The Canadian government has issued a travel advisory for tourists heading to Sri Lanka, urging visitors to “exercise a high degree of caution at all times” when on the island and added that Tamil Canadians have faced arrests and detention by security forces.

“The Sri Lankan military continues to maintain a strong presence in the country’s north and east, including the Jaffna Peninsula,” said the official travel advisory this week.

<p>Despite its admirable conduct during the island's political crisis, Sri Lanka's judiciary is not capable of delivering justice for the atrocities perpetrated against Tamils, former Chief Minister of the Northern Province and former Supreme Court judge C V Wigneswaran has said.</p> <p>Speaking in Kilinochchi last week, the former Chief Minister said that although "actions of the top judiciary in solving the political crisis and establishing democracy were admirable", they were also exceptional and could not be taken as an example of how the judiciary on the island functions in all cases.</p>

A confrontation occurred in Jaffna between locals and a group of Sinhalese people who illegally harvested aloe vera plants from the coast of Ponnalai.

The group were seen harvesting the plants and loading them into a pickup truck by a group of Tamil youths at the seaside.

The Tamil youths confronted the group and contacted a member of the Valikamam West divisional council, who also came to the scene.

Although the group claimed to have obtained permission to harvest the aloe vera, they could not produce evidence when requested by the divisional council member.

<p>Land release activists in the Amparai District have highlighted that despite Sri Lankan military forces’ highly publicised rapid release of pockets of lands in the North-East, there have been no indications that those within Amparai will be released.</p> <p>Writing to Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena on December 31, the president’s proclaimed deadline for the release of military-occupied land, Amparai land activists urged him to keep his promise and secure the release of lands in Amparai.</p> <p>Over 2500 properties, both homes and livelihood lands, are currently occupied in the district, the activists said.</p>

<p>Provincial governors were asked by the Sri Lankan president to submit their resignation by the end of 2018, with a number of governors including of the Northern Province having resigned as of yesterday, reports Daily Mirror.</p> <p>President Sirisena will reportedly reappoint some governors while replacing others.</p> <p>Following the expiry of the terms of six out nine provincial councils, these provinces including the Northern and Eastern provinces have been under the rule of the unelected governors.</p>

Tamils protesting for the release of their lands in Keppapulavu in Mullaitivu, attempted to enter their land in defiance of the Sri Lankan military forces occupying them, causing tension between protestors and dozens of police officers.

Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena proclaimed earlier this year that the Sri Lankan military would release all occupied civilian lands by December 31.

<p>An Indian national was arrested last night by Sri Lanka's narcotics police officers, at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).&nbsp;</p> <p>The 30-year-old man, believed to be from Bangalore, was reportedly in possession of 1.2kg of cannabis resin (hash), worth Rs 2 million.&nbsp;</p> <p>The man is due to be produced before Negombo Magistrate's Court.&nbsp;</p> <p>The arrest comes at a time when Sri Lanka's president is campaigning in support of the death penalty for drug traffickers.&nbsp;</p>

More than 120,000 people have been affected by the recent floods that have struck across the Vanni, according to data released by the Sri Lankan government’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC).

The data comes as reports emerge the flooding was caused by the negligence of officials who allowed Iranamadu tank was allowed to overfill followed by the simultaneous opening of all the sluice gates. 

An overwhelming response in donations from Tamil diaspora worldwide has been distributed across the Vanni via local civil society groups, student organisations and charities. 

<p>The Sri Lankan government has announced that a committee has been formed to investigate reported incidents of vanadalism of Buddha statues in Mawanella in the Kegalle district.</p> <p>Sajith Premadasa, the current minister of housing, construction and cultural affairs appointed the committee, which is set to include officials from the cultural affairs and archaeology departments. The committee comes even though the government has admitted that initial investigations have shown the statues had no archaeological value.</p> <p>The ministry has also reported that funds would be made available for the reconstruction of the statues by next week.</p>

<p>Sri Lankan police in Jaffna have been accused of torturing two Tamil men, driving one to attempt suicide in custody.</p> <p>Koppay police arrested two young Tamil men on December 24 purportedly in connection with a robbery in the area.</p> <p>The two were tortured during 72 hours of detention, despite arrest laws stating that suspects should be produced before a court within 24 hours of arrest.</p> <p>When they were finally produced in court on Thursday, December 27, one of the detained youths testified to the court that he had been tortured and beaten so badly that he attempted suicide on Wednesday night.</p>