Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, held a telephone meeting today, with the Sri Lankan premier requesting economic support from New Delhi as the island's economy faces a massive crisis.

Despite apparent restrictions put into place for coronavirus prevention, the Sri Lankan military held a series of public events across the Tamil homeland last week, as it marked the Buddhist festival of Vesak.

The Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) has reverted oil prices of Octane 92 petrol following calls by Sri Lankan MPs to boycott the company and buy from the government-owned CPC sheds.

This follows moves earlier this week to increase the price of Octane 92 petrol by Rs. 5, thus selling a litre of Octane 92 for 142 litres as opposed to Rs 137.

The home of a Tamil lawyer, who successfully challenged a Jaffna court isolation order against members of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), has been attacked by unknown persons on Friday night.

Three youths travelling on a three-wheeler vehicle were assaulted by army officials and then arrested for "attempting to attack the army officials" and face prosecution for 'obstruction of duty'.

The incident occurred yesterday afternoon in the Urumpirai area in Jaffna.

The army soldiers who were carrying out routine inspections of those travelling in the Urumpirai area, pulled over the youths in the three-wheeler.

Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, met with the Buddhist Maha Sanga to discuss his task force, which is led by Defence Secretary, Kamal Gunaratne, and aims to protect archaeological sites in the East.

The head of Sri Lanka’s army, who is currently barred from travel to the US over his role in overseeing war crimes, met with a Sinhala Buddhist monk who has repeatedly spread hate speech and was caught on camera assaulting a Christian man, as he visited the Eastern Province last week.

Sri Lankan Defence Secretary and alleged war criminal, Kamal Gunaratne, pledged to Buddhist monks in Amparai that he would protect archaeological sites through the establishment of a naval sub-unit in Muhudu Maha Viharaya and enact harsh punishments for "vandalism".

The following pieces are by Yhalisai and Kulalisai, both escaped the war in the Vanni in 2009 and now live in the diaspora. 

18th of May 

Our hopes and dreams, they did betray.
For all their cruelty, they must pay. 
For our freedom, it's a long delay.
We didn't want war, but there was no other way. 

I had the greatest honour to design Quebec’s Tamil Heritage Month stamp for 2020.

Designing is something I love to do and I am so grateful that it is a huge part of my life. As someone who is Tamil, when I was asked to design a stamp that represented my culture and heritage, I did not think twice.

Pizza Hut in Sri Lanka has come under criticism after posting an image celebrating ‘National Victory Day’ as Tamils around the world commemorated the massacres at Mullivaikkal.

^{File photogrpah: Wikipedia}

The ruling Sri Lankan state must ask themselves why Tamils are actively seeking a separate state and acknowledge “what may be going wrong” said former East Timor President and Nobel Laureate Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta.

Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta headed the fifth annual Mullivaikkal Memorial Lecture, hosted by The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), which was delivered through a webinar format this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.