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.

"India believes that it is in Sri Lanka’s own interest that the expectations of Tamils in Sri Lanka for equality, justice, peace and dignity, within a united Sri Lanka, are fulfilled," Mani Pandey, India's Ambassador told the Council. 

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.

Dharmalingam was convicted on charges of carrying a meagre 42.72 grams of heroin into Singapore, a country that has received widespread criticism over its harsh drug laws. 

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. 

They congregated in the Semmani area at around 8.30 PM local time on Thursday, drawing attention to the frequent power cuts in the island. 

Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has agreed to supply gas oil, gasoline and jet fuel to Sri Lanka amidst the deteriorating economic crisis.

Due to a lack of funds, Sri Lankans are currently facing up to seven hours of unexpected power cuts and lengthy queues for over-priced fuel.

The Sri Lankan government has enforced a more than 7-hour power cut across parts of the island today, amidst soaring prices and an economic crisis that continues to worsen.

Last week, an EPDP MP, Thileepan attacked a student in Vavuniya. The youth was attacked by the EPDP members during a confrontation between two student groups in Vairavapuliyankulam, Vavuniya.

There have been a series of clashes between youth groups in the Vairapuliyankulam area in Vavuniya for the past two days.

After almost two years of the coronavirus pandemic and amidst widespread protests, the Sri Lankan government announced it would end the widely condemned practice of requiring Muslim Covid-19 victims to be buried at a government-designated site in the North-East this week

In a special announcement from Sri Lanka’s ministry of health, the government said that “dead bodies can be disposed of adhering to normal procedure adopted before the COVID-19 pandemic”.

The former British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka slammed states that abstained in this week’s United Nations vote on Russia’s “aggression” into Ukraine – including the country that he was formerly posted in.

In a tweet sent out earlier today, James Dauris said the vote at the UN General Assembly was “historic”.