Tamils in Jaffna have called for direct flights to Chennai, as part of a recent expansion of Palaly airport which will see commercial flights from India visiting the peninsula.

The naming of new gecko species after mythical Sinhala nationalist figures has angered nationalist parliamentarians and Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka.

At least six new geckos were named by scientists after Sinhala mythical figures, including giant warriors Nandimithra and Gotaimbara, who reportedly fought against the Tamil Chola King. The practice follows that of the Sri Lankan military, which has named colonised villages and statues in honour of the mythical figures.

Four other reptiles were named after Sinhala chiefs from the 1818 Uva rebellion against British colonial rule, who Sri Lanka’s president had called "patriotic national heroes". 

The father of a disappeared Tamil man has passed away after years of searching for his son and receiving no information on his whereabouts.

Sinnaya Nagarasa died earlier this month, after spending more than a decade in a search for his son Nakuleswaran. 

Nakuleswaran was forcibly disappeared in May 2009 in Mullaivaikkal as the Sri Lankan military launched a massive military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamils. 

The Japanese government announced a grant of almost Rs. 1.7 billion to Sri Lanka for the “procurement of equipment for enhancing its counterterrorism and public security capabilities” on Thursday.

Japan’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Akira Sugiyama, signed the exchange of notes at Sri Lanka’s finance ministry, after meeting with Sri Lankan officials.

Chris Slee, a refugee rights activist in Melbourne and a founding member of the Tamil Refugee Council, wrote on how Sri Lanka continues to be an island where Tamils are under threat as the Australian government looks to deport a family of four this week.

See extracts reproduced below. Read the full piece on Green Left here.

On September 18 the Federal Court will hear an appeal by a Tamil family against their impending deportation from Australia to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court rejected a petition by presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa to dismiss corruption charges against him, in a split decision on Wednesday.

Gotabaya faces charges over the alleged misappropriation of 33.9 million rupees used to build a museum dedicated to his parents on the south of the island. Though he denies the charges, a lower court case is now scheduled to go ahead next month.

“It’s a divided decision which shows that the Supreme Court judges are not unanimous on this,” Keheliya Rambukwella, Rajapaksa’s spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday. “He can appeal to the Supreme Court in the event the high court finds him guilty.”

Sri Lanka continues to have a “climate of impunity” said a UN Working Group report this week as it reiterated the importance of “international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators” in an accountability mechanism for mass atrocities.

“While welcoming progress in the implementation of some recommendations, it notes that many have only been partially addressed or have not been addressed at all,” said the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances after a follow up visit to Sri Lanka. 

A vigil was held in Batticaloa last week, where locals marked 29 years since the enforced disappearance and massacre of 158 Tamils from the Eastern University with calls for justice and accountability.

A court in Mullaitivu resumed its trial of Tamil Guardian correspondent Shanmugam Thavaseelan on Tuesday, following a resurgence of attacks on Tamil journalists by Sri Lanka’s security forces.

Sri Lankan police armed with sniffer dogs conducted a search operation at Vavuniya Hospital earlier today, stating that they had been tipped off about a bomb on the premises.