The Tamil people are “not satisfied” with progress made by the Sri Lankan government Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R Sampanthan told the United Nations Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, as they met in Colombo earlier this week.

Nominations for the Eastern Provincial Council will be called on 2 October 2017, the National Elections Commission announced on Saturday. 

The Council's term will end 26 September 2017. Thirty-seven councillors will be elected for the Eastern Provincial Council. 

The last election for the EPC was held on 8 September 2012. 

Nominations for the North-Central and Sabragamuwa Provincial Councils will also take place in October. 

Condemning the suspected assassination attempt of a Jaffna High Court judge, Ilancheliyan, the United States embassy in Sri Lanka called for the perpetrators to face "swift justice". 

"Deeply concerned by shooting involving #Jaffna High Court Judge Illancheliyan. We call on govt to ensure perpetrators face due,swift justice," the US embassy tweeted on Sunday. 

Two men were arrested on Sunday over their suspected involvement in the shooting of a Jaffna High Court judge on Saturday. 

Judge Ilancheliyan managed to escape unharmed but one police officer was killed in the incident. 

The identities of the suspects remains unknown. 

“This is a threat to the judiciary,” Judge Ilancheliyan told journalists, adding that he believed the attack to be related to any number of dangerous cases that he has been overseeing for the past eight months.

One of two of Jaffna High Court judge Ilancheliyan’s police bodyguards has died in hospital, succumbing to bullet injuries sustained while protecting the judge from an attempt on his life in Nallur yesterday.

51-year-old Sgt. Hemaratne died shortly after midnight, despite the efforts of the Intensive Care Unit at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.

Exports of travel goods from Sri Lanka will be duty free entry to the United States following a decision by the US to approve the inclusion of travel goods from all General System of Preferences (GSP) beneficiary countries, reports Xinhua News.

Sri Lanka was included in the expanded US General System of Preferences scheme on July 1 according to a statement released by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry on Friday.

Sri Lanka's police have been given a two month deadline by the Ministry of Law and Order to complete investigations on high profile cases committed by the former government, Economy Next reported. 

According to the paper Minister Sagala Ratnayaka is taking a "hands on approach" to ensure progress after Mr Sirisena urged him "to deliver or depart". 

The cases are expected to include the assassination of a prominent Sinhala editor, Lasantha Wickremetunga and the murder of Wasim Thajudeen. 

The former of commander of Sri Lanka’s contingent of peace keeping troops to Haiti has been appointed as the Army Chief of Staff reports Adaderana.lk.

Sri Lanka’s soldiers were implicated with rape and running child sex rings whilst serving as UN Peace Keeping forces in Haiti. In 2007 a group of Haitian children identified 134 peacekeepers from Sri Lanka in a child sex ring that lasted several years. Though repatriated none of the implicated soldiers were prosecuted in Sri Lanka.

The Jaffna High Court judge Ilancheliyan was fired at on Saturday evening, in a suspected assassination attempt which the judge believes to be linked to his overseeing of dangerous criminal cases.

The Premier of Ontario said the Black July pogrom of 1983 serves as a reminder of the need to “remain ever-vigilant against all forms of bigotry and intolerance,” in a message of commemoration this week.

“History is a great teacher — for those who are open to its lessons,” said Premier Kathleen Wynne. “That is why today, you pause to remember the victims of violent acts against Tamils. We also remember the lives lost and displaced in the Sri Lankan Civil War that followed.”