The Hindu said that Sri Lanka’s interim report by the steering committee established to work towards drafting a new constitution can only be welcomed “with a great degree of caution and circumspection,” in an editorial published today.

It stated that whilst the proposals were “forward-looking”, “there have been several such reports in the past” and that “none of them found broad acceptance within Sri Lanka’s polity”.

“There is room for both hope and fear,” said The Hindu.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein met with Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena in New York on Friday to discuss progress on human rights on the island.

The victims of the Nagarkovil school massacre were remembered by students and staff at the school on Friday.

Vessels from the Sri Lankan navy returned to Trincomalee this week after completing a set of military exercises in India earlier this month.

The Sri Lankan army has said that senior LTTE leader Ezhilan did not surrender at the end of the war and was not detained.

A criminal lawsuit filed against former Sri Lankan military commander Jagath Jayasuriya should “act as a loud deterrent message to all would-be perpetrators” said the Sri Lankan Campaign for Peace & Justice (SLC), in a blog post examining the case today.

General Jayasuriya, who was appointed as Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Brazil, fled to Sri Lanka after the lawsuits were filed last month.

Updated: 1100 GMT

The Sri Lankan prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe today presented the interim report by the steering committee established to work towards drafting a new constitution. 

Find full report here. 

Presenting the report to the constitutional assembly, Mr Wickremesinghe said, "it is up to the SLFP and the UNP to reach an agreement on the fundamentals of the new constitution and the future of this country depends on the ability which the two parties have to reach such an agreement." 

The Eastern Province is to be brought under the administration of the governor after its term of office ends on September 26 until elections are held, the Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Faizer Musthapha was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying. 

Provincial Councils of Sabaragamuwa and North Central will also be brought under the administration of their respective governors. 

Batticaloa locals paid tribute on Thursday to 17 Tamil civilians massacred by Muslim Home Guards in Puthukudiyiruppu (Batticaloa) 27 years ago.

Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal has fixed a date for the appeal case of a Sri Lankan politician who stands accused of murdering a British national and raping his Russian girlfriend at a holiday resort in 2011.

Sampath Vidanapathirana, a close associate of former Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was convicted of the murder, after the British aid worker Khuram Shaikh was shot and stabbed whilst on holiday in Southern Sri Lankan on Christmas Day.

The case faced several delays as well as Mr Vidanapathirana being released on bail and reinstated to his political post as Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman of Tangalle.