Hundreds of frustrated Tamils staged an impromptu sit-down protest on Saturday, as fuel shortages continued to plague the island and even essential workers unable to access supplies.

An elderly Eelam Tamil woman who was found unconscious on a beach in Tamil Nadu passed away on Saturday, after she fled Sri Lanka for India last month.

The woman, identified as 71-year-old Parameswari from Trincomalee, was found alongside another elderly man, 81-year-old Sivan, on a beach in Dhanushkodi near Rameswaram last Monday.

Despite efforts to save her, Parameswari’s condition remained critical and she died while undergoing treatment at Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai on Saturday night.

The coordinator of the Tamil National Heritage Forum, S Nishanthan, was attacked by unknown persons in Jaffna on Friday.

As Nishanthan was waiting near a fuel station in Jaffna, two unknown men with swords beat and slashed him several times.

He has since been admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital for treatment. The perpetrators of the attack have not been apprehended.

Kollywood superstar Dhanush released a trailer for his latest film ‘Captain Miller’ this week, racking up millions of views within hours as it generated worldwide buzz.

The eagerly anticipated film, which sees Dhanush in the starring role and is directed by Arun Matheswaran, caught the attention of many with its swashbuckling visuals and familiarly powerful title.

Captain Miller is also the name of LTTE’s first Black Tiger.

The family of a 16-year-old Tamil girl who was abducted and raped have demanded that all the perpetrators are brought to justice, as they alleged the Sri Lankan police have refused to apprehend all those responsible.

Following the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) visit to Sri Lanka, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has stressed that any agreement must be contingent on critical reforms of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and warned that without such reforms Sri Lanka would suffer further economic mismanagement and uncontrollable debt.

A family of four from Vavuniya arrived in India as refugees this week after being forced to leave due to Sri Lanka's worsening economic crisis. 

The family were detained by the Indian authorities on arrival at Dhanushkodi and will be placed in Mandapam refugee camp following an investigation.

Tamil families of the disappeared in Vavuniya rejected the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) and recent remarks made by Sri Lanka's foreign minister at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in regards to the progress the mechanism has made in investigating enforced disappearances. 

On Friday, hundreds of Tamils arrived in New York for the 35th annual Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America (FeTNA) summit. FeTNA is an umbrella organization of over sixty different member Tamil Sangams from across North America, which has been meeting annually since its inception in 1987.

Though Sri Lankan officials have been desperately attempting to entice Russia into supplying them with much-needed fuel supplies, Moscow’s ambassador to Sri Lanka told lawmakers that even Russia may not be able to do so.

According to the Sunday Times, Russian Ambassador Yuri Materiy told the group of 10 parliamentarians that under Russian law his government was “forbidden from dealing with any bankrupt state”.