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

Military personnel facilitated and administered Pfizer vaccines alongside Mannar Regional Health Services Director Dr. R. Vinodan and hospital staff in select schools in Mannar, Nanattan, Musali, Manthai West and Madu.

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.

Speaking in parliament, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP MA Sumanthiran detailed how two fellow TNA MPs were denied the right to speak at a consultative committee meeting of the Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Conservation as members decried them as "LTTE".

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.

At least 68 civilians, including 21 medical personnel, were killed by Indian troops as they stormed the hospital building on the 21 and 22 October 1987, throwing grenades and firing indiscriminately at staff and patients. The building had been shelled by artillery before the raid. 

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. 

The Sri Lankan government has reversed its blanket ban on the import of chemical fertilisers following widespread and intense protests by the country’s farmers who are overwhelmingly dependent on the commodity, according to a report by the AFP.