A master’s degree in Tamil has been added to the accepted qualifications at the Pandit Deenadayal Upadhyaya Institute of Archaeology in India, following opposition from political leaders in Tamil Nadu.

The postgraduate diploma course in Archaeology at the institution initially listed master’s degrees in Indian Classical languages such as Sanskrit, Pali, Prakriti, Arabic or Persian as qualifications but omitting Tamil and other classical languages as acceptable qualifications.

Thousands of hair salons across Tamil Nadu closed in protest of a court’s decision to acquit an accused child rapist last week. The protests held demanded justice for the child victim, who was raped and murdered.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary, Jayanath Colombage, has reported that US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, will be visiting Sri Lanka following a meeting between President Rajapaksa and senior Chinese diplomats.

A Tamil mother, who spent 12 years searching for her missing son who was forcibly disappeared, passed away in Vavuniya.

Today marks thirty-three years since the death of 2nd Lt. Maalathy, the first female fighter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to lose her life in the Tamil armed struggle.

During a meeting between senior Chinese diplomats and the Rajapaksa administration in Colombo on Friday, the Chinese diplomats pledged to strengthen economic ties with Sri Lanka and to defend the country at “international fora including United Nations Human Rights Council”, reports the Sri Lankan President’s Media Division.

Speaking at a memorial for Lt. Col Thileepan, who died in 1987 during an 11-day hunger strike to demand that India fulfil its promises to the Tamil people, former President of the Irish Republican party Sinn Fein, Des Dalton, maintained support for the Tamil community and their struggle for “national sovereignty, independence and autonomy”.

Tamil politicians from the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have called for the upholding of the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord, in the wake of renewed discussion between India and Sri Lanka around the 13^th Amendment and devolution of power to Tamil regions of the island.

The head of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said the Tamil people will hold India to account over pledges made in Accord, as he addressed Sri Lanka’s parliament this week.

Excavations were carried out today on the land of an individual who claimed to have weapons believed to have been buried by the LTTE in the Vadduvaakal area under the Mullaitivu Police Division in the Mullaitivu District.

Sri Lankan shares have had their worst day in 16 years, as a new outbreak of coronavirus infections in the Island weighed on the markets and triggered a trading halt for thirty minutes.

The benchmark CSE All Share Index ended down 7.65% at 5,587.18. The worst intraday percentage lost since 6 April 2004.

Popular Kollywood actor Vijay Sethupathi is facing growing criticism online after announcing that he was “honoured” to play the leading role in a film on the life of controversial Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan.

The United Kingdom said it is “concerned about the human rights situation in Sri Lanka” as a minister spoke on threats faced by human rights defenders on the island earlier today.

Responding to a statement by US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina B. Teplitz, which expressed concern over Sri Lanka’s trading relationship with China, China’s Embassy in Sri Lanka has hit back against claiming it was a “despicable attempt to manipulate others” diplomatic relations.