As the United Nations Human Rights Council continued to discuss Sri Lanka today, several member states including the United States and Britain expressed “concerns regarding the continued lack of progress on accountability” for mass atrocities on the island.

British MP, Virendra Sharma, has joined a number of prominent British MPs who and Tamil activists who have called on the UK Foreign Secretary to impose Magnitsky style sanctions on Sri Lankan army commander, Shavendra Silva.

Sri Lanka is facing drug shortages due to unfavourable internal price controls and a worsening forex crisis making it harder for vendors to purchase drugs, leading to acute shortages of 5 per cent of medicines registered with the National Medicines Regulatory authority which includes paracetamol and drugs for diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol. 

Recently sacked Sri Lankan ministers Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila reportedly declared war on the government and warned to expose who was the ‘main cause’ of the island’s crisis. 

The British government said it will continue to support engagement between the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Sri Lanka on accountability and human rights, when questioned on the UK's plans to pursue an international investigation into rights abuses.

Sri Lanka's power regulator had sought USD $150 million from the Sri Lankan central bank, in order to import fuel for the next two months but no response has been received forcing power cuts of over 7 hours. 

Farmers in Mannar have been unable to harvest their crops this week due to Sri Lanka’s ongoing fuel shortage. 

The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) marked the 14th anniversary of the assassination of Tamil MP K Sivanesan in Vadamarachchi and Batticaloa today. 

A former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) intelligence chief, Thangavelu Nimalan has been sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly possessing 2 kilograms of high explosives. 

Colombo High Court delivered the sentence on Friday after a case was filed against Nimalan in 2011.  

India told Sri Lanka to "take the necessary steps to address the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil community" during the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session yesterday as member states reacted to the UN High Commissioner's latest report.

Speaking at the launch of a biography on Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, member of the Indian National Congress (INC) party, Rahul Gandhi, claimed a deep tie historic tie to Tamil Nadu and slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for imposing his ideas on the state.

Earlier this week, Singapore's top court heard the final appeal by Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam, an intellectually disabled Malaysian Tamil man who has been sitting on death row since 2010.

UN High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet called on member states to "pursue alternate strategies to advance accountability at the international level" as successive Sri Lankan governments have demonstrated their "unwillingness to pursue accountability." 

Residents of Jaffna gathered in the Jaffna-Kandy highway earlier this week carrying torch and candle lights, expressing their opposition to recurrent power outages in their district.