The Sri Lankan government has caved to pressure from Beijing and agreed to pay almost US$6.9 million for a shipment of fertilisers that it had previously rejected as substandard.

In a statement issued ahead of the Chinese foreign minister’s visit to the island, the state-run People's Bank of Sri Lanka confirmed it had paid the Seawin Biotech Group US$6.87 million over the shipment.

The 37th anniversary of the assassination of Tamil human rights activist and local Catholic parish priest, Reverend Father Mary Bastian, who was shot dead by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) in 1985, was commemorated at the Vankalai St. Anne’s Church in Mannar last Thursday.  

With the country on the brink of financial default, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has requested for debt restructuring from China.

The request comes as China’s Foreign Minister concluded his first international tour of the new year in Colombo. During his tour, he visited Eritrea, Kenya, the Comoros in East Africa and the Maldives. Whilst in Sri Lanka he also spoke with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. His visit to Sri Lanka coincides with the 65th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Sri Lanka.

To boost the country’s foreign reserves the government has sold over half its gold reserves, worth an estimated $382.2 million at the end of November.

Its value plummeted by half by the end of December reaching a value of $175.3 million.

Over the next 12 months, Sri Lanka is required to pay an estimated US$7.3 billion in domestic and foreign loans, including a US$500m international sovereign bond repayment in January. However, as of November, available foreign currency reserves were just $1.6 billion.

The Sri Lankan military has undertaken massive deforestation of parts of the Tamil homeland since the end of the armed conflict. Sharing images from Google Earth on Facebook, Kilinochchi journalist M. Thamilselvan illustrated the loss of forest cover surrounding army camps on the east side of the A9 road between Mankulam and Murikandy in the Mullaitivu district.

Murdered Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge was commemorated in a ceremony held by the Batticaloa Press Club earlier today, marking 13 years since he was gunned down in Colombo.

As we mark 13 years since the murder of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickramatunge, we look back on the murder of two Tamil youth who were killed as part of cover up by the Sri Lankan security forces.

In the aftermath of Wickramatunge’s murder, details of the killing began to slowly become revealed over the years as international pressure over the assassination mounted.

Reports eventually revealed that days before the assassination, two motorcycles used in the killing were stolen from their Tamil owners in Vavuniya in an attempt to blame the killing on the LTTE.

Amidst an economic crisis in Sri Lanka which has seen people forced to ration food, India’s foreign secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar affirmed Indian support during these “difficult times”.

Greeted FM G.L. Peiris of Sri Lanka in the New Year. A reliable friend, India will support Sri Lanka in these difficult times. Agreed to remain in close touch.

The Sri Lankan government has signed a long-awaited agreement with India that will allow New Delhi to restore at least 75 oil tanks in the eastern city of Trincomalee this week.

Sri Lanka’s energy minister Udaya Gammanpila “claimed that 85 of 99 tanks will be under Sri Lankan control which were under Indian control”.

A closer look at the deal, however, reveals a slightly different picture.

Tamils protested against plans to construct a new Buddhist vihara in Periyankulam, Trincomalee today. 

The demonstration was organised to block efforts by a Sinhala Buddhist monk seeking to build a new vihara in place of a row of Tamil businesses. Following orders from the monk, Uppuveli police threatened two Tamil traders, claiming that their shops will be removed to accomodate the new vihara.