The Sri Lankan Central Bank has cut a key lending rate by 50 points to 8%, the fourth consecutive cut since December 2012.

The move is thought to be designed to encourage growth, after inflation fell to its lowest level in nearly two years.

The bank said it expected the economy to grow 7.2% in 2013, up from 6.4% in 2012.

"Economic growth is expected to accelerate further during the new year, while inflation is projected to remain in mid-single digits," the bank said in a statement.

"It was decided at the meeting to take immediate action on several overdue urgent issues to enable the Northern Provincial Council to commence functioning smoothly to address the needs of the war affected people of the North and especially of its war widows, the displaced, the dispossessed, the war orphans, the long term PTA detainees, women headed households and other vulnerable sections of the Northern society."

NPC member Ananthy Sasitharan has written off the Sri Lankan government's plans to investigate disappearances as a farce.

Speaking at the Jaffna Press Club on Thursday, Sasitharan said that the investigation commission was appointed to deceive the international community and to parade in Geneva at the UN Human Rights Council.

Sasitharan called for the direct intervention of the international community to ensure the safety of witnesses and relatives.

Updated 0445 GMT

The Canadian Tamil MP, Rathika Sitsabaiesan, who recently arrived in the North-East, is under house arrest, reported TamilNet.

According to the news site, around 8-10 officers from Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Department arrived at the hotel that Ms Sitasabaiesan was staying in Jaffna, on Tuesday night.

Krishantha Pushpakumara, the United National Party (UNP) Southern Provincial Councillor, announced that he was to leave the party to join Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), with reports that more are set to join him.

Pushpakumara told reporters that at the forthcoming Southern Provincial Council election, he would now be contesting as an SLFP candidate, complaining of “unfair treatment” by his current party.

A senior Buddhist monk has been released on bail after his arrest for sexually abusing children.

Kalyanathissa runs a children’s home in Vavuniya, in the Northern Province, which has now been closed due to a court order.

Parents and relatives of the victims have expressed concern that his release on bail could give him the opportunity to get rid of incriminating evidence, the Uthayan reported.

Supporting the Bishop of Mannar’s call for an international investigation into the mass grave found at Mannar, TNA MPs Suresh Premachandran, Sivasakthy Ananthan, Pon Selvarajah, and P. Ariyenthiran called for international experts to investigate the grave.

56 Tamil organisations from across the world have rejected a domestic Sri Lankan inquiry into human rights abuses and called for an international investigation into genocide, in a joint New Year message.

The signatories to the statement, which span across 10 different countries, jointly noted there was an overwhelming mandate for an international investigation expressed in the recent Northern Provincial Council elections, and fully committed themselves to working towards an independent investigation into the crime of genocide.

The statement, signed by many youth organisations and political parties, is released as talk of a South African style ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ have emerged from the island. Notably, organisations from South Africa, Malaysia, Australia, UK, India, Canada, USA, Mauritius, New Zealand, Sweden all jointly signed the statement.