Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have announced a ‘transition team’, as it prepares to assume power at the White House in January 20201, which includes the former US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and former United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Cathy Russell.

There have been celebrations in both Tamil Nadu and Jamaica today, as it was announced that Kamala Harris has become the first Black and Tamil woman to become elected the Vice President of the United States.

"We are celebrating this as a woman whose roots are in our village is getting elected as the Vice President of America,” local resident Malar Vendhan told the News Minute. “It is a matter of immense pride. Not only for Tamilians in Tamil Nadu, but this victory is a matter of pride for all Tamilians across the world.”

"I'm extremely glad that Kamala Harris is the first woman to be elected as the Vice President of US,” tweeted Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister this morning. “She has made Tamil Nadu proud with this astounding victory.”

The election of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States, as well as Kamala Harris as the first Black and Tamil female Vice President, has been touted as a victory for international multilateralism and the “restoration of America’s moral leadership” in the world.

In Biden’s manifesto, he announces that within his first year in office he will host a “Global Summit for Democracy” a key aim of which will be “advancing human rights” and “defending against authoritarianism”.

In an era in which the international community is backsliding on its commitments to Eelam Tamils and to human rights in Sri Lanka more generally, “moral leadership” is in dire need. However, the question remains will a Biden-Harris administration follow through?

“The Tamil media field was and continues to be the most frequent target of threats and killings in Sri Lanka”, the Jaffna Press Club (JPC) said last week. “But as Sri Lanka continues to be a state that fails to administer justice for crimes, accountability remains illusive.”

Muslims in Tamil Nadu protested in solidarity with Sri Lankan Muslims who have been subjected to Sri Lanka’s policy of mandatory cremation despite it breaking their religious customs and going against World Health Organisation guidance.

Government employees of the Manthai West Divisional Secretariat in Mannar, staged a protest demanding justice for the murder of one of their colleagues.

Locals have complained about the prices of turmeric powder in Mannar which are being sold in some places for up to 5000 rupees per kilogram due to Sri Lanka’s import ban.

California senator Kamala Harris has become the first Black and Tamil woman to be elected the Vice President of the United States.

Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan, is a Tamil woman who grew up in Chennai, whilst her father Donald grew up in Jamaica. In her memoir, Harris writes how she would visit Tamil Nadu almost every year and understands small amounts of Tamil. In her address to the Democratic National Convention earlier this year, Harris paid tribute to her 'chithis' - a word in Tamil for aunties.

The National Council of Canadian Tamils (NCCT) released a statement this week, requesting that the Canadian Federal government reject Former Air Force commander, and accused war criminal, Sumangala Dias as Sri Lankan Ambassador to Canada.

Within their letter to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, the NCCT stated that the Sri Lankan government headed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, "both credibly accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity… have been appointing former senior military personnel to top government positions." One of which was Air Marshal Sumangala Dias. 

A Magistrates court in Mullaitivu has ordered three suspects that were involved in the assault against two Tamil guardian correspondents last month, to be further kept in custody for another 14 days, until 17^th November 2020.

Mullaitivu’s District Magistrate announced the extension to detain the gang involved in timber smuggling as of Tuesday 3^rd November 2020, according to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson, MP and lawyer, M. A. Sumanthiran.