Sri Lanka

Rajapaksa and his wife flew to Malé, in the Maldives, on an AN32 troop transport plane from the Sri Lanka Air Force, the official said. Local air traffic ...

Some of the protesters then broke into the property and splashed around in his swimming pool But immigration officers declined to process the passports given to them by presidential aides, as Rajapaksa and his family were not physically present for cross checks. CNN has reached out to Nasheed for comment.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has arrived in the Maldives amid mass protests over Sri Lanka's economic crisis.

But he also lacks public support and there is deep public suspicion of politicians in general. But Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena is an ally of the Rajapaksas, and it is unclear whether the public would accept his authority. Whoever does become acting president has 30 days to hold an election for a new president from among members of parliament. The prime minister is considered the president's deputy in parliament. He is accused of human rights abuses during the war and also targeting those who dissented, but he has always denied those accusations. - One family of brothers has dominated for years: Mahinda Rajapaksa became a hero among the majority Sinhalese in 2009 when his government defeated Tamil separatist rebels after years of bitter and bloody civil war.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country early Wednesday, the day he said he would resign. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also pledged over ...

They also stormed Wickremesinghe’s home over the weekend and set it on fire. Security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators before stepping aside to cheers from the crowd. Rafiq Maqbool/AP

The double whammy of government and economic instability is further complicating recovery, and the country is hurtling toward bankruptcy.

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President has fled the country but protesters say they will not stop fighting until there is 'freedom from corrupt leaders'

“This is a huge moment in the history of Sri Lanka and it feels significant to get a chance to visit this historical place when we get the chance,” said sister Kathleen. “This wasn’t just the home of Gotabaya, but so many leaders. But inside the presidential palace, where Rajapaksa had lived until he fled to a military base on Saturday morning, the mood was calm. Some noted the irony that after months of public demands to abolish the executive presidency, instead on Wednesday the country now appeared to have two presidents, both lacking legitimacy and support. I voted for him but now I see that he is nothing but a thief who has brought this country to the darkest depths.” There is barely a citizen who has not been left suffering; desperate tuk-tuk drivers speak of spending five days in the queue for petrol and NGOs have issued warnings that the country could soon be facing a famine-like situation, so concerning are the problems of food shortages and inflation. But in the end Sri Lanka’s strongman president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was reduced to making a meek, humiliating escape under the cover of darkness, refusing to even address his own people before he fled.

With the president fleeing and an IMF bailout likely, the country desperately needs stability, says Chatham House's Charu Lata Hogg.

Sri Lanka is quite unique in its location, history and the experiences of its people. If Rajapaksa resigns in exile, then this spells the end of a powerful and abusive political dynasty that ruled Sri Lanka for almost two decades. Ultimately Sri Lanka will need to put in place a system of good fiscal governance and anti-corruption measures to win back international credibility and trust. The Sri Lanka experience will go down in history as one where leaders made poor decisions with a complete lack of accountability, and found themselves in a crisis accelerated by the conflict in Europe and global supply issues. The first step in such a plan would be the appointment of a president for a limited time frame, which could in turn herald a process to abolish the executive presidency, which would then be followed by dissolution of parliament. Thousands of protesters remain in the streets and occupy several government offices, demanding that both leaders step down.

Acting President and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has called on parliament's speaker to nominate a new PM “acceptable to both the government and ...

It is one of our six key demands of the Aragalaya,” he added, using the Sinhala word for “struggle” which has been used to describe the protest movement. “And that’s something that a lot of people here on the street really don’t want to see.” “State of emergency wasn’t imposed to protect people but to oppress the people. It is expected he’d receive it during the day, today,” the official said. “Certainly, the people of Sri Lanka and the Maldives will be very concerned, to say the least. “The state of emergency cannot be declared [in] such a way. “So you know, the way forward is for people to see somebody that has not been part of this corrupt system, somebody who has not been part of creating this mess should lead the country and should be acceptable to the people. “You can see that a lot of military and police are now on the streets. As far as I’m concerned, an acting president is yet to be appointed as the post hasn’t been vacated.” He is “not a popular man at all among the protesters because they say he is involved. “They want him to leave as well,” she said. It was such a thick wall of smoke that everyone in every single direction had to navigate through,” she said.

People power protests over the past week have unseated Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and sent its Acting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe into ...

First, countries are largely on their own in dealing with the domestic impacts from a rapidly slowing global economy. A final reason for pessimism is the crumbling of global cooperation, already evident during the pandemic. The collateral damage for developing Asia, which accumulated official and corporate debt in foreign currencies during the go-go years of easy monetary policy, will be extremely painful. Public anger is also linked with the struggle of central banks to deal with the first and second round effects of inflation. A small country in South Asia with half the population of Ukraine has become embroiled in turmoil. In Sri Lanka, the malfeasance showed up in the Rajapaksa clan’s decision to ban fertilizer imports.

Corruption, mismanagement and financial pressure from China all contributed to Sri Lanka's economic turmoil.

Wickremesinghe had already announced a package of reforms designed to stabilise the economy and planned to present a debt restructuring plan to the IMF by August. If an army general were to take power now, Sri Lanka will become a pariah – and would find it almost impossible to raise the foreign investment it so desperately needs. The main problems facing Sri Lanka are a result of economic mismanagement and corruption. Yet, despite the oversized role played by the country’s military establishment, years of hardship, war and human rights abuses, Sri Lankans have steadfastly held on to their democratic civilian government. But many are asking whether the army will step in to run the government, at least until order can be restored and a new government formed. In this situation, the role of the army will come into sharp focus.

Analysis: Gotabaya Rajapaksa's authoritarianism and incompetence ended the family's political reign.

This may not be a revolution – Sri Lanka has a long and established tradition of democracy, albeit one that has been strained in recent years – but it is an immense upheaval. Optimists see the possibility of a new national vision and spirit taking root. Another was the sense of empowerment that moved the Rajapaksas to spend enormous, borrowed sums on huge infrastructure projects of dubious value. The ruler of Sri Lanka has been a high-profile casualty of the global cost of living crisis, analysts have said. The Rajapaksas sought to channel and intensify the resultant wave of support among Sri Lanka’s Sinhala majority. For weeks protesters in Sri Lanka have chanted “Go home Gota.” Now Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the president, appears to be looking for one.

Angry public blames food and fuel shortages on leaders' mismanagement as well as on global crises.

Meanwhile, the shock to world food markets from the Ukraine war pushed up the price of staples such as wheat flour and lentils in Sri Lanka, which relies heavily on imports. With dollars running out, the central bank has been printing money to cover the costs and inflation is running at about 50 per cent. In 2021 the government banned chemical fertiliser imports in an attempt to boost organic farming – another move later rescinded after a sharp drop in crop yields and disruption to food supplies. Rajapaksa boarded an air force plane overnight and flew to the Maldives capital Malé in the early hours of Wednesday morning, a senior immigration official told the Financial Times. Rajapaksa has not been seen in public since, and Sri Lanka’s parliamentary speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said the president had pledged to resign on Wednesday. “The incompetence of the government has caused big problems for us...

Plus, the euro falls to parity with US dollar and US employs 'tuna politics' in the Pacific.

Plus President Biden visits Israel, and negotiations continue over Ukraine's blocked grain.

“Let this generation be the last to experience the horrors of what happens when women’s most basic reproductive health needs are pushed underground.” — Lynsey Chutel, a Briefings writer One of Biden’s missions is to make sure the U.S. is on the same page with Israel, Saudi Arabia and other enemies of Iran should the talks fail. Wickremesinghe is unlikely to satisfy their demands: He has been prime minister six times and is viewed as a protector of the Rajapaksa family. - Updates: To receive the latest updates in your inbox,sign up here. The other has only four centenarians. That’s not the 1,000 required for Guinness, but density doesn’t lie. The urgency is real. The negotiations have yet to yield a new accord. Here are live updatesand seven takeawaysfrom the report. If abortion is legalized, access may be hampered by poor infrastructure and stigma. After the transfer of power, crowds took over Wickremesinghe’s office and the state broadcaster. Background: Food, fuel and medicine are in critically short supply.

The developing world faces a credit crunch, but the biggest lender of all has been slow to cooperate with Western-style rescues.

You may cancel your subscription at anytime by calling Customer Service. But China, Sri Lanka’s largest single creditor, offered a tempting alternative: Skip the IMF’s bitter medicine for now and just keep adding on new debt to pay off the old, according to current and former Sri Lankan officials. We are delighted that you'd like to resume your subscription.

While China has so far maintained a conspicuous silence on the dramatic fall of Sri Lanka's pro-Beijing Rajapaksa brothers.

Bilateral foreign debt to China only accounts for 10 per cent of Sri Lanka’s total outstanding foreign debt, it said. Many research reports have repeatedly demonstrated that Sri Lanka’s current debt crisis is not directly related to Chinese-funded infrastructure investment. “As for Sri Lanka’s China-related debts, China supports relevant financial institutions in discussing with Sri Lanka and properly resolving them. That shows that their interest here is not like earlier. Replying to a question on the Sri Lankan crisis on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here that China is paying close attention to the situation unfolding in Sri Lanka and appealed to all parties to work unitedly to resolve the crisis. In the short run, there will be a big impact on China’s relations with Sri Lanka because the influence of the Rajapaksa family in Sri Lanka’s political circles will be undermined and a political comeback will be unlikely in the near future, Lin Minwang, a South Asia expert at Fudan University in Shanghai said as quoted by Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post on Tuesday.

When embattled Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa attempted to flee his country in the face of economic and political crisis this week, ...

The mass demonstrations culminated in hundreds of protesters occupying the palaces of the president and prime minister on Saturday, partying at the estates and setting the latter on fire in recent days. In the meantime, she has traveled to Dubai at least once, Sri Lankan newspapers reported. In March, the world’s main anti-money laundering watchdog placed the UAE on its “gray list” of countries that need extra monitoring. But the probe stalled, according to Sri Lankan media which cited banks’ delay in providing information about Nadesan and Nirupama Rajapaksa’s accounts. They have denied the allegations. Rajapaksa and some of his relatives, including a former finance minister, were stopped from boarding flights to Dubai, the UAE’s commercial center, on Tuesday as protesters surrounded the airport, CNN reported.

There was a pressing silence from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who escaped to the Maldives early on Wednesday morning. According to local media, he was still ...

UN Secretary General António Guterres urged Sri Lankan leaders to oversee a peaceful transition of power. However, it was unclear if Wickremesinghe had full control of the armed forces. There was a pressing silence from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who escaped to the Maldives early on Wednesday morning.

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa missed a deadline announced by the Parliament Speaker to submit his resignation after he fled the country for the ...

Country in state of emergency and political limbo after Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees to Maldives.

On Wednesday night, Mr Wickremesinghe instructed opposition leaders to put forward a new candidate for prime minister. Along with several members of his politically powerful family who held political posts, the Rajapaksas are accused of economic mismanagement and widespread corruption. There was silence from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who escaped to the Maldives early on Wednesday morning.

Dimuth Karunaratne's Sri Lanka will be looking to build on their winning momentum at Galle as the hosts take on Pakistan in a likely spin battle in the ...

We need to turn that in our favour." "We historically know that Pakistani players have a weakness against left-arm spinners, so they have to tackle it. "Pakistan don't have that opportunity.

His decision yesterday to make his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the acting president triggered more protests, with demonstrators storming parliament ...

Police spokesman Nalin Thalduwa said the man who died was a 26-year old protester who succumbed after he was injured near the prime minister's office. Police said one person was killed and 84 injured in clashes between riot police and protesters yesterday near the parliament building and the prime minister's office, as people demanded the ouster of both Mr Rajapaksa and Mr Wickremesinghe. The president fled to the Maldives to escape a popular uprising that erupted as the country struggles with an economic crisis.

Sri Lanka's embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has left Maldives after fleeing his own country amid an economic collapse.

But assuming that Rajapaksa resigns as promised, Sri Lankan lawmakers have agreed to elect a new president on July 20 who will serve the remainder of Rajapaksa’s term, which ends in 2024. The family has denied the corruption allegations, but Rajapaksa acknowledged some of his policies contributed to the meltdown. Amid the mounting chaos, Wickremesinghe’s office imposed a state of emergency giving broader powers to the military and police. Wickremesinghe also has said he will resign, but not until a new government is in place. Rajapaksa and his wife fled Sri Lanka early Wednesday aboard an air force jet as protesters were taking over government buildings to demand he resign. Some were seen unrolling a red carpet in the palace as they left.