Photograph: Yardstick Films 

Britain's Foreign Office successfully stopped a retired mercenary being compelled to give evidence at a freedom of information tribunal in London. 

Government lawyers managed to block a witness application made by Declassified to summon Major David Walker, a former SAS officer who co-founded Keenie Meenie Services (KMS), a mercenary company active in the 1980s.

Preparations are underway at Mullivaikkal memorial ground ahead of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day which is marked by Tamils in the homeland and the diaspora.

Every year, Tamils gather at the memorial ground on May 18 to commemorate the 169,796 people who went unaccounted for in the final phase of the armed conflict. 

The Tamil Genocide Monument, dedicated to the victims and survivors of the genocide perpetrated by the Sri Lankan state in the final phase of the armed conflict, was inaugurated in Brampton, Canada on May 10. 

Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a borough in Montreal, has passed a motion recognising May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day. 

The motion was passed on May 5 and comes as the Tamil nation marks 16 years since the genocide at Mullivaikkal, where an estimated 169,796 people were killed by the Sri Lankan army in the final days of the armed conflict. 

Tamil activist Subitha Tharmakulasagaram said the recognition is "a powerful step toward truth, justice, and accountability."