Sri Lanka’s new president Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued a statement on Thursday, claiming that media freedom will not be hindered in any form during his tenure.

Rajapaksa, who has a record of violently stifling dissent, addressed heads of local media institutions on Thursday where he said while there was an opportunity for “reasonable criticism”, he expected every media institution to fulfil its obligation towards the country, by “engaging in favourable media reporting” to uphold the country’s reputation.

Journalist Maduka Fernando of Lake House Media has reported that he was assaulted by several members of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party’s trade union members.

Fernando complained to the police that the assailant is the Chairman of the SLPP trade union, Pragathashili Sangamaya. Fernando went on to name his assaulters, stating that the Chairman was supported by Nuwan Kodikara Chandana Bandara, Gayan Bandara, Hemantha Depp and Chameera Elladeniya.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to Subramaniya Bharathy on his birthday, 11th December marking the 137th year of his birth.

Arguably the most prolific of Tamil poets, Bharathiar is celebrated by Tamils all over the globe for his influence on feminism, social reform, fight for freedom and many other revolutionary causes.

<p>The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has released a statement, stating that they would launch an investigation into a Muslim doctor, Dr. Mohamed Safi Sihabdeen, who is accused of illegal sterilisation, corruption and supporting terrorism.</p> <p>An investigation launched earlier this July 2019, reported that there was no evidence to support the claims against Dr. Shafi Sihabdeen.</p> <p>Read Colombo Page reporting <a href="http://www.colombopage.com/archive_19B/Dec12_1576174926CH.php">here</a>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Swiss embassy employee who was abducted on November 25 was ordered by the Colombo Magistrate's&nbsp;Court to undergo a psychiatric examination tomorrow.&nbsp;</p> <p>The&nbsp;travel ban imposed on the victim&nbsp;has been further&nbsp;extended until December 17, when&nbsp;the psychiatric report is to be submitted.&nbsp;</p>

A joint petition by US based law firm, Proskauer Rose LLP and non-profit, Freedom Now has been filed to the United Nations over the arbitrary imprisonment of Sri Lankan author Shakthika Sathkumara by Sri Lankan authorities for allegedly insulting Buddhism.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson released a video thanking the British Tamil community for their contribution to life in the UK and expressed hopes for accountability in Sri Lanka.

In a video message that Johnson released on Twitter on the day of Britain’s general election, he said:

A commemoration for another massacre carried out by the Sri Lankan army in 1984 was held in Vavuniya on Sunday.

Twenty-eight Tamil men and boys in Semamadu were woken up from their sleep and rounded up by the army, taken away in military vehicles never to be seen again, assumed to have been massacred.

Families of the disappeared decried the surveillance and intimidation they endure at the hands of Sri Lankan security and intelligence forces, while Sri Lankan intelligence officers came out in force to photograph and carry out surveillance of a mass rally in Mullaitivu on Tuesday.

<p>The election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as President of Sri Lanka “sent shockwaves across the Tamil-dominated northeast - where memories of his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa's brutal presidency, marked by mass atrocities and enforced disappearances, remain fresh,” writes&nbsp;Mario Arulthas, Advocacy Director at People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), in a piece for Al Jazeera this week.</p>