Tamil journalist Shanmugam Thavaseelan was attacked by an unidentified man at Mallavi petrol station while reporting on a story on the fuel shortage on the island. 

Thavaseelan went to Mallavi petrol station in Mullaitivu on Friday, to report on the long queues that had built up outside the petrol station but was attacked by an unidentified man while Sri Lankan police officers reportedly looked on. Thavaseelan has filed a complaint at Mallavi police station. 

Sri Lankan soldiers have reportedly opened fire at a petrol station in Mullaitivu.

At least two Tamils are reported to have been injured at Visvamadu petrol station, after shots were fired.

As schools continue to be a focus of militarisation for the Sri Lankan state, the army further entrenched its occupation of the Tamil-inhabited North-East under the guise of a badminton training programme for young Tamil students. 

The badminton training programme was to “popularize the game of badminton among the youth in the Jaffna peninsula.” 

Sri Lanka is left with fuel stocks for five days, as the country urgently awaits a new credit line from India for fuel. 

Sri Lanka is unable to make $725 million in overdue payments to suppliers and also struggling to open letters of credit for future shipments, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said. The minister then went on to note that the country only has five days worth of petrol and diesel in stock and that supplies could run out faster if non-essential travel was not cut back on. 

The Sri Lankan army announced it was undertaking a “gigantic project of national and timely importance” by sending in soldiers to farm fruit and vegetables across the island, as a food crisis hits.

The military, which admits to already running at least 16 farms, will now take on an even greater role in the agricultural sector, said the army.

The Sri Lankan government has announced a two-week shutdown, encouraging all public sector employees to work from home, as a fuel shortage amidst the island’s economic crisis has brought many forms of transport to a grinding halt.

A circular from the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry announced directive for all but the most essential workers.

The British government has distanced itself from a private security company that is currently under police investigation over war crimes in Sri Lanka, claiming that it was “not party to the agreement” that the firm held with the Sri Lankan government.

Dozens of Sri Lankan protestors gathered outside the Indian High Commission in Colombo on Thursday, as controversy erupted over a renewable energy project that was handed to the Adani Group last year.

“Stop Adani, Stop Adani!” chanted the protestors in Colombo, as they held placards denouncing the Indian multinational conglomerate. “Hands off Sri Lanka,” rang another slogan.

The Sri Lankan government claimed to have made “significant progress in some key areas” at the UN Human Rights Council this week, where foreign minister G L Peiris met with the president of the council and requested “space for the country to deal with the present socio-economic issues”.

“We certainly recognize, as a core belief, that human rights are indivisible, interconnected and interdependent,” claimed Peiris in his address to the Council.

Newly elected Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, met with the Nadesalingam family and welcomed them back into the Biloela community after several years in Australian detention.