As part of a project sponsored by the government of Tamil Nadu, a group of Eelam Tamil women from refugee camps in Kulaththuvaaipatti, Maappillaiyoorani and Thaappaaththi have teamed up to open the very first traditional Eelam Tamil restaurant in the industrial complex of Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu.

British Tamil activists protested at Sri Lanka's stand at World Travel Market in ExCel exhibition centre London today, warning individuals against tourism in Sri Lanka.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been photographed shaking hands with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe during the 27^th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27), despite growing alarm over human rights violations on the island.

Singaporean authorities have reportedly saved an estimated 300 Sri Lankan migrants as their boat began to sink.

Singaporean authorities have notified Sri Lanka that refugees would be taken to Vietnam.

The news comes as an increasing number of Tamils are seeking asylum from Sri Lanka. Over 100 Eelam Tamils have found themselves marooned on Diego Garcia, a British island in the Indian Ocean, with no hope of receiving asylum in the UK. Whilst the UK is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, which guarantees that those entering British borders are able to apply for asylum; the Diageo Garcia is unique in being one of the only places under British sovereignty where the convention does not apply. The British government is currently facing condemnation for putting the lives of Tamil refugees, including children, at risk by enabling onward travel from Diego Garcia on a vessel that lacked basic safety equipment.

Earlier today, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe left to attend the 27^th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27), where he will meet with his Egyptian counterpart, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, alongside a coterie of world leaders. The two rulers are eager to start the convention, viewing the arrangement as a means of distracting from their dire human rights record. Eager to be seen as acting on climate change, Western leaders are bankrolling ‘eco-friendly’ projects run by abusive militaries and are greenwashing autocratic regimes.

Sri Lankan cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka has been arrested by Australian police on four counts of sexual assault following Sri Lanka’s final match at the T20 World Cup.

Gunathilaka reportedly met the Australian woman, aged 29, for a date on Wednesday following communication on an online dating application. In the evening they went to the woman’s home in Rose Bay where he assaulted her multiple times within a period of several hours.

In the city of Mannar, in Sri Lanka’s Northern province, Tamil Families of the Disappeared stage a protest outside the Office of Missing Persons holding placards that ask why the office exists.

Demonstrators hold up placards calling for the removal of the offices and demanding an international investigation. Speaking to journalists the relatives of the disappeared rejected the 2 lakh rupees offered by the government and insisted that if the government could give back their children, they would sell their homes and give them 4 lakhs, if not ten.

A suspect implicated in the murder of Jaffna journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan has been released but remains under suspicion, revealed Jack Griffith, a communication officer for Britain’s Metropolitan police.

In February, the British police arrested a suspect the 48-year old man in Northamptonshire, under Section 51 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001, which relates to war crimes and genocide. The UK police force have encouraged those with knowledge of the murder of Nimalarajan “to come forwards and help achieve justice for Mr Nimalarajan’s family”.

Illustration by Keera Ratnam/ waves of colour

Yesterday in Nedungeni, Vavuniya, in the northern province, Tamils gathered for the 96th day of a 100-day protest to call for a dignified political solution.

"We are not asking for partition or independence; we are calling for a political solution with dignified rights within Sri Lanka", protesters told journalists.