Batticaloa journalists marked World Press Freedom Day with a vigil to pay tribute to the media workers that have been killed in Sri Lanka.

The journalists lit candles and laid flowers in tribute to their murdered colleagues. 

Protestors at Colombo’s Galle Face Green called for justice for famed Tamil newsreader Isaipriya, who was executed by the Sri Lankan army in 2009.

Yesterday marked her 40^th birthday.

The Sri Lankan army claimed the US ambassador praised the military “for their contribution to the sustenance of peace in the peninsula” whilst on a visit to the occupied city of Jaffna last week.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly showed unanimous support to pass a resolution that would urge the Union government to send aid to Sri Lanka in order to combat the ongoing economic crisis last week.

A Right to Information (RTI) request has revealed that the Sri Lankan government spent around Rs 95 million for Independence Day celebrations amidst the worst economic crisis the island has faced in decades.

On May 2nd, 2006, 16 years ago, five armed paramilitary cadres stormed the Uthayan, a Tamil daily newspaper published in Jaffna and opened fire, murdering and injuring Tamil employees. 

Sri Lankan state minister and paramilitary leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan was confronted by angry Tamil villagers in Vakarai as his supporters were chased away by women wielding slippers on Friday.

The leader of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party in Tamil Nadu visited Jaffna earlier today, where he met with politicians from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and visited the historic Nallur temple.

In a fiery press conference, T Rajendar has slammed the ruling Rajapaksa regime and called for an end to their reign as he announced the release of a new song and expressed solidarity with the island’s Eelam Tamils.

Another Tamil mother who has been protesting for more than 1,898 days passed away last night, without ever finding out the whereabouts of her forcibly disappeared son, son-in-law and grandson.

At least 115 Tamils have now passed away since protests began more than 5 years ago. None of them have received answers on where their loved ones are or received justice for their disappearances.

May Day rallies were held across the Tamil homeland yesterday, with calls for the abolition of Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), demilitarisation of the North-East, the release of Tamil political prisoners and an international justice and accountability mechanism.

The Sri Lankan government has announced a massive 40% increase on the prices of a range of essential antibiotics, painkillers and other medicines, as the economic crisis on the island continues.

Sri Lanka gripped in the middle of its worst economic crisis has announced it would sell long-term visas to attract desperately needed foreign currency, as the country runs out of dollars to pay for food, medicine and fuel.

Tamil families of the disappeared continued their protests across the North-East, demanding justice and accountability for their forcibly disappeared relatives.