Residents of a Kilinochchi village have said that the Sri Lankan Army and Archaeology Department are destroying signs of ancient Tamil civilisation in the area.

Families of the disappeared from Mullaitivu boycotted a meeting with the Office for Missing Persons (OMP) on Saturday, and instead staged a protest outside the meeting which was held at the Mullaitivu District Secretariat.

Three Sri Lankan soldiers based in Poonakary were arrested on Thursday for possession of cannabis.

The arrested were members of the 5th Division of the General Service Corps based in Nachikuda - Ponnaveli.

They were released on bail by the Kilinochchi Magistrate Court, with the case set to be heard on June 5th.

The three soldiers have also been temporarily suspended from duty.

The leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) told a visiting U.S. House of Representatives delegation that “our people will be forced to rethink our position” if Sinhala leaders continue to ignore the Tamil political question.

A highly rated Barawa team managed to beat Tamil Eelam in their opening match of the 2018 CONIFA World Cup campaign in London this week.

The opening game of the tournament, the match highly anticipated match was a great spectacle, with supporters of both sides in the crowd. To add to the  occasion, the game was officiated by former Euro 2016 and Champions League Final referee, Mark Clattenburg, at the Bromley FC Stadium.

Officials from the US and Sri Lankan air forces held discussions on “regional security” and further training for Sri Lankan troops, at a second round of meeting at a second round of Airman to Airman talks earlier last month.

Free trade negotiations between China and Sri Lanka have come to a “standstill” reports a Colombo official, after Beijing refused to accept a clause that allows for the deal to be reviewed in 10 years.

In a Reuters exclusive, Sri Lanka’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghe said even low level discussions between the two sides over a potential free trade deal have made little progress.

Sri Lanka’s Department of Survey released an updated map of the island earlier this week, to include the controversial Chinese projects in both Hambantota and Colombo.

The Hambantota port, built by the Chinese, was included in the map along with the Colombo Port City, expressways and other development projects started by the country in the last couple of years. Colombo has increased in size by 474.5 hectares since land reclamation for the project began, with work still ongoing.

Survey General of Sri Lanka P. M. P. Udayakantha said more changes will be required due to the changing landscape of the island.

Residents in Thikkam, Vadamarachchi held a remembrance event this week in memory of their loved ones who were killed by the Sri Lankan army during a military offensive in 1987. 

Residents were shot dead and killed by shell fire from May 29 to 31, 1987 as the Sri Lankan military conducted what it described as 'Operation Liberation' to 'liberate' the Vadamarachchi region from the LTTE. 

The Northern Provincial Council's education minister, K Sarveswaran was approached by two Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) officers this week, ordering him to attend for an inquiry at their Colombo 4th floor office on June 5. 

Mr Sarveswaran complained however after the summons the TID officers provided appeared to be similar to an anonymous letter rather than a formal document and spelt his name incorrectly as 'K Parameswaran'. 

"If the TID are coming with an anonymous letter to me as an NPC minister, just imagine how ordinary civilians are treated," Sareswaran told media afterwards.