Sri Lankan Prime Minister and leader of the SLPP, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has called for a two-thirds majority in upcoming general election, to repeal the 19^th amendment (19A), which limits the powers of the executive presidency.

 

Effigies of former parliamentarians and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP’s Sivagnanam Sritharan and M A Sumanthiran were burnt in Jaffna yesterday. 

A young Tamil man was assaulted by army soldiers in the Alangulam, Eruvil area and has been hospitalised at the District General Hospital in Killinochchi following his extensive injuries from the attack. 

Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has the defended much criticised decision to dissolve parliament for over 6 months as he claims, “the hostile Parliament was not inclined to support the President”.

^{Photograph: FT.lk}

Sri Lanka’s state-owned Bank of Ceylon entered a long-term facility with the China Development Bank, the largest development financial organisation in the world, for USD $140 million this week, as Colombo’s economic crisis worsened amidst piling debt repayments.

Sri Lanka’s Cricket World Cup final match-fixing controversy has taken yet another twist today with former captain Kumar Sangakarra the latest individual to be summoned by the Special Investigation Unit of the Sports Ministry, after allegations of match fixing by Sri Lanka’s former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage.

Sangakarra will follow both former opener Upul Tharanga and selector Aravinda de Silva in giving statements on the most recent debacle within Sri Lankan cricket. As confirmed by KDS Ruwanachandra, current sport ministry secretary, the investigation is “handled by the independent Special Investigation Unit on sports-related offences.” 

The Metropolitan Police have announced the launch of a murder investigation after a five-year-old British Tamil girl was stabbed to death in Mitcham, South London this week.

The victim has been named as Sayagi Sivanantham.

Sri Lankan security forces have arrested more than a dozen Tamil youth on charges of attempting to “regroup the LTTE,” as a military crackdown took place in the North this week.

Amongst those arrested is a 17-year-old Tamil child.

The European Union (EU) has decided not to lift their ban on travel from Sri Lanka due to the coronavirus pandemic, despite the Sri Lankan embassy in Brussels “actively lobbying for Sri Lanka’s inclusion in the list”.

The EU has begun to gradually lift the temporary restrictions it had imposed on non-essential travel into the region, with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating it had been “actively lobbying for Sri Lanka’s inclusion in the list”.

Buddhist monk, Ralapanawe Dhammajothi, applauded Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for maintain “discipline and respect” for the Buddhist Sanga whilst further claiming that “no one could impede the President’s endeavour to redirect the country”.

The families of the disappeared in Vavuniya came together to protest and call for the Sri Lankan government to be brought to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.

They gathered near the Vavuniya Old Bus Stand, yesterday morning as an increasing number of family members have died recently without seeing justice for their loved ones.

<p>UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said she was dismayed by reports of the stigmatisation of Muslims in Sri Lanka, in a statement at the 44th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).&nbsp;</p>