A senior Tamil journalist has been admitted to hospital with injuries after a vehicle collision in Jaffna on Saturday.

Two US navy ships arrived in the southern Sri Lankan port of Hambantota on Thursday, ahead of an exercise with Sri Lankan troops, as ties between two militaries continue to grow. 

Pakistan’s navy sent a delegation to tour Sri Lanka and meet with a Sri Lankan navy officer who is currently on bail over aiding a key suspect involved in the abduction and murder of 11 Tamil youths.

Tamil Guardian’s correspondent Shanmugam Thavaseelan was summoned for questioning by Mullaitivu police on Thursday, after the Sri Lankan navy filed a complaint against him for reporting on a disappearances rally in the district.

The complaint against the Mullaitivu journalist was filed following a rally by Tamil families of the disappeared on Vadduvakal bridge on April 7.

The Sri Lankan army organised a volleyball tournament in a Mullaitivu school playground last week, as the military continues to intrude on civilian life in the Tamil North-East.

Soldiers from the 64 Division organised the tournament at the Oddusudan school playground, which reportedly involved at least 12 school teams from the local area. 

Australians across the country have called for the release of a Tamil asylum seeker who has been diagnosed with leukaemia after being held in detention for almost a decade since he fled in Sri Lanka.

Sivaguru ‘Rajan’ Navanitharasa fled the island to Australia in the wake of a Sri Lankan military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians. The 45-year-old has now spent almost one-fifth of his life in Australian detention centres, being held first on Christmas Island and then in Villawood, said the Tamil Refugee Council.

The United States says it has a “strong partnership” with Sri Lanka, in a message released to mark the Tamil and Sinhala New Year.

US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus released a statement saying the partnership between the two governments is “based on extensive people-to-people ties and a shared commitment to democratic principles and a stable, secure Indo-Pacific”. 

“We look forward to building on this partnership and continuing to tackle shared challenges in the year ahead,” the statement added.

A group of Sri Lankans are amongst hundreds of migrants being held by Turkish security forces, accused of attempting to cross the border into Europe. 

Anadolu Agency reports that a total of 558 migrants were arrested in total across the country in raids conducted by security forces.

The Sri Lankans were held in Turkey’s western Edirne province.

A protest was staged in Batticaloa last week with locals calling for an ambulance service to be provided to the Mavadivembu Divisional Hospital as healthcare continues to suffer in the region.