Sri Lanka’s former resident and ex-prime minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, broke his silence over the weekend as he defended the record of his war-crimes accused brother and maintained that his only folly was that “he became soft”.

Locals in Mullaitivu managed to block Sri Lankan authorities from yet another land grab attempt as they looked to expand the existing  'Vattuvakal Gotabaya Navy base' by seizing 617 acres of private land.

Representatives from the USA, European Union, Canada and international human rights organisations have expressed their concern and censured the Sri Lankan government over its use of anti-terror legislation to detain three Sinhalese student leaders this week.

The activists were all arrested last week and are currently being held under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), a piece of legislation that has come under criticism for decades for its arbitrary use against Tamils.

Tamil-Canadian actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan stars in the popular Netflix series ‘Never Have I Ever’ following a teenage Tamil girl, ‘Devi Vishwakumar’, as she navigates life through an American High school involving romances, her father passing away and family drama.

UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Hanaa Singer, and UN Regional Director, David McLachlan-Karr met with the Tamil Families of the Disappeared, civil society organisations and held a separate meeting with Sri Lanka’s President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene.

As the EU stressed in conversations with Sri Lanka’s president the need for concrete steps on human rights, Britain’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka announced that UK’s new Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) will bolster Sri Lanka’s economy without commenting on the country’s dire human rights record.

Amidst international outcry over Sri Lanka’s crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe has issued an extraordinary gazette summoning the tri-forces to maintain public order across the island with effect from August 22.

Writing in The Diplomat, Viruben Nandakumar stresses the need for Indian diplomats to end a policy of appeasement and soberly reflect on the currents of Sinhala Buddhist nationalism, which prohibit further integration between India and Sri Lanka.

In his inaugural speech, Sri Lanka’s current President Ranil Wickremesinghe signalled a shift in foreign policy to favour relations with India by praising their aid efforts and lamented on cancelled investment projects. Indian investment projects were abandoned for “baseless reasons”, claimed Sri Lanka’s president.

Sri Lanka’s immigration authorities are reportedly on the hunt for British national Kayleigh Fraser, after they seized her passport following her social media posts covering the “Go Home Gota” protests.

“Her visa was cancelled on August 15, so we are looking to put her in a detention camp until she can get a ticket to leave the country,” a Sri Lankan immigration official told EconomyNext. They claimed that Fraser was not getting deported but that instead her visa was cancelled.

After a break of three years, thousands of people travelled to Mannar to attend the annual festival to mark Feast of Our Lady of Madhu this week.

Local Tamils in Mannar celebrated the famed Tamil poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar this week, in a festival organised by the Mannar District Art and Culture Council and District Secretariat.

Sri Lankan security forces fired teargas and water cannons once more in Colombo, as they arrested at least 20 activists on Thursday.

Hundreds of university students were demonstrating in Colombo at a rally organised by the Inter-University Student Federation (IUSF), as police with riot shields and batons pushed back protestors.