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.

The governor plans to fill the positions in agencies such as the housing authority with his political friends from other districts, the official said, and cut down the number of Tamils and Muslims in authoritative positions in the East.

Sri Lankan navy personal arrested four Tamil Nadu fishermen on Saturday for allegedly entering the island's waters. 

The men have been handed over to Mannar Assistant Fisheries Director, the navy said. 

The arrests are the latest in the ongoing detention of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan navy, despite recent talks between the two governments to try to resolve the issue. 

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called the release of all political prisoners in a meeting with the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence Mr. Pablo De Greiff who is currently visiting Sri Lanka. 

Mr Sampanthan told Mr Greiff the Tamils were "in custody not because they robbed or stole for personal gain. Every one of their cases has a political dimension, therefore their cases need to be looked at in that context and resolved."

Sri Lanka's prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe detailed on Friday a three year plan to improve the country's economy and tackle its significant debt burden. 

His comments come as the World Bank and the IMF called on Sri Lanka to deliver on planned reforms. 

"It is an urgent need to draw our attention on spending more than the revenue. We have initiated a process of fiscal consolidation based on revenue generation by passing the Inland Revenue Act, which is already yielding returns," he said. 

The Jaffna Teaching Hospital marked 30 years since Indian soldiers massacred 68 of its staff and patients.

Colombo Fort magistrate, Lanka Jayaratne ordered prison authorities to produce a report explaining why Sri Lanka's former navy spokesperson, Commodore D K P Dassanayake was not present at his scheduled court hearing today. 

The magistrate also queried why Commodore Dassanayake was currently being held at the Welisara Navy hospital, instead of the prison hospita. 

He was arrested in July this year over the disappearance of 11 Tamil youths during 2008 - 2009. 

The Sri Lankan President told families of political prisoners that he would resolve their problems when the attorney-general and justice minister return to the country.

Three detainees at Anuradhapura prison - 40-year-old Rasathurai Thiruvarul, 30-year-old Mathiyarasan Sulaksan and 26-year-old Ganesan Tharsan - have been fasting for over 22 days in protest of the transferral of their cases from the Tamil Vavuniya High Court to the Sinhalese Anuradhapura court.

Their family members met with President Sirisena on Thursday.