The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reportedly agreed to issue an emergency loan to Sri Lanka but are yet to make a public statement.

The agreement comes as Sri Lanka is in the midst of its worst financial crisis in recent history.

The IMF team who have been in Colombo for a week said that they were extending their stay until tomorrow where they will hold a press conference. 

Marking the international day of the disappeared, British Tamils took to the streets of London staging a protest in Trafalgar Square and calling on the British Prime Minister to deliver justice for the Tamil Families of the Disappeared.

Marking the international day of the disappeared, US Ambassador Julie Chung issued a statement claiming to stand in solidarity with families of the disappeared and commended the work of civil society groups pushing for an end to enforced disappearances.

Marking the international day of the disappeared, US Ambassador Julie Chung issued a statement claiming to stand in solidarity with families of the disappeared and commended the work of civil society groups pushing for an end to enforced disappearances.

Tamil families of the disappeared are protesting across the North-East today to mark International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances. 

In a wide-reaching dialogue with MedyaNews, Viruben Nandakumar, an editor for the Tamil Guardian spoke on the continued struggle for Tamil Eelam, the current crisis in Sri Lanka and the need for international action.

A global Tamil community

This week thousands attended the Nallur Kandasamy Kovil’s annual grand chariot festiva - therthiruvizha. 

The iconic festival garners devotees from around the world who gather to see the temple's primary deity Murugan paraded through Jaffna. 

All photographs are by photographer V Mathumegalan.

Across Sri Lanka, the country’s flag is flown at half-mast on 12th July to mourn the sudden assassination of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “We have lost a prime minister who gave leadership to Asia,” wrote Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe in an obituary guestbook commemorating the Japanese leader. Despite Sri Lanka’s melancholic posture towards the Japanese leader’s demise, Sri Lanka’s foreign policy has posed a consistent thorn in Abe’s vision for a “free and open Asia-Pacific”.

Ahead of UNHRC session, Sinhalese protest in Geneva

'The appeal from Sri Lanka to UNHRC follows a deeply antagonistic relationship in which the country’s leaders have consistently attacked the institution and alleged a bias'

: @sunandadesh https://t.co/DyObc9izSz pic.twitter.com/v5LzfiC51h

Writing in the Sri Lankan Guardian, Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhon sparked outrage as he publicly attacked India for its attempt to block a Chinese military vessel, “Yuan Wang 5”, from docking at the southern Sri Lankan port of Hambantota and slammed the US House Speaker’s visit to Taiwan.