Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department has been questioning Tamil newspapers that reported on former state minister Vijayakala Maheswaran’s speech, in which she invoked the LTTE in a positive light.

CID officers from Colombo went to newspaper offices in Jaffna on Friday night and Saturday and questioned editors and journalists that had reported on the speech, and took statements from them.

The speech caused a backlash in the South, forcing Ms Maheswaran, a Tamil and member of the UNP, to resign from her position as state minister.

Families of the disappeared currently protesting in Vavuniya, took their struggle to Nallur today, staging a one-day hunger strike in front of the Jaffna temple.

The UN Human Rights Council resolution on accountability and transitional justice would remain a basis for the relationship between Sri Lanka and the USA, the outgoing US Ambassador told the Tamil National Alliance last week.

An independent collective of Tamil-Canadian activists organized a rally in Toronto on Saturday, June 30^th, 2018 in solidarity with Tamil Families of the Disappeared who were reaching 500 days of continuous roadside protests across the North-East of Sri Lanka. This rally kicked off a series of international rallies in London, Zurich, New York, Berlin, Vancouver, Belfast and Sydney the same week. Hundreds attended protests in their respective cities and supported the call for international pressure onto the Sri Lankan government to meet the Families’ demands.

Twelve Indian fishermen were arrested by Sri Lankan navy personnel on Thursday for alleged poaching, PTI reported. 

Two fishing trawlers were also seized during the arrest which took place near Karainagar, the Assistant Director of Fisheries, Manikandan told journalists. 

The detained men have been taken to Kangesanthurai port where they were charged for poaching fish and using illegal fishing nets. 

The Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday refuted a report by the New York Times which claimed that China had pressurised the government to handover Hambantota port in order to rectify mounting debts. 

“I must say that the Chinese government never pressurised Sri Lanka on this matter," Mr Wickremesinghe told MPs during a special statement in parliament. 

The Tamil UNP state minister of child affairs, Vijayakala Maheswaran yesterday resigned from her post after she faced criticism from cross-party Sinhala politicians and MPs for calling for a resurgence of the LTTE in order to curb crime rates in North-East. 

Her resignation comes as Colombo papers reported that the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe had requested her to resign. 

The UNP's disclipinary proceedings are set to continue. 

The US military has been training Sri Lankan marines who are taking part in the US-led Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) navy exercise for the first time.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called for press freedom in Sri Lanka and urged politicians stop to halt the intimidation of journalists by publicly levelling accusations against them.

The statement from the press freedom organisation comes after the editor of the New York Times, condemned the intimidation of journalists by Sri Lankan lawmakers following a report last month into Chinese control over of the Hambantota port.

The United Kingdom has called for Sri Lanka to establish a transitional justice mechanism and repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act. 

"In Sri Lanka, we are encouraged by further recent land returns, the Cabinet’s approval of a Bill to establish an Office of Reparations and steps taken to hold perpetrators of hate speech to account. However, much more still needs to be done," the UK mission said speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.