For four days villagers in Kottaipattinam, Tamil Nadu, have been staging a sit-in protest to demand the return of two Tamil fishermen captured by the Sri Lankan navy, as well as the corpse of Rajkiran.

The protests come days after the fishermen were captured by Sri Lankan authorities with Kottaipattinam’s Fishermen Association’s Leader, Chinnaadaikalam, maintaining that Rajkiran was murdered by the Sri Lankan navy.

“We have seen pictures of the body. This is not what a person looks like if they drown. The Sri Lankans have given him acid and tortured him. That’s why his body has swelled up. We want answers from the government”.

A Sri Lankan police officer has reportedly carried out another assault on a Tamil youth in Batticaloa, less than 24 hours after a video of a different officer kicking and punching two youths emerged.

Sri Lankan Terrorism Investigation Division has summoned Tamil journalists including U.L.Mabruk, a BBC Tamil journalist, for investigation. 

Mabruk has been asked to report to the Division’s office in Colombo on November 8. 

Julie Chung, the US nominee ambassador to Sri Lanka, testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations earlier this week.

See the full video of her hearing and read the full text of her testimony below.

Sri Lankan security forces administered COVID-19 vaccines for Mannar students preparing for the GCE Advanced Level on Thursday.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced that it will provide an additional US$2.5 million dollars in "urgent COVID-19 assistance" for Sri Lanka. 

The $US2.5 million in American Rescue plan funds will "accelerate equitable access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccinations and strengthen the ability of health workers to address COVID-19," explained USAID in a statement.

_{File photo: TNA MP Sivagnanam Sritharan}

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Sivagnanam Sritharan told Sri Lankan parliament that, “39 [Tamils were] arrested in North-East in last three months” during a discussion on children's rights on Thursday.

The 34th anniversary of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) massacre was marked at Jaffna Teaching Hospital, with staff and faculty members holding a commemorative ceremony on Thursday.

A Sri Lankan police officer was seen brutalising two Tamil citizens in Batticaloa this evening, kicking one individual and dragging and slapping another individual on a motorcycle.

In a statement, Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) leader Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne called for the international recognition of the “ongoing” genocide of Tamils and the recognition of Eelam as a state. 

“A systematic referendum is needed to recognize Tamil Eelam internationally,” Dr. Karunaratne stated. 

Dr Beth Van Schaack, an esteemed human rights lawyer and academic that has written extensively on accountability and justice in Sri Lanka, has been nominated by US president Joe Biden for the post of Ambassador at Large for Global Criminal Justice at the Department of State.

See more of her work on accountability in Sri Lanka below.

In collaboration with several other Tamil Canadian organizations, the Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action (TCCCA) donated 18,792lbs of food in their second annual Thiyagi Thileepan Food Drive.