Vice Admiral Travis Sinniah, who was hailed as the first Tamil navy commander in Sri Lanka in over 45 years, has been replaced after just two months in the job. 

The Sri Lankan president on Wednesday appointed Rear Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe as the new commander of the navy. 

Rear Admiral Ranasinghe was previously the director general of Sri Lanka's coast guard. 

The chief incumbent of Bellanwila Rajamaha Vihara warned this week the new constitution will lead to a federal system if implemented, the Daily Mirror reported. 

"the Government could surreptitiously enact the new Constitution which would harm the entire country," Bellanwila Wimalarathana said. 

Sri Lanka's Bar Association of Lawyers on Monday expressed concern that the constitutional amendments currently being proposed will allow for a federal structure, the Daily Mirror reported. 

"The proposed amendments in the Interim Report of the Constitutional Assembly had the effect of converting the Unitary character of the State to a Federal structure," the BASL was quoted by the paper as saying. 

Sri Lanka's former commander of the security forces in Vanni, retired Major General Kamal Gunaratne said those supporting the new constitution were "traitors" and "must be killed", Colombo Telegraph reports. 

He made these marks at a meeting chaired by the former secretary of defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. 

Jaffna University students have been boycotting classes since last Friday in solidarity with the hunger-striking Tamil political prisoners in Anuradhapura.

The health of three hunger-striking Tamil political prisoners has further deteriorated.

The three detainees of Anuradhapura prison have been hunger-striking for over 28 days, in opposition to the transfer of their cases from Vavuniya High Court to Anuradhapura.

All three were forcibly admitted to hospital by prison officials where they were placed on saline drips. However the three still refuse food.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff highlighted the insufficient progress made by Sri Lanka as he concluded his trip to the island, and said that delays in the implementation of transitional justice measures "raise questions in many quarters about the determination of the government to undertake a comprehensive transitional justice programme."

The construction of the Central Expressway has come to a halt in Kadawatha due to an ongoing delay in a US $1.1 billion loan from China's Exim Bank, the Sunday Times reported. 

“If we don’t receive the loan by February or March next year, we will have to look for other options,” the Road Development Authority (RDA) chairman Nihal Suriyaarachchi told the Sunday Times. 

The student unions of the University of Jaffna and of the Eastern University have demanded the release of Tamil political prisoners who have been detained for years without charge or trial under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

In a joint statement, the two unions expressed solidarity with the hunger-striking political prisoners at Anuradhapura prison and put forward several demands with a view to tackling the political prisoners issue.

The former Secretary of Defence, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said individuals pushing the new constitution were trying to fulfill the aims of "terrorists", Adaderana reported on Sunday. 

Sri Lanka's finance minister, Mangala Samaraweera told the IMF annual meeting in Washington, that the government had plans to widen its Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with India and Pakistan, as well as signing new agreements with Singapore and China. 

UPDATED: 16:51 BST

A Tamil man has died after being shot in Ariyalai, creating a tense situation in the area with Sri Lankan army and Special Task Force troops deployed.

24-year-old Don Bosco Rikman, a fisherman from the Uthayapuram village of Ariyalai East was shot earlier this afternoon by unknown persons. A friend of Mr Rikman who was travelling with him by motorbike at the time of the shooting said that he was shot from behind by two persons on a motorbike.

Mr Rikman died from excessive blood loss shortly after 9pm local time at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.

Details surrounding the shooting remain unclear. Police at the scene told locals and observers that the bullet had been removed by unknown persons.

Staff and students at the University of Jaffna paid tribute on Friday to the two students killed a year ago by Sri Lankan police.

A senior Eastern Provincial Council official has alleged that the Eastern Province’s governor is attempting to replace Tamils and Muslims serving in several important local government positions with Sinhalese.

The senior official said that high-level Tamil and Muslim officials in the East had unofficially been asked to resign by governor Rohitha Bogollagama.