Today marks thirty-seven years since the death of 2nd Lt. Maalathy, the first female fighter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to lose her life in the Tamil armed struggle.

Across the world, the day is being commemorated as Tamil Women’s Day, an opportunity to honour women’s involvement in the fight for Tamil rights.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reiterated the need for international action in Sri Lanka to ensure justice for rights violations, after the extension of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution on Sri Lanka, which focuses on collecting evidence that could be used in future war crimes trials.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister and Cabinet Spokesperson Vijitha Herath recently addressed reporters in Colombo, clarifying that his government has yet to make any decisions regarding Indian projects on the island, including the controversial Adani wind power project in Mannar.

A team of Sri Lankan police officers from Colombo was deployed to Mullivaikkal this week to excavate a section of the sports ground in the eastern part of the area, where they claim weapons used by the LTTE are still buried.

The police stated that their mission was conducted under a directive from the Colombo courts.

A schoolgirl died this week, after falling to death from the Lotus Tower in Colombo in what appears to be a suicide.

Image from Daily News lk

The increasing encroachment of farming lands in Pulmoddai by the Sri Lankan state has led to the arrest of two farmers, Nakeeb and Sadiq, by the Kuchchaveli Police. The farmers were detained on charges of farming in what has been deemed an archaeological area, a claim they strongly contest.

The UK government has agreed to offer Tamil asylum seekers who have been stranded on Diego Garcia a temporary move to Romania, just days after it agreed to transfer sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) to Mauritius.

Tamil asylum seekers have been protesting for 87 days in Melbourne, Australia, as they continue to demand permanent visa protection. 

The University of Jaffna Students' Union has called for a “new political culture” for Eelam Tamils, as they outlined a range of demands to Tamil political parties including “moulding Tamil nationalism into a progressive force”.

The Sri Lankan navy announced it held yet another large scale military exercise, this time in ‘Counter Revolutionary Warfare’, in the occupied city of Trincomalee this month, with the participation of the Pakistan, Maldives, and Bangladesh navies.

Sri Lanka has permitted the Chinese Navy training ship, Po Lang, to dock at its port for "naval exchanges and capacity building" activities, despite a 12-month moratorium introduced this year barring foreign research vessels, after security concerns raised by India and the US.

The Sri Lankan government headed by Anura Kumara Dissanayake has reached a decision to dismantle an “Office for the Affairs of Sri Lankans Abroad” which was specifically instituted by former president Ranil Wickremesinghe to bring in investments from the diaspora and assist with ‘philanthropy’ and ‘reconciliation’ efforts.