The Sri Lankan military held a memorial service for the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), a unit accused of committing widespread human rught abuses against Tamils, at a ceremony in Jaffna earlier this month to coincide with India’s Independence Day.

Hundreds of Tamils gathered in London last week to mark the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances and to call for justice and accountability for the thousands of Tamils who have been forcibly disappeared in Sri Lanka.

China is to train Sri Lankan athletes for international games after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two countries' Olympic committees at the sidelines of the 18th Asian Games this week. 

“China has agreed to help train our athletes in selected sports, not only those which are part of the Summer Olympics, but also in sports which are in the Winter Games,” the president of Sri Lanka's National Olympic Committee, Suresh Subramaniam was quoted by the Sunday Observer as saying. “This is an unprecedented step of support from China. They will not only train our athletes but also coach our coaches.

"It is a broad and open-ended agreement and we can rely on their help for anything. We have their full backing,” he added.

A government minister on Friday denied that state sponsored settlement of Sinhala people into the Tamil areas was taking place under the current administration, claiming instead that it only took place under the previous regime with the former defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 

A new Sri Lankan constitution is a "fundamental necessity" the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson, M A Sumanthiran said whilst speaking at the 7th meeting on constitutional reform, held in in Galle this week. 

"All the problems of the Tamil people won't be solved by a new constitution, but a new constitution is fundamental," he said. "Without this, no issue can be addressed."

Sri Lankan intelligence officials threatened Tamil fishermen from Vadamarachchi East, forcing them to drop plans to protest during the visit of the Sri Lankan president to Myliddy last month.

Union leader Nagarasa Varnakulasingam said he had received threats from intelligence personnel from Colombo as well as from Kankesanthurai.

A 35-year-old man has been arrested on Friday in connection to the murder of a pregnant Tamil woman in Kilinochchi this week. 

The man, identified as K Krishnakeethan from Vinanayagapuram, Kilinochchi, is understood to be working for a private security company and a father of two children.

He is reported to have confessed to the killing. 

Local resident protested this week calling for the perpetrator to be brought to justice. 

Sri Lanka's Cabinet has decided to arm wildlife officials with AK 47 rifles citing the conflicts between elephants and civilians, the Sunday Times reports. 

The weapons will replace the Chinese-made T-56 rifles previously held.

The recommendation was made by the former army commander, and current minister for sustainable development, wildlife and regional development, Sarath Fonseka. 

Two acres of land in Achchuveli, belonging to six families, was released on Friday after 23 years of occupation by the Sri Lankan army.

The land was seized by the army in 1995 when locals became displaced.

The landowners have campaigned to have their properties returned for resettlement since 2014.

While two acres were released on Friday, access roads to some of these properties still remain under army control.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said this week it would be committing £3 billion over the next three years to Sri Lanka. 

The president of Vavuniya Citizen's Committee, Gopalakrishnan Rajkumar was today summoned for an inquiry by Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Department (TID). 

The chairman has been ordered to attend the TID's 2nd floor office in Colombo on September 6 for the inquiry. 

The TID did not explained the reasons for his summons. 

The chairman of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) said its interim report would be submitted to the Sri Lankan president, Maithiripala Sirisena on September 5, the Daily Mirror reported. 

The parting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein highlighted the ongoing anguish of Tamils displaced by the Sri Lankan military, in a wide-ranging op-ed published in The Economist, 'Grassroots leaders provide the best hope to a troubled world'. 

Likening the conditions experienced by displaced Tamils to camps in IDP camps in Libya, Mr Zeid wrote: "The apparent powerlessness of those who suffer was also brought home to me in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, where Tamil communities dispossessed of their land by the military decades ago still live in the most basic and deplorable conditions. Even when the government is committed to the release of their lands and properties, the military refuses to obey, so the innocent and displaced continue to suffer terribly."

"I saw similar conditions in Libya when visiting a camp hosting a displaced Touareg community. The general insecurity around Tripoli, particularly at night, with abductions and shootings commonplace, meant their situation was precarious (though that could be said of all the countries I visited where local armed conflict was prevalent, such as the Central African Republic, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo)."

Hundreds of locals took to the streets of Kilinochchi today to protest against the murder of a pregnant Tamil woman.