The UN has awarded Sri Lanka’s peacekeeping force, Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps (SLMAC), for their service in South Sudan, despite its history of human rights violations.

The award was presented on 27 May and commended SLMAC on its “medical standards, and commitment of strong contribution to hospital services”.

Updated 1430 GMT

^{File photograph: Arulingam with the then British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka in 2016.}

The Sri Lankan security forces have stepped up their presence outside a Buddhist centre in Jaffna, after stones were reportedly thrown at an enclosure around a Buddha statue earlier.

<p>In response to Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s announcement of a task force, which Rajapaksa claims will ensure a “secure country” and a “disciplined, virtuous and lawful society”, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has requested that he rescind this order, describing the task force as a threat to the rule of law.</p>

Former Sri Lankan minister announced his decision of not contesting in Sri Lanka’s upcoming parliamentary elections, after expressing “deep regret at the division” of the United National Party (UNP).

The families of the disappeared in Mullaitivu have urged for support from the international community after being “continuously abandoned” by the Sri Lankan government to provide answers and justice for their missing loved ones.

Sri Lanka’s opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balavegaya, has accused the government’s intelligence agencies of collecting data on civilians as part of a larger surveillance project, which will also see military intelligence officers in every polling station across the island at upcoming parliamentary elections.

As protests across the globe continued in response to George Floyd's murder, a viral video of "Parai" drummer, Thirumeni Balamurugan, captured an act of solidarity as the sound of the Parai resonated among protestors in Sydney, Australia. 

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister said that an American diplomat who had reportedly refused to take a coronavirus test on arrival at Colombo’s international airport, returned to subsequently be tested and that “action” had been taken against those who let him leave the airport without being tested.

Clashes broke out between protestors and Sri Lankan security forces in Colombo earlier today as the police broke up a ‘Black Lives Matter’ demonstration.

Australian State MP Hugh McDermott thanked the Tamil Nadu-based politician Seeman for his support, following calls for international recognition of Sri Lanka’s genocide of Tamils.

The Sri Lankan army has unveiled a gold-plated fence that it constructed around a Buddha statue at the ‘Sri Nagadeepa Viharaya’ in Nainativu in Jaffna this week, as the military continued to construct Buddhist monuments across the Tamil homeland.

Former Sri Lankan Finance Minister, Mangala Samaraweera proposed dramatic reforms in response to the economic havoc Sri Lanka is facing, as he warned the "tempest has only just begun".

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka was photographed handing over a shipment of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to a Sri Lankan military general, who was previously rejected twice from participating in US training programs due to “credible allegations” over his involvement in war crimes.