<p>A cross party group of British parliamentarians have written to the UK Foreign Secretary, after Sri Lanka’s president claimed that the thousands of forcibly disappeared Tamils “are actually dead”.</p>

<p>Sri Lanka is exploring the possibility of purchasing modern weapons from Russia, Yury Matery, the Russian Ambassador to Colombo, reportedly said.</p> <p>In an interview with RIA Novosti, the Ambassador stated that military-technical cooperation between Russia and Sri Lanka has been developing over the recent years.</p>

A Christian shrine was vandalised by a group of unknown persons in Vauvuniya earlier today, in what locals have denounced as a move to try and create religious disharmony in the region.

The Madha shrine, located by a row of private homes in Vavuniya, was found vandalised by locals.

The Office of Missing Persons (OMP) have started the process of issuing Interim Reports to the families of the disappeared which will allow them to obtain a Certificate of Absence (CoA), to 'validate' the status of a person reported missing.

In a press release, the OMP stated that:

Batticaloa Magistrate's Court has ordered Sri Lankan police to detain two men over the murder of a Sri Lankan policeman in Vavunathivu last week, including a former LTTE cadre.

The Sri Lankan military has recently ramped up search operations across the Tamil homeland, including the searching of buses travelling from Jaffna to the south of the island.

 

At least one person has been admitted to hospital after an explosion at a home in Mullaitivu, where a Tamil man had reportedly been collecting discarded munitions, in order to extract chemicals to sell.

Sri Lanka’s prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa revealed that he requested a moratorium on all loan repayments to India for three years, as his regime struggles with Sri Lanka’s repayment obligations.

In an interview with The Hindu, Rajapaksa admitted that Sri Lanka’s debt repayments, with servicing totalling $60 billion, were “a worry”.

A notice has been issued to Wasantha Karannagoda, a former Sri Lankan navy chief, to appear in court over the abduction and murder of 11 primarily Tamil youths, the Colombo Gazette reported. 

This is the third notice that has been issued to Karannagoda as he has failed to appear in court on two previous occasions.   

During a meeting between Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Modi stated the need for the government to “carry forward the process of reconciliation” and to implement the Thirteen Amendment, which relates to devolving power to provincial councils across the island.

In a statement Modi said;

Tamil diaspora groups have called on the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) to 'investigate and report' on the allegations of crimes against Tamil civilians committed by British mercenaries. 

In a joint letter to the UK's Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, the groups highlight that a private British company, Keenie Meenie Services (KMS) was "involved in inflicting death and carnage to Tamils in Sri Lanka, and worse, enjoys impunity in this country."

This month saw the release of an explosive new book that documents how a private British company formed of former Special Air Service (SAS) veterans turned mercenaries, went on to effectively set up one of Sri Lanka’s most notorious military units – one that has been accused of committing egregious mass atrocities.

Authored by Phil Miller, ‘Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away with War Crimes', goes into meticulous detail of how a band of former British soldiers trained and even flew helicopters for the Sri Lankan military whilst massacres were reportedly underway, all under the watchful eye of the UK Foreign Office.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is accused of numerous war crimes, when addressing Chairpersons and Board of Directors of several plantations and financial institutions, said he would work to “recover” the nation without pointing blame at the past.

<p>An Early Day Motion (EDM) was tabled by UK MPs to support the establishment of a Tamil Heritage Month in the UK.</p> <p>The full text reads:</p> <blockquote><p>