The UNHRC report on Sri Lanka will be released today at 10.30am Geneva time (2pm Sri Lanka time) at a press conference chaired by UN Human Rights Commissioner Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad Al Hussain.

 The Office of the UN High Commissioner’s Investigation on Sri Lanka or OISL was launched following the mandate given to the then UN High Commissioner on Human Rights in March 2014.

The report had initially been scheduled to be published in March this year. However, the UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein had recommended it be delayed for six months to give the country's new government a chance to cooperate with investigators.

Making his speech at the inaugural session of the UNHRC 30th Session this Monday, the High Commissioner said that the findings of the report "are of the most serious nature."

Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Hambantota District UPFA MP Namal Rajapaksa were summoned to the police FCID this morning, Police Media Unit said.

They were summoned to be questioned on a financial fraud, police said.

The Attorney General's Department today informed Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris that a key witness in the case regarding Wasim Thajudeen's death was unduly influenced by a certain party.

The AG Department did not disclose any details on the responsible party or the witness concerned. The CID informed court that an investigation was being conducted on the alleged incident.

This was disclosed when the Magisterial Inquiry to the death of former national ruggerite and Havelock's SC Captain Wasim Thajudeen was taken up this morning.

Thajudeen was killed in May 2012 in what was then described as an accident. However, the CID recently told the courts that it was no accident. Meanwhile, CID recently informed that Thajudeen's mobile phone was recovered from Agarapathana in Nuwara Eliya.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be in New Delhi on a three-day visit from September 14 to 16, The New Indian Express said citing 'reliable sources'. 

Wickremesinghe will be having meetings with Indian leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 15 and leave the next day, the report said further. 

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will be visiting India from October 8 to 10.

This visit is linked to promoting Buddhism as a link between Asian countries, sources said.

Prime Minister Modi, hailing from the ancient Buddhist center of Vadnagar in Gujarat, is an ardent advocate of Buddhism and since 2012, has been trying to promote his native state of Gujarat as an ancient Buddhist center which ought to be part of the Asian Buddhist pilgrimage and tourist circuits.

Modi was the keynote speaker at an international Hindu-Buddhist conference on September 3 in New Delhi. The "Global Hindu-Buddhist Initiative on conflict avoidance and environment consciousness", was addressed by former Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga also.

Speaking at the conference Kumaratunga said: " To avoid conflicts, it is important to ensure equality in the treatment of ethnic groups. And when confronted with conflicts, it is essential to go into the basic causes of the unrest and disaffection and address them."

The conference was organized by the Vivekananda International Foundation, an organization close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Kumaratunga met Modi  on the sidelines of the conference.

(With inputs from The New Indian Express)

The motion to increase the number of Cabinet and other ministerial portfolios proposed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was approved by the Parliament with a majority of 127 votes.

143 MPs voted for it while 16 opposed.

64 MPs were not present in the Chamber when the vote was taken.

The JVP MPs voted against the motion along with the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna MPs, Jathika Nidahas Peramuna MPs and Udaya Gammanpila. The TNA MPs were not present in the Chamber. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was another prominent absentee.

The proposal will now enable the government to appoint 48 Cabinet Ministers and 45 State and Deputy Ministers.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed victory at the 2015 General Election.

Issuing a statement a short while ago, Wickremesinghe said that the majority has voted to take forward the 'January 8 revolution'. While thanking the people for expressing support for the January 8 election, he added that there was no need to talk about winners and losers any more.

Wickremesinghe also called on the countrymen to build a civilized society, a government of consensus and a new country.

The UPFA won Ehaliyagoda Electorate, where Vasudeva Nanayakkara has been a key figure from 1970, albeit with a reduced majority.

The UPFA received 38,162 votes (53.21%) while the UNP received 31,211 votes. The JVP managed to receive only 2,057 votes.

In 2010, the UPFA carried the Eheliyagoda Electorate with 37,329 votes (70.55%) while the UNP received only 14,346 votes.

Vasudeva Nanayakkara was a key leader of the 'Bring back Mahinda' campaign in support of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that he is yet to see the letter that is said to have been sent to him by President Maithripala Sirisena.

Speaking at the Homagama UPFA rally taking place at this moment, Rajapaksa said that someone informed him of a letter but he was yet to see it. He said that he cannot say anything before seeing it.

Meanwhile, his media coordinator Rohan Welivita had told media that he was yet to receive a letter. If the President wanted to send a letter to Rajapaksa, the best way would have been to send it directly rather than releasing it to media, he had also said.

A letter sent by Sirisena to Rajapaksa was released to media this afternoon. In it, Sirisena revealed many details of the interactions between him and Rajapaksa during the last few months and added that he would not support Rajapaksa to be the next Prime Minister even if the UPFA wins the election.

Related: Rajapaksa Will Not Be Appointed Prime Minister, Sirisena Informs (SEE FULL LETTER)

Former UPFA MP Namal Rajapaksa said that he has been summoned by the police Financial Crimes Investigations Division on August 12.

In a Twitter post published a short while ago, Rajapaksa said that it was another attempt to disrupt his campaign.

"In the end, all these election tactics won't work" he also said.

Rajapaksa is contesting the forthcoming general election from Hambantota District. The campaigning ends on August 14.