Farmers and local residents celebrated the annual 'Ulavar Vizha' or farmers' festival on January 18 in Palachcholai, Porathivu Pattu, Batticaloa. 

Families with children gathered to celebrate the harvest and traditional farming. 

Students from the Hindu College in Kalviyankadu, Jaffna protested this morning against the authorities failure to curb the increased use of drugs in Jaffna. 

Condemning the violent attacks related to the use of drugs, students accused authorities of allowing the ongoing smuggling of drugs into the region. 

Civil society organisations and women's rights group protested in Jaffna on Sunday against Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the planned Counter Terror Act (CTA). 

"Say no to PTA & CTA" and "don't take away rights by PTA & CTA", protesters demanded, as they gathered by Vempady junction in Jaffna town, and marched towards the main bus station. 

A group of Sinhala villagers led by a Buddhist monk disrupted a Thai Pongal celebration at a Hindu temple in Mullaitivu last week, as tensions continued to flare in the area with the construction of a large Buddha statue.

UPFA MP and former Minister Duminda Dissanayake said he was confident that the jailed leader of the Sinhala extremist Bodu Bala Sena group Galagodaaththe Gnanasara would be freed on Sri Lanka’s Independence Day, after visiting the monk in prison this week.

^{Photograph: Hiran Priyankara for the Sunday Times.}

Sri Lanka’s police claimed to have seized a haul of high powered explosives and arrested at least four men who are accused of belonging to “a radicalised local group of Muslims”.

The leader of the hardline Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU), Udaya Gammanpila, accused the Tamil National Alliance MP, M A Sumanthiran of controlling the Sri Lankan government. 

Speaking at an event to mark Thai Pongal in Toronto last week, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for justice and accountability in Sri Lanka, as dozens of Canadian politicians from across the political spectrum praised the Tamil diaspora’s contributions.

Local villagers in Mullaitivu have documented how a Sinhala Buddhist monk has been leading increasing efforts to construct a large Buddha statute that encroaches on a generations old Hindu temple.

Human rights organisations in the Philippines and around the world have denounced Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena’s praise of the Philippine president’s campaign against illegal drugs, which has been internationally condemned for its brutality.

Residents of Paddalipuram, Trincomalee protested on Thursday over the lack of teachers at the village schools. 

The village, which falls under Muttur division, has experienced a shortage of teacher and educational support staff over a number of years, residents said.