Today marks 35 years since the death of Lt Col Thileepan, a political wing leader of the LTTE who fasted to death, in a protest appealing to the Indian government to honour pledges made to the Tamil people.

Thileepan began his fast on the September 15, 1987, with 100,000 people gathered around the historic Nallur Kandwaswamy Temple in Jaffna.

Stores in Puthukkudiyiruppu are closed today to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Lt. Col. Thileepan's hunger strike.

Today marks the last day of his fast and of commemoration events, marking his 11 day hunger strike until death, 35 years ago.

Ahead of the debut release of Ponniyin Selvan, the film has garnered controversy over its description of the island of Lanka, with the Hindi translation referring to the land as a Sinhala country.

The Sri Lankan government has written to a US judge, requesting the dismissal of a case filed by the Hamilton Reserve Bank against Sri Lanka for defaulting on its debts.

The Sri Lankan government described the case as an “apparent attempt to gain leverage over a nation in crisis and jump ahead of other foreign creditors”.

Following a staff-level agreement between Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund (IMF),  Japanese ambassador, Hideaki Mizukoshi, affirmed that his country would support Sri Lanka in debt restructuring negotiations with its creditors.

Leader of Tamil Progressive Alliance and Sri Lankan lawmaker Mano Ganesan slammed Ranil Wickremesinghe over his failure to release Tamil political prisoners and his apparent request to the Tamil diaspora to provide a list of those still imprisoned.

In a tweet sent earlier today, Ganesa stated that WIckremesinghe "makes comedy out of tragedy!".

Several protestors were injured and nearly 90 people have been arrested in Colombo yesterday, as anti-government protests flared in the Sri Lankan capital.

The protest, organised by the Socialist Youth Union, was held to demonstrate against the government's continued use of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Sri Lankan police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protestors.

Parents of children killed in the 1995 Nagarkovil massacre shed tears, as they laid flowers to commemorate their loved ones at an event to mark the 27^th anniversary of the killings this week.

Sri Lanka’s much criticised president Ranil Wickremesinghe took jabs at current British Prime Minister Liz Truss and her predecessor Boris Johnson in an address to parliament earlier today.

Paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth, Wickremesinghe told lawmakers that “two days before her death we saw Her Majesty on television with the outgoing prime minister and incoming prime minister”.

Sri Lankan police have arrested yet another Tamil activist this morning, just a day after it detained two others over a protest against the illegal construction of a Buddhist vihara in Mullaitivu.

A commemoration ceremony was held earlier this week to mark 32 years since at least 33 Tamils were killed by Sri Lankan soldiers in Savukkadi, Batticaloa.

Protests have taken place in Mullaitivu and Jaffna to condemn Sri Lanka’s arrest of two leading Tamil rights activists, just hours after they demonstrated against the illegal construction of a Buddhist vihara.

Former Northern Provincial Council member T Ravikaran and civil society activist R Mayuran were arrested and accused of “criminal coercion” for taking part in the protest on Wednesday. They have since been released on bail.

Tamil leaders of political parties in Sri Lanka jointly release a letter, with urgent request that the current draft of the Sri Lanka Resolution at the UNHRC refer Sri Lanka to the ICC. 

The Core-Group on Sri Lanka, comprised of the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Germany, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Malawi, drafted the resolution which fails to “[...] include the recommendation by the UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights in her report to the UNHRC calling to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC).”