^{Batticaloa Airport, January 2018}

Batticaloa Airport will now be developed as a complete domestic airport and will receive new and modern amenities, stated Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, after conducting an inspection tour of the airport on 1 July. 

The secretary of the Vavuniya Families of the Disappeared association, Gopalakrishnan Rajkumar, called on the European Union to "repeal the GSP+" trading preference and work with the US to achieve a just "political solution". 

^{Photograph: Army.lk}

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, Charles Nirmalanathan has urged the Sri Lanka president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to take immediate action to release all remaining political prisoners held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), after 16 Tamil political prisoners received presidential pardons at the end of June. 

As Sri Lanka continues to grapple with a financial crisis, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has issued a special gazette to restrict the flow of foreign currency out of the country.

Professor Lukman Thalib can still vividly remember that day his home was raided. As the head of the Department of Public Health at Qatar University and a member of the country’s Scientific Committee against Covid-19, the highly respected Australian public health professor was chairing a meeting on Zoom, when he heard his wife screaming downstairs.

A Christian pastor and his family were repeatedly assaulted by Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) members in the Poonthottam area of Vavuniya.

^{Minneriya National Park} 

Major General Mohan Ratnayake of the Sri Lankan Army was arrested on 1 July after surrendering to the Habanara Police as he allegedly assaulted a Wildlife Officer at the Minneriya National Park, after feeling "insulted" by their search requests. 

Following the passage of an EU resolution, which raised alarm over government and military officials spreading hate towards Tamils and Muslims, Hudson Samarasinghe has been reappointed to chair the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Channel.

An Israeli weapons manufacturer announced that the Sri Lankan military has signed a new US$50 million contract this week, in a move that will see Colombo’s infamous Kfir bomber jets revamped and upgraded.

Kfir jets, which have been extensively used by the Sri Lankan Air Force to carry out bombing raids across the North-East, have killed thousands of Tamils throughout the years. The use of the aircraft became so prevalent that for Tamils the name Kfir, Hebrew for "Lion Cub", became synonymous with all the aircraft used by the Sri Lankan military during attacks on the Tamil homeland.

Marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relationships between the Philippines and Sri Lanka, the Presidents of both countries spoke on the phone about strengthening diplomatic ties.

US President Joe Biden has appointed former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Atul Keshap, as the country’s Charge’d Affairs in Delhi to replace Daniel Smith, who is retiring.

Keshap is a seasoned diplomat having served for close to three decades in posts in India, Morocco, Guinea, and as United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives from August 2015 to July 2018, during the Sirisena administration.

The families of the forcibly disappeared Tamils organised a demonstration in Vavuniya earlier today, seeking international support for the return of their missing relatives. 

_{File photo: Vincent Florence Joseph}

Former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) member and famous scholarly translator, Vincent Florence Joseph, passed away due to illness at his home in Kurunagar, Jaffna on Sunday.