Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe has taken control of the Ministry of Justice, Prison Affairs, and Constitutional Reforms, following the resignation of Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, who stepped down from his ministerial role to run in the upcoming Presidential election.

Despite the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the end of the armed conflict, Tamils arriving in Sri Lanka from abroad continue to face harassment by authorities who claim there are links to the LTTE.

In an incident last month, a man accused of being a former LTTE member, who had spent 18 years abroad, was detained at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and interrogated by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID).

A group of Sri Lankan public officials faced strong resistance from Tamil residents as they attempted to illegally occupy hundreds of acres of coastal land for mineral sand mining, threatening the livelihoods of fishermen in the war-affected North-East.

The legal battle involving Mullaitivu Media Association President and Mullaitivu District Journalist Shanmugam Thavaseelan continues in Sri Lankan courts, with the next hearing scheduled for October this year. During today’s court session, the Sri Lankan naval officer who accused Thavaseelan of assault was cross-examined, but no verdict was reached, and the case was postponed.

The Sri Lankan government is continuing to persecute Tamil families of the disappeared, said Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a release this morning.

Referring to the Sri Lankan government's latest attempt to suppress the voices of the Families of the Disappeared who were protesting across the homeland today, HRW noted that the Sri Lankan state, through its actions, continues to "resist any progress to address the terrible legacy of enforced disappearances, and instead compounds the anguish of victims’ families."

Tamil Fest, an annual street festival organised by the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) to celebrate Tamil culture and identity, was marred by controversy, after protests demanded the organisation apologise for meeting with accused war criminal Mahinda Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka last year.

^{(Image courtesy: Rajeevkanth Facebook Post)}

Rajkumar Rajeevkanth, an activist from the People's Struggle Alliance—a breakaway group from the Aragalaya—was arrested earlier today in Trincomalee by Sri Lankan police. He was participating in protests organized by the Tamil Families of the Disappeared, who were staging demonstrations across the North-East to mark the International Day of the Disappeared.

Sri Lankan police in Trincomalee have been granted a court order to halt demonstrations by Tamil families of the disappeared on International Day of the Disappeared today, in another blow to Tamil victim-survivors.

Tamil asylum seeker Mano Yogalingam has died from self-immolation in Dandenong, Australia, having waited 12 years for a permanent visa.

Tamil asylum seeker Mano Yogalingam has died from self-immolation in Dandenong, Australia, having waited 12 years for a permanent visa.

The 23 year old set himself alight on Tuesday night and suffered burns to 80 percent of his body. Yogalingam succumbed to his injuries at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Officers from Sri Lanka’s counter terrorism department have been interrogating staff at a Tamil school in Kilinochchi, after students created an art display created during an inter-house sports event six months ago.

Highlighting the distress faced by the staff at Konavil Tamil College in Killinochchi, schoolteacher Innasimuttu Satyaseelan said that the Sri Lankan police interrogations have been suppressing the Tamil people's freedom of expression.