Sri Lankan President, and accused war criminal, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has appointed convicted Murder and former MP Duminda Silva as the chairman of the National Housing Development Authority.

Earlier this week, Britain’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Sarah Hulton, meet with Sri Lanka’s Minister for Youth and Sports, Namal Rajapaksa, where they reportedly discussed “online harms facing women, girls and vulnerable groups, human rights issues, and youth and sport opportunities”.

Aadi Pirappu was celebrated on Saturday 17th July across the North-East. 

Vavuniya 

Special Aadi Pirappu celebrations were organised by the Vavuniya Municipal Council, near the statue of Navaliyoor Somasundara Pulavar in Vavuniya.

Qatari authorities deported a Tamil man to Sri Lanka this week despite the threats of torture; where the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) arrested him for allegedly “promoting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)”. 

The Tamil Nadu Forest Department has confiscated 300 kilograms of banned sea cucumbers that were to be smuggled to Sri Lanka. They have also arrested and jailed seven persons involved in the smuggling incident and seized over 24 boats worth over 2 million rupees used for smuggling. 

Following the appointment of Basil Rajapaksa to the position of Finance Minister, Germany’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Holger Seubert, meet with the Finance Minister despite ongoing human rights violations.

Sri Lankan Minister of Public Security, Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, has called for mandatory military training for those above the age of 18, despite increasing concerns over the intensifying militarisation of the state. 

The Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Association has written a letter to Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa demanding to ensure press freedom in the island. 

This comes following the Terrorism Investigation Department’s (TID) interrogation of Selvakumar Nilanthan, a journalist based in Batticaloa.

The subject line of the letter read, “Stop suppression of journalism! Ensure protection of journalists!!”

Surgeons at Mullaitivu District Hospital performed the hospital's first successful knee replacement surgery on Tuesday. 

Three different Catholic shrines were found attacked this morning by unidentified persons in Mannar. 

The suspects had allegedly hurled stones at the shrines, shattering the glass shield covering the idols, according to locals.

Heavy Sri Lankan police and security presence was deployed yesterday to surveil the annual Pongal festivities hosted at Neeraviyadi Pillaiyar temple in Semmalai, Mullaitivu. 

The Government of Switzerland donated $4 million to Sri Lanka last month to combat the spread of the coronavirus on the island.

The relief included half a million antigen tests, 50 ventilators, 150 oxygen concentrators and testing materials. 

Sri Lankan military security forces across the districts of Mannar, Mullaitivu, Jaffna and Vavuniya administered COVID-19 vaccines for locals over the last two weeks.

Military personnel facilitated and administered vaccines and oversaw the operations across the North-East.