Sri Lanka’s Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara warned the country’s striking teachers that the government had “destroyed terrorism” and insinuated that it would deal with any disruption in a similar manner.

Speaking at an event in Colombo last week, the controversial minister said;

As Sri Lanka faces the threat of financial default, the latest survey by LMD-NielsenIQ Business Confidence Index (BCI) reveals that the majority of Sri Lankans polled (46%) believe that Sri Lanka's economic situation will worsen over the coming 12 months.

Prominent Tamil journalist, Shanmugam Thavaseelan was amongst those that formally opened the Mullaitivu Press Club on Tuesday morning. 

Speaking before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Julie Chung, US nominee ambassador to Sri Lanka, emphasised her commitment "to speaking clearly and consistently in support of democratic values, human rights and a strong civil society".

Chung's previous posting was as the Acting Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and she is replacing Alaina B. Teplitz as Ambassador to Sri Lanka. Chung has served in a variety of roles including as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and serving for roles in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Colombia, and Iraq.

(Photo Credit: The Guardian)

Renowned Tamil Eelam playback singer and musician Rameswaran Varnakulasingam (popularly known as ‘Varna Rameswaran’) passed away in Canada last month, after contracting COVID-19.

Varna passed away on 25^th September 2021, at the age of 52.

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister lashed out at the United Nations and decried the “double standards” and “threats” that were coming Colombo’s way, in an interview published by the Daily Mirror this week.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a new airport in Kushinagar earlier today, in a ceremony which saw 100 Buddhist monks fly in from Sri Lanka, accompanied by the son of the Sri Lankan prime minister.

^{Mahinda Rajapaksa with a Sinhala Buddhist monk photographed earlier this year.}

The Sri Lankan cabinet has approved amendments to five bills drafted on the banning of cattle slaughter this week, in a move that pushes the island on the verge of a ban following years of pressure from Sinhala Buddhist monks.

^{Powell in Colombo, 2005.}

This week, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell passed away from COVID-19 related complications, aged 84 years old. 

Powell will be remembered as being the first African-American US Secretary of State and also for his role in garnering international support for the US invasion of Iraq. 

We look back on his interactions and remarks on Sri Lanka, the faltering peace process between the Sri Lankan government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Washington’s support for Colombo that empowered the Rajapaksa regime and its military offensive.

In their latest report, Amnesty International details how the Rajapaksa regime rose to power "on the promise of authoritarian leadership" and continued scapegoating and targetting of Muslims, "to distract from other political and economic issues". 

Sri Lankan state officials, in plain clothes, surveilled and harassed Tamil journalists at the Mullaitivu Press Club, as the office was preparing to open on October 20.

The slain journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan was remembered in a series of memorial events across the North-East today to mark the 21st anniversary of his death. 

Jaffna Press Club held a memorial service at their office which was attended by Jaffna Mayor V Mannivannan and Vali East Pradeshiya Sabha chairman Nirosh alongside journalists and social activists. 

Protesters gathered in Mannar from smaller villages, on Monday to condemn attempts of “outside forces” to appropriate farm land in Kovilmottai.