August 2026

157 Treated for Eye Injuries After Jaffna Temple Festival; Police Seize High-Powered Lamps

157 Treated for Eye Injuries After Jaffna Temple Festival; Police Seize High-Powered Lamps

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — At least 157 people, including 55 children, have been treated at Jaffna Teaching Hospital after developing painful eye problems following a Hindu temple festival, prompting police to seize high-powered lamps used at the event as investigators seek to determine whether the lighting caused the injuries. The patients had attended a festival at a Murugan temple in the Piranpatru area of Jaffna, where powerful electric lamps had been installed around the temple grounds. Dr. T. S
JM Exclusive August 2026
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Facing a Fight for His Seat, Archchuna Turns to Muslim Rights

Facing a Fight for His Seat, Archchuna Turns to Muslim Rights

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Tamil member of Sri Lanka’s Parliament accused the director of a government hospital in the country’s east on Wednesday of discriminating against Muslim employee. The lawmaker, Ramanathan Archchuna, an independent representing Jaffna District, said nine Muslim women employed as health assistants had been prevented from working at Kalmunai North Base Hospital because of a dispute over their attire and were subsequently transferred to the nearby Ashraff Memorial Hospital.
August 2026 Monitor Memo
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Three Years On, Rajnath Singh’s Sri Lanka Visit Takes on New Significance

Three Years On, Rajnath Singh’s Sri Lanka Visit Takes on New Significance

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — India’s defence minister, Rajnath Singh, is preparing to visit Sri Lanka, three years after a planned trip was abruptly deferred, as the two neighbors move to deepen a security partnership that was formalized last year with their first broad agreement on defence cooperation. The itinerary has not been finalized, and New Delhi has not announced dates for the visit. Mr. Singh is expected to hold talks in Colombo, with a possible stop in Trincomalee. Preparations are already
August 2026
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Government Refuses to Return Kilinochchi Press Club Site, Citing Security
A Google Maps view showing the site of the former Kilinochchi Press Club

Government Refuses to Return Kilinochchi Press Club Site, Citing Security

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry has refused to return a state-owned property in Kilinochchi that housed a press club before the end of the civil war and has been under military control since, telling journalists only that security concerns made its release impossible. The decision was conveyed in an Aug. 12 letter from the Presidential Secretariat to the Kilinochchi Media Forum, nearly three months after the organisation appealed directly to President Anura Kumara Dissanay
JM Exclusive August 2026
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Chemmani Excavation Stops Today With 582 Sets of Human Remains Identified

Chemmani Excavation Stops Today With 582 Sets of Human Remains Identified

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Excavations at the Chemmani mass grave end on Wednesday with 582 sets of human remains identified, among them those of children, and no decision on whether digging will resume before a court date in October. Wednesday is the 56th and final day authorised by the court for the third phase of the excavation, and the 110th day of digging at the site on the outskirts of Jaffna since work began in May last year. Whether a fourth phase goes ahead rests on a hearing set for Oct. 14,
August 2026 Exclusive
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Will the Rains Fail in Jaffna? Two Forecasts Point in Opposite Directions

Will the Rains Fail in Jaffna? Two Forecasts Point in Opposite Directions

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Shortly before midnight on Tuesday, one of the most widely followed voices on weather in northern Sri Lanka posted an alert in Tamil that spread quickly across the peninsula. Prof. N. Piratheeparajah, a professor of geography at the University of Jaffna and dean of its Faculty of Arts, wrote that a closely watched Indian Ocean climate index had fallen unexpectedly, that a powerful El Niño was responsible, and that the rains the North depends on in October and November could
JM Exclusive August 2026
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Ranil Warns Sri Lanka Could Face Bankruptcy Again After 2028

Ranil Warns Sri Lanka Could Face Bankruptcy Again After 2028

COLOMBO — Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe warned on Tuesday that Sri Lanka faces a second bankruptcy when heavy debt repayments resume after 2028, and said the government was spending its remaining preparation time on the Constitution and the judiciary instead of on rebuilding foreign-exchange reserves. He spoke at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall at the launch of Yuddha Dekakata Ura Dee, or Shouldering Two Wars, by Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, whom Mr. Wickremesinghe a
August 2026 Exclusive
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Sri Lanka Can Tame Inflation if Oil Holds Near $80, Central Bank Chief Says

Sri Lanka Can Tame Inflation if Oil Holds Near $80, Central Bank Chief Says

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka can return inflation to its 5 percent target if global oil prices hold near $80 a barrel, the country's central bank governor said, while warning that a fresh energy shock would strain a recovery that remains vulnerable to forces beyond the island's control. Nandalal Weerasinghe, governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, spoke in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Sydney, where he is leading an investor roadshow intended to draw foreign money into Sri Lanka's stock m
Economics August 2026
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