Features

Features

Latest news from and about the homeland

Sri Lanka’s deadliest prison riot in years kills 26
At least 26 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in Sri Lanka's deadliest prison riot in years, after two days of violence at Negombo Prison laid bare once again the island's severe overcrowding, unchecked prison violence and long-running detention crisis. The fighting broke out on Sunday evening at the facility, which lies around 35 kilometres north of Colombo and holds several…
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The Isle of the Goddess: Nagapooshani Amman's Mahotsavam and the battle over Nainativu's identity

Jul 2, 2026
The annual Mahotsavam of the historic Nainativu Nagapooshani Amman Temple concluded this week, its closing days drawing thousands of devotees to an island whose ancient Hindu and Naga heritage is increasingly being overshadowed by a state-driven project of Sinhala Buddhist majoritarianism.
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Chemmani lights up with 427 torches to remember the victims of mass graves

Jul 1, 2026

A peaceful public mobilisation titled Urimaippantham, or Right of Bond, was held at Chemmani on Sunday, as Tamils gathered to remember the hundreds of victims whose remains have been recovered from the mass grave site.

K Bhagyaraj: Tamil cinema’s ‘screenplay king’ who lent his voice to Eelam Tamil causes

Jun 29, 2026
Veteran Tamil filmmaker, actor and screenwriter K Bhagyaraj, who passed away in Chennai aged 73, leaves behind a towering legacy in Tamil cinema, where he was celebrated as one of the industry’s finest storytellers.

As Burnham eyes Number 10, British Tamils face a largely untested record

Jun 22, 2026
As Andy Burnham emerges as the frontrunner to succeed Keir Starmer as Labour leader and British prime minister, British Tamils are weighing a record on Tamil justice that is far thinner than the outgoing premier's, yet not quite the blank slate it might first appear.

Keir Starmer, British Tamils and the promises still unmet

Jun 22, 2026

Keir Starmer at Downing Street Thai Pongal reception with British Tamils

Keir Starmer's announcement that he will resign as Labour leader, and remain in Downing Street only until his successor is chosen, brings to an end a premiership that began on the back of some of the strongest pledges a British party leader had ever made to Tamils.

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Sri Lanka revives infamous Israeli-made Kfir warplanes

Jun 15, 2026

The Sri Lanka Air Force has carried out the first test flight of its upgraded Israeli-made Kfir C12 fighter aircraft at SLAF Base Katunayake, renewing scrutiny of a warplane closely associated with Sri Lanka’s bombing campaigns across the Tamil homeland.

Remembering 1956 – Sri Lanka’s first Anti-Tamil pogrom

Jun 15, 2026
This week marks 70 years since Sri Lanka’s first anti-Tamil pogroms, when government backed Sinhala mobs murdered more than 150 Tamils across the island – the first of many massacres that were to take place in the decades to come.

Jailed for a song: How Sri Lanka’s PTA was turned on a Tamil rapper

Jun 15, 2026

When officers of the Jaffna District Crime Prevention Division arrested a 24-year-old rapper from Kilinochchi on 2 June over videos of a music performance, they invoked one of the most feared pieces of legislation on the island: the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Sri Lanka’s reserves rise, but the numbers tell a murkier story

Jun 11, 2026
Sri Lanka’s rupee has continued to weaken against the US dollar, even as the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reported a marginal increase in foreign exchange reserves, raising fresh questions over the true state of the island’s external account.

Bharathiraja dies at 84 - A director who stood with Eelam Tamils

Jun 10, 2026
Bharathiraja sustained a record of public solidarity with Eelam Tamils that stretched from the ceasefire years to the final period of his life. It expressed itself as physical presence, political speech, open letters and legal demands, and it ran across more than two decades without interruption.
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The Isle of the Goddess: Nagapooshani Amman's Mahotsavam and the battle over Nainativu's identity
""
Chemmani lights up with 427 torches to remember the victims of mass graves
K Bhagyaraj: Tamil cinema’s ‘screenplay king’ who lent his voice to Eelam Tamil causes
As Burnham eyes Number 10, British Tamils face a largely untested record
Keir Starmer, British Tamils and the promises still unmet
News
Sri Lanka revives infamous Israeli-made Kfir warplanes
Remembering 1956 – Sri Lanka’s first Anti-Tamil pogrom
Jailed for a song: How Sri Lanka’s PTA was turned on a Tamil rapper
Sri Lanka’s reserves rise, but the numbers tell a murkier story
Bharathiraja dies at 84 - A director who stood with Eelam Tamils
"" The Isle of the Goddess: Nagapooshani Amman's Mahotsavam and the battle over Nainativu's identity
"" Chemmani lights up with 427 torches to remember the victims of mass graves
K Bhagyaraj: Tamil cinema’s ‘screenplay king’ who lent his voice to Eelam Tamil causes
As Burnham eyes Number 10, British Tamils face a largely untested record
Keir Starmer, British Tamils and the promises still unmet
News Sri Lanka revives infamous Israeli-made Kfir warplanes
Remembering 1956 – Sri Lanka’s first Anti-Tamil pogrom
Jailed for a song: How Sri Lanka’s PTA was turned on a Tamil rapper
Sri Lanka’s reserves rise, but the numbers tell a murkier story
Bharathiraja dies at 84 - A director who stood with Eelam Tamils