A senior UNP leader and Sri Lankan government minister thanked the navy for creating a “very cordial environment” in Nainativu last week, where the military maintains a large camp and has helped to construct a Buddhist vihara.

Harsha de Silva was visiting the island, which has been occupied by the Sri Lankan military for years, when he tweeted photographs posing with the chief monk of the vihara on the island.

<p>A draft for a new constitution for Sri Lanka is to be presented to the Constitutional Assembly next week, according to a report in the Daily Mirror today.</p> <p>The Daily Mirror reported that “top government sources” said the draft was being prepared by the steering committee of the constitutional assembly headed by current Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe.</p> <p>See more <a href="http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Draft-of-new-constitution-to-be-prese…">here</a>.</p>

Investors from Singapore and Hong Kong met with the leader of the Tamil National Alliance over the development of Trincomalee. 

A number of states have discussed the development of the region since the end of the armed conflict. 

Sri Lanka’s tourism minister admitted that Colombo had missed their tourism target of 2.5 million visitors for the year, blaming “political instability” after the island was plunged into a crisis that saw lawmakers attack each other in parliament.

Sri Lanka fell some 200,000 visitors short from their target with Minister of Tourism Development, John Amaratunga stating it was due to the turmoil at the end of last year.

<p>The excavation of human skeletons at the mass grave site in Mannar resumed yesterday, after ten days of suspended activity.&nbsp;</p> <p>In total, 280 sets of human remains have been recovered, including 274 full skeletons and twenty-one skeletons of children. As well as signs of torture, observers had been disturbed by the discovery of bones bound by metal.</p> <p>The findings have raised fresh concerns over the fate of forcibly disappeared Tamils.</p> <p>Last month some of the remains were sent for carbon dating in Florida, USA.&nbsp;</p>

Kokkuvil residents accused the Sri Lankan police of inaction over gang violence and vandalism after locals were forced to apprehend five men believed to be involved in gang related activities in the region. 

Locals detained the five men on January 1, accusing them of preparing to carry out violence and vandalism in the area. The suspects were handed over to the police. 

There was a tense situation in Vavuniya on Tuesday after Sri Lankan soldiers and Special Task Force (STF) officers conducted a search operation in Puthur. 

Locals expressed alarm at the numbers of officers deployed in the reported operation as well as the 'stop and searches' carried out. 

According to the police, the operation followed a tip off regarding a suspect in the area, who reportedly escaped after throwing his bag into the bushes. The bag contained a pistol, four hand grenades and bullets, the police say. 

Sajith Premadasa, a senior UNP leader, joined Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena at a religious ceremony in Colombo this week, to invoke blessings on a Sinhala Buddhist monk who has marched against an international investigation into human rights abuses.

<p>The Washington based group, PEARL, today called on the United States and European Union to push for justice for the five Tamil students massacred on Trincomalee beach 13 years ago.&nbsp;</p> <p>"On the 2nd of January, 2006, Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force killed five Tamil students who had met on the beach in Trincomalee. The victims were all 20 years of age at the time of the killings," PEARL noted in a statement.&nbsp;</p> <p>"Today, 13 years to the date, the crime remains unpunished. Despite a commission of inquiry and two police investigation, the perpetrators are yet to be held accountable. The OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka determined “there are reasonable grounds to believe that security force personnel, including STF personnel, killed the five students”.</p>

Locals in Trincomalee gathered today at the beach to remember the massacre of five students, known as the 'Trinco 5'. 

The event, organised by a local youth organisation, was attended by residents and members of political parties.