MUMBAI: To meet the increased flow of news about the situation in Sri Lanka and the general election in India, the BBC's Tamil service, BBC Tamilosai, has launched a 10-day special morning news programme.

The special 15-minute programme will be broadcast from 7 am every day until 20 May. The programme is broadcast on 19 (15285 kHz) and 16 (17515 kHz) meters on shortwave and is also available via the website bbctamil.com as a special audio folder for diaspora listeners.

BBC Tamil head Thirumalai Manivannan says, "With events unfolding in Sri Lanka as well as the general election in India, the BBC Tamil team feels that it's important to keep our audiences up to date with latest developments outside our normal daily half-hour broadcasts at 15.45 GMT (21.15 Sri Lankan and Indian Standard Times).

"As we have done in the past, we decided to add this special morning programme to our news output, to ensure our radio and online audiences are kept fully informed about developments which are directly affecting them."

BBC Tamilosai is one of the 32 language and regional services broadcast by BBC World Service. It offers a daily programme of news, current affairs and features, providing global insight to listeners in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu in India and across the world. BBC Tamilosai is broadcast across Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu in India via shortwave.

The BBC's special Tamil-language infotainment output for India's FM market includes sports, business and showbiz bulletins and is available in Chennai via partner station, Radio One.