Since early April protesters had been demanding that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda, his prime minister, quit for leading the country to economic ruin – but this week saw a decisive turning point.First, Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned after his supporters attacked anti-government protesters, triggering deadly clashes across the country.

Ahead of the November 2019 election, Sri Lankan presidential challenger Gotabaya Rajapaksa proposed sweeping tax cuts so reckless the incumbent government thought it must be a campaign gimmick.The finance minister at the time, Mangala Samaraweera, called a briefing to assail the “dangerous” pledge to reduce the value-added tax to eight percent from 15 percent and to scrap other levies.

Street protests gripped Sri Lanka Friday as demonstrators blocked main roads across the country, a day after hundreds tried to storm the president's home in anger over an unprecedented economic crisis.The South Asian nation is facing severe shortages of essentials, sharp price rises and crippling power cuts in its most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.Police reimposed a night-time curfew Friday in the Western Province, which includes the capital Colombo, slightly

Sri Lankan authorities Sunday said they will sue the owners of a Singapore-registered cargo carrier which has burned for 11 straight days off the island's west coast and caused some of its worst-ever marine pollution.Police said a criminal investigation was also launched into the blaze aboard the MV X-Press Pearl, which was carrying 25 tonnes of nitric acid and a huge amount of plastic raw materials.The intense fire, still burning at the rear of the 186 metre (610 feet) vessel, has destr

United States (US) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called China's Communist government a "predator" Wednesday as he sought to tempt Sri Lanka away from Beijing's influence and later bolstered the US diplomatic presence in the neighbouring Maldives to counter the Asian superpower.Sri Lanka and the Maldives, both strategically located on key Indian Ocean trade routes, have borrowed heavily from Beijing in recent years, worrying Washington and other countries concerned by Chin

Religious and world leaders have condemned a series of blasts in Sri Lanka that killed at least 290 people on Sunday, including dozens of foreigners with British, Dutch and American citizens believed to be among them.Japan also confirmed one of its citizens was among those killed by the bombs which ripped through high-end hotels and churches holding Easter services.Here is a summary of the reactions:Pope: 'Cruel violence'Pope Francis expressed his sadness over the attacks during his

A series of eight devastating bomb blasts ripped through high-end hotels and churches holding Easter services in Sri Lanka on Sunday, killing at least 207 people, including dozens of foreigners.The apparently coordinated attacks were the deadliest to hit the country in the decade since the end of a bloody civil war that killed up to 100,000 people and evoked painful memories for many Sri Lankans.They also marked a devastating escalation of violence against the country's Christian minorit