The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) welcomed the decision to impose a travel ban against Shavendra Silva and his family into entering the US.

<p>Sri Lanka's government "takes strong objection' to the&nbsp;travel ban imposed&nbsp;on army chief, Shavendra Silva.&nbsp;</p> <p>"There were no substantiated or proven allegations of human rights violations against him," the Sri Lankan government claimed in a press release.&nbsp;</p>

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) expressed their sympathies following the death of Mrs Manoharan – the mother of Manoharan Ragihar – who was one of the students of the ‘Trinco 5’.

The United States (US) Ambassador to Sri Lanka has been summoned to Sri Lanka's Foreign Minstry over the US travel ban on Sri Lankan army chief, Shavendra Silva, Adaderana reports. 

The Ambassador, Alaina Teplitz, has been called on to meet with Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena on February 16 to discuss the travel ban.

The current speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament, Karu Jayasuriya has admitted that corruption is “entrenched” in Sri Lanka, stating that both major political parties are guilty.

Speaker Jayasuriya tweeted last month that “Sri Lanka’s corruption is so entrenched that both sides governed SL are implicated by report after report”.

“Forensic report on bonds and ETF, and Sri Lankan Airlines employee fixed in UK courts for $ 2 m are mere recent examples,” he added.

Families of the disappeared have responded to the offensive statement offered by Sri Lankan Minister, Wimal Weerawansa, by continuing protests, which have now exceeded 1100 days, and by demanding to know what happened to their relatives who were handed to the military.

<p>The EU said that ‘several concerns remain’ regarding the human rights and good governance situation in Sri Lanka in their GSP+ assessment of the country.</p>

The US State Department has announced the head of Sri Lanka’s army Shavendra Silva has been barred from entering the USA “due to credible information of his involvement, through command responsibility, in gross violations of human rights”.

A statement released by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Silva and his immediate family are now “are ineligible for entry into the United States”.

As a group of Tamil students set out to clear a former playground in Vavuniya last month they found themselves unexpectedly halted from doing so, by Sri Lankan forestry department officials.

A Pillaiyar statue located on the street of Chenkalady border in Batticaloa has been vandalised and tossed on the side by unknown individuals.

Batticaloa’s mayor Thiyagarajah Saravanapavan met with British High Commissioner Sarah Hulton on Tuesday (11^th Feb 2020), where he revealed that the government has relinquished the powers of the local council and abandoned the development of their city.  

Excavation work at a hospital in Mullaitivu has uncovered bullets and the bodies of at least two people, after skeletal remains and mines were found on Wednesday.

<p><img alt="Image removed." src="/core/misc/icons/e32700/error.svg" title="This image has been removed. For security reasons, only images from the local domain are allowed." height="16" width="16" class="filter-image-invalid"></p> <p>During a meeting between Israeli Ambassador, Ron Malka and Sri Lankan President, and accused war criminal, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Ambassador pledged support for Sri Lanka’s economy.</p>

Sri Lanka’s president and accused war criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa made a highly publicised visit to Welikada prison this week, whilst his regime continues to arrest and detain Tamils under the highly criticised Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).