Sri Lanka

Colombo, Apr 6 (PTI) Sri Lanka's ongoing political turmoil triggered by the country's unprecedented economic crisis can be ended with a snap election, veteran left-wing politician Vasudeva Nanayakkara said on Wednesday, emphasising that there must be a government with everyone participating in it for at least 6 months before the polls are held.

Democratic Left Front politician Nanayakkara was among the 42 members who declared independence in Parliament from the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) coalition.

COLOMBO, April 5 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa late on Tuesday revoked the emergency rule ordinance that had gone into effect on April 1, even as the government struggled to quell protests amid the nation's worst economic crisis in decades.

In a Gazette notification, Rajapaksa said the emergency rule ordinance would stand revoked as of midnight on April 5.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s president asked opposition parties to form a unity government on Monday after his Cabinet resigned amid public protests over the country’s worst economic crisis in memory and deepening mistrust in his leadership.

All 26 ministers of the Rajapaksa government handed in their resignations Sunday night after thousands of people held street protests denouncing the government despite a countrywide state of emergency and a curfew.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Opposition lawmakers in Sri Lanka on Sunday marched in the capital, Colombo, protesting against the president’s move to impose a nationwide curfew and state of emergency following demonstrations blaming the government for an economic crisis.

Internet users in Sri Lanka were also unable to access Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp and other social media platforms on Sunday, after they had been used to organize protests calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, saying he is responsible for the country’s deepening economic woes.

Colombo, Apr 3 (PTI) The Sri Lankan government on Sunday blocked social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram after declaring a nationwide public emergency and imposing a 36-hour curfew ahead of a planned anti-government rally over the worst economic crisis in the island nation.

COLOMBO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka declared an islandwide curfew from 6 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Monday as the country faced a severe power crisis and rising inflation.

On Friday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa issued the Extraordinary Gazette declaring a state of public emergency in Sri Lanka with immediate effect.

Rajapaksa said the emergency was declared in the interests of public security, protection of public order and the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the life of the community.

A protest has been planned via social media for Sunday.

(AP) --- Protesters from across Sri Lanka descended on the nation’s capital in February, shouting above the street noise and pumping their fists in the air in frustration.

The group was made up of fishermen and their supporters, and their rage was sparked by the Indian boats that regularly sail into Sri Lankan waters by the thousands, hauling away valuable sea cucumbers and prawns. Sri Lankan fishermen say they’ve lost business, and some have lost their lives in confrontations with foreign crews.

COLOMBO, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka will host the fifth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit from Monday to Wednesday.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the event will be held in hybrid mode and foreign ministers and senior officials of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Thailand will arrive in Sri Lanka on Sunday.

The foreign minister of Myanmar will participate virtually, the foreign ministry said.

COLOMBO, March 20 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan police said on Sunday two men collapsed and died while waiting in separate queues to secure fuel amid sky-rocketing prices leading to record inflation.

The men, in their seventies, died while they were waiting for petrol and kerosene oil in two different parts of the country, said police spokesman Nalin Thalduwa in commercial capital Colombo.

For weeks people have been queuing up at pumps, often for hours, and the country has been under rolling power cuts.

COLOMBO, Mar 13 (NNN-PSM) – Revival of tourism in the Maldives, contributed to higher revenue for the country, in the first two months this year compared to the same period in 2021.

The Maldives received 137 million U.S. dollars in Jan and Feb, 2022, compared to 88 million dollars collected in the first two months of 2021, according to statistics released by Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA), the country’s national tax agency.