A youth was arrested in Vavuniya Thursday evening, accused of being in possession of cannabis from Kerala. 

The youth was travelling on a bus from Jaffna to Colombo when he was arrested after the bus was stopped by police in Nochchimoddai, Vavuniya 

Police officers said they had received a tip off regarding the transporting of drugs. 

The massacre of 17 Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan army officers and Muslim homeguards on September 21, 1990 in Puthukkudiyiruppu, Batticaloa, was remembered yesterday, 28 years on. 

Gathering around the memorial previously erected in memory of those who were massacred, families of those killed and locals laid flowers in remembrance. 

On September 21, 1990 the Muslim homeguards backed by the Sri Lankan army broke into homes in Puthukkudiyiruppu village during the night and rounded up 44 Tamils, including children and women.

The 8th day of Lt Col Thileepan's hunger strike was remembered today in Batticaloa. 

Gathering at the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) office, residents and party supporters laid flowers in tribute to Thileepan's sacrifice. 

Last Saturday, Tamils across the North-East held events marking the 31 years since Thileepan commenced his fast unto death, demanding that the Indian government upheld its promises to the Tamil people. 

Over 100,000 people gathered at the Nallur temple in Jaffna on September 15, 1987 to hear his words as he began the hunger strike. 

The body of a Tamil woman was found on Friday at Trincomalee beach. 

The 29-year-old woman, Pothanayagi Nadaraja, was a lecturer at the Trincomalee campus of Eastern University, and is originally from Vavuniya. 

Identifying her body, her husband told journalists that they had got married recently and were expecting their first child. 

"She did not commit suicide," he said. "This is murder." 

Four Tamil political prisoners who had been hunger striking in protest at their indefinite imprisonment, were admitted to hospital today. 

Sivasubramaniam Thillairaj and Thangavel Nimalan have been admitted to Anuradhapuram prison hospital, whilst Sooriyakanthi Jeyachandran and Rasapallavan T Rupan were admitted to Anuradhapuram teaching hospital. 

The British Tamil musician MIA has called for Australian airlines to end their involvement in the deportation of asylum seekers, joining a campaign targeting Qantas and Virgin Australia with shareholder action.

The Sri Lankan military announced that it had opened a twelve more water treatment plants at military bases across the peninsula, whilst Tamil civilians continue to suffer from the effects of a drought.

The family members of 11 boys and men who were forcibly disappeared met with the Canadian High Comissioner to Sri Lanka this week, calling for answers to the whereabouts of their loved one.

The family members presented a letter to High Commissioner David McKinnon earlier this week.

Sri Lanka’s cabinet has reportedly approved new counter terrorism legislation, criminalising acts that will cause “harm to the territorial integrity or sovereignty of Sri Lanka”.

The proposed legislation would also criminalise “joining, becoming a member of, supporting or representing a proscribed terrorist organization for the purpose of aiding and abetting the commission of an offence under this Act”.

The AIADMK has called out the DMK for colluding with war criminals in Sri Lanka and allowing tens of thousands of Tamils to be massacred, stating that the Tamil Nadu party and the Congress party should be tried as "international war criminals".

Sri Lanka’s former president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaranatunge has been awarded France’s highest national, despite her tenure in office marred by the bombing of churches, schools and refugees camps, killing tens of thousands of Tamil civilians.

The Sri Lankan government has “fallen far short” on transitional justice efforts, the South Asia director of Human Rights Watch has said, criticising the government’s lack of progress on accountability and security sector reform, including the failure to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

More than double the number of foreign direct investment (FDI) firms exited Sri Lanka after the end the war than entered, a study by the Institute of Policy Studies found.

The study found that 410 firms exited Sri Lanka between 2009 and 2016 and only 202 had entered in the same period. Across a longer period from 2002, 666 firms had exited while 469 had entered.

Ian Paisley Jr, the British MP suspended from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) for accepting and failing to disclose luxury holidays to Sri Lanka and carrying out "paid advocacy" for the Sri Lankan government, has avoided a by-election as a recall petition in his constituency gained only 7,099 signatures, falling just 444 short of the required number to force a by-election.