Sri Lanka’s new High Commissioner to India, former cabinet Minister Milinda Moragoda, is reported to be preparing for a visit to India in mid-August to restore trust between the countries.

On this day 32 years ago, up to 64 Tamil civilians were killed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Valvettithurai in a massacre that was termed “India’s My Lai”.

A Mullaitivu photographer was found dead in his home in Mallavi - Palinagar on Monday.

Mallavi police said they were investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of Shanmugaratnam Vinothan.

Vinothan was 34 years of age and a father of two children.

Sri Lanka’s terrorism investigation division (TID) has summoned the chair of a Kilinochchi council for investigation.

Chair of Karaichi divisional council Velamalikithan Arunasalam was handed the summons letter telling him to appear before the TID in Kilinochchi on August 6.

A Tamil Nadu fisherman has been injured following an attack by the Sri Lankan navy yesterday. The attack took place near Kodiyakarai when the navy opened fire at an unarmed group of fishermen. 

Speaking at a media conference, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz, called on the Government of Sri Lanka to abide by its international commitments to human rights and take decisive steps to either repeal or amend its draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The statement comes despite Tamil parliamentarians and human rights organisations calling for a full repeal of the measure. Speaking in parliament, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) politician M.A. Sumanthiran highlighted how the PTA enabled for the systemic use of torture and called for its full repeal.

The United States says that all Sri Lankan soldiers continue to be fully vetted for involvement in human rights abuses before being allowed to train in the country. Recent appointments however point to holes in the vetting process and raise questions from survivors.  

On Friday, four Tamil political prisoners, arrested under the heavily criticised Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), were released from Anuradhapura Jail after being acquitted by the Vavuniya High Court. 

The political prisoners released included: Nadesan Dharmarasa from Jaffna, Joseph Sebastian from Vavuniya, Nadarasa Sarveshwaran, from Kilinochchi and Jaffna University professor Kanesasundaram Kannadasan. 

A Glasgow woman who was raped and assaulted by a hotel worker at a Sri Lankan hotel, Club Bentota Hotel, in 2010 has won a lawsuit against the tour operator, Kuoni. The judgement was handed down at the UK Supreme Court, 11 years after the lawsuit was filed. Kuoni was ordered to pay the compensation. 

Sri Lankan prisoners are to be enrolled in a new government scheme aimed at cultivating fertilisers following severe shortages caused by Sri Lanka's import ban on chemical fertilisers this year.

The Vavuniya High Court acquitted and released Jaffna University Fine Arts lecturer and former LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) member, Kanesasundaram Kannadasan, on Thursday, 30 July, over a year after his life sentence was overturned. 

People ‘s Council of Eelam Tamils (VETD) has urged the German government to immediately stop the deportation of a Tamil torture survivor and asylum-seeker, Sasi K.

Sasi K. moved to Germany in 2015 and was taken into an immigration detention in Büren last Friday. His deportation is set to take place on Tuesday 3 August at 4.50 p.m at Frankfurt airport.

The 14^th anniversary event of Sahathevan Nilakshan, a 22-year-old budding Tamil journalist who was shot and killed by suspected Sri Lankan military intelligence personnel on 1 August 2007, took place at Jaffna Press Club on Sunday.

Sri Lankan opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, announced his interest in reintroducing the death penalty for terrorists and drug traffickers at a meeting with reporters outside the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters in Colombo on Wednesday.