Talks between the US and Sri Lanka on importing Iranian crude oil have been unsuccessful, according to a Sri Lankan official.

Petroleum Resources Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said that several rounds of talks were held both in Colombo and in Washington, but no agreement was found and that the US informed Sri Lanka that it cannot import Iranian oil, in line with sanctions imposed on Teheran.

Non-compliance would mean that Sri Lankan banks would be cut off from the US financial system.

The US Embassy in Colombo is launching a new programme to promote greater understanding of social media.

The Social Media Lab will offer free courses to beginners, intermediate and advanced users of social media at the American Centre in Colombo, according to a press release by the embassy.

Three churches were attacked on Christmas Eve in the south of the island, with at least one of the attacks involving Buddhist monks, reported the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL).

The organisation reported that  in Angunukolapalassa more than 300 villagers and Buddhists monks gathered outside the church demanding all services be stopped. On the same night unidentified assailants attacked two others churches in Hikkaduwa.

Canadian MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan has stated that she was subjected to “political intimidation”, and warned she could be arrested and deported, whilst visiting Jaffna earlier this week.

In a statement released on the New Democrat Party website, Sitsabaiesan said,

“I recently arrived in Sri Lanka to visit my extended family and visit the places that were once home for me, during the earlier stages of my life and the civil war in Sri Lanka; but was subject to political intimidation”.

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.