Sri Lanka has reportedly reached an agreement with the Official Credit Committee, formed of 17 countries including the US and UK, on debt restructuring as it continues to grapple with an economic crisis.

The agreement established the "main parameters of debt treatment" and aligns with the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangements between Sri Lanka and the IMF - a badly needed bailout loan for Colombo.

The EFF had previously depended on Sri Lanka securing an agreement with its creditors. This arrangement will allow IMF staff to present the first review of Sri Lanka's EFF deal and may potentially lead to the approval of the second disbursement under the arrangement.

The deconstructed mechanical procedure of visiting a museum/gallery is similar to that of going to a Hindu temple: one enters, spends a little time at each piece/God, perhaps spends a little more time with those that interest you/you have a personal connection with. Looking through Tamil Sydney based artist Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran’s latest exhibition, ‘Idols of Mud and Water,’ this is what initially came to mind. 

The day after Maaveerar Naal was commemorated across the Tamil North-East, stories on the remembrance events and the Sri Lankan police crackdown on them dominated the Tamil press on the island.

Eelanadu led with the headline “Thousands of Tamils gather in defiance of bans to pay tribute in scenes of great emotional outpouring on heroes' day”.

The lead photograph showed an aerial view of thousands marking Maaveerar Naal in Mullaitivu.

In a wide-ranging interview by First Post, Sri Lanka’s president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, claimed that Tamils have accepted his "offer" on the subject of Tamil autonomy and rejected India’s statement at the UN Human Rights Council that "progress has been inadequate".

Thousands of Tamils gathered in Nallur on Monday to commemorate Maaveerar Naal and pay tribute to those who died for the liberation of Tamil Eelam.

See photographs and video from the event in Nallur below.

Sri Lankan police officers disrupted and blocked Tamils trying to mark Maaveerar Naal in Alankulam, Trincomalee yesterday.

A group of Tamil youth and mothers were stopped by Sri Lankan police as they tried to make their way to Alankulam Thuyilum Illam to pay their respects to fallen LTTE cadres. However, the police put up roadblocks to obstruct them accessing the LTTE cemetery. 

Students and family members gathered to remember the Ayyankkulam massacre in Mullaitivu, where 6 students and 2 healthcare workers were killed by the Sri Lankan army.  

Hundreds of Tamils in Oxford, England, joined Tamils in the homeland and across the diaspora in marking Maaveerar Naal. 

A similar event was also held at the ExCel convention centre in London yesterday. 

See more photographs from Oxford below: 

A young Tamil man has been arrested in Jaffna today for wearing a t-shirt with LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's face on the front.

The 27 year old from Iyanar Kovil in Kodikamam had worn the t-shirt to a Maaveerar Naal remembrance event in Kodikamam yesterday evening. 

The back of the t-shirt also featured the leaper tiger and crossed bayonets from the Tamil Eelam flag on the back. 

Maaveerar Naal commemorations were held at several locations across the Mullaitivu district, including the traditional Thuyilum Illams, as well as those that were later introduced to serve as resting places for those who fell in battle in the final stages of the armed conflict.

Visuvamadu