The prominent South Indian Carnatic and Kollywood singer P Unni Krishnan has apologised to his Tamil fans, for being honoured by Douglas Devananda in Jaffna during a music concert last month, reports Uthayan.

Unni Krishnan said he was deeply ashamed of the incident, in which Devananda marked the singer with the traditional honour of being draped in a silk cloth or ‘ponnaadai’ during a performance at Nallur Kanthasamy temple in Jaffna on 18th August 2012.

Describing the incident as a "black mark" in his musical journey, the singer apologised for hurting Tamil sentiments worldwide.

Speaking in an interview, Unni Krishnan said (translated text follows):

“I was invited to perform at a musical concert during the Nallur Kanthasamy Temple Festival (Thiruvizha) in Jaffna. Having earned a place in the hearts of Eelam Tamils through songs on liberation, I agreed to go to Jaffna to meet and perform for them.”

Having submitted to its National Report for the upcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the UN Human Rights Council, the new ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, told the 21st session that Sri Lanka was looking forward to the process.

Claiming that the government the military was "no longer involved in civil administration in the Northern and the Eastern provinces", and "the Security Forces presence in the Jaffna peninsula has been reduced from 50,000 at the height of the conflict, to 15,000 at present", Aryasinha also claimed that "Sri Lanka's democratic credentials were yet again re-asserted 2 days ago with the successful conduct of Provincial Council elections, including in the previously conflict affected Eastern Province."

Civil society groups and rights groups on the island, within the Tamil diaspora and internationally, sumitted rather different reports however.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Colombo has said it is keen to boost investment and trade in Sri Lanka.

"The US has expressed its desire to increase more FDI (foreign direct investment) flows to Sri Lanka and also see an increase in Sri Lankan exports to the US," Vijaya Ratnayake, president of AMCHAM Sri Lanka said, according to LBO.

The South African High Commissioner to Colombo, Geoff Doidge has announced that his country will make an initial investment of US$ 122 million, whilst speaking at a dinner hosted by the Export Development Board of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for a South African business delegation.

The Eastern Province elections saw low turnout by Muslims reported TamilNet.

The polls, held on Saturday, saw around 60% of registered voters casting their vote.

TamilNet said that turnout was low, especially in Muslim areas, thought to be due to an “internecine fight between Muslim political parties”.