'child soldiers'.

Documents surfaced recently revealed that the UK’s intelligence agencies, MI5 and MI6, have trained intelligence officials from multiple countries, including Sri Lanka, as recently as last year.

Dozens of British Tamils gathered outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London this week, as they marked 37 years since the deadly anti-Tamil Black July pogroms.

British politicians from across the aisles joined commemorating the anniversary of Black July today, a week of anti-Tamil pogroms thirty-seven years ago that killed thousands of people across the island.

Australia’s former High Commissioner, Howard Debenham, has recalled his close relationship with then Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa and other Sinhala politicians who held notoriously racist views, as part of a new memoir entitled “Waiting ‘round the Bend”.

Debenham arrived in Sri Lanka in 1992, where he said his objective was to “to get close enough to Premadasa for him to listen to Australia's views on human rights, trade and investment”.

He reports that after their first meeting at the presidential mansion, “…we got along well. He made it clear he would be pleased to see more of me, one-on-one”. “My relationship with the President grew and the bilateral relationship between Sri Lanka and Australia prospered,” he commented.

Debenham was posted to Sri Lanka, as the mil

Reporting for the Hindu, Austin Fernando, former Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, notes that despite a relative dip in the amount of aid offered by India to Sri Lanka; the current administration is “patching up with the Rajapaksas”.