A revealing excerpt from Mani Shankar Aiyar's fascinating new book, The Rajiv I Knew.
David Warner took to Instagram to pen a heartfelt message for the Sri Lankan fans, thanking them for hosting Australia 'during what is an extremely difficult time'
At least one person was killed and 12 others injured on Tuesday when the police opened fire to disperse angry anti-government protestors in Sri Lanka's southwestern region of Rambukkana, officials said.
Sri Lanka's Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Monday imposed emergency giving him sweeping powers ahead of the key election on July 20 to pick a new President as he urged the political parties to put aside differences and form an all-party government, with the Opposition dubbing his decision as an 'undemocratic draconian act'.
One reason is that airlines have ramped up capacity and expanded their presence in tier-II markets. The first of a three-part series analyses how the aviation industry is an outlier in the midst of an overall economic slowdown.
Angry protests in Colombo as Sri Lanka grapples with its worst ever economic crisis.
The violence occurred following reports on Monday that Mahinda Rajapksa may offer to stand down as Prime Minister.
Rajapaksa arrived in Thailand with three other people on a chartered flight from Singapore at Wing 6 of the military airport adjacent to Don Mueang International Airport around 8 pm local time on Thursday.
India always faces a Hobson's choice as far as feeding coal-fired generators goes - even if the government is reluctant to admit it. The country cannot do without shipping in the world's most polluting fuel from overseas. And it will continue to do so unless it decides to reduce demand by forcing citizens, farmers and businesses to live without electricity for part of the day, or use diesel generators to fire facilities.
Sri Lanka's ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa left Singapore for Thailand after his short-term visit pass expired on Thursday, according to a media report.
Sri Lanka's embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would resign on Wednesday, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced late on Saturday night, hours after thousands of protesters stormed the former's official residence, blaming his government for an unprecedented economic crisis that has brought the country to its knees.
'The crisis-hit brand needs to react, and react without sounding outraged or angry. '
MEA xpokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India continues to closely follow the developments in Sri Lanka and that it is aware of the many challenges that the country and its people have been facing.
State-owned CIL on Monday said coal supply to the power sector rose 15.6 per cent to 49.7 million tonne last month in the wake of high demand of the dry fuel from electricity generating plants and stressed that it is planning to augment its dispatches further, especially to power plants in the coming months. The statement comes at a time when several parts of the country are grappling with power crisis. "With the intense demand for coal continuing unabated driven by an upward spiral in the electricity generation, CIL (Coal India) pushed up its supplies to power plants of the country to 49.7 million tonnes (MT) in April'22.
Eyewitnesses said that a section of the protesters had remained for the all-night vigil.
Sri Lanka is going through the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. A crippling shortage of foreign reserves has led to long queues for fuel, cooking gas and other essentials while power cuts and soaring food prices heaped misery on the people.
Delhi, reeling under high temperatures and an acute electricity shortage, will get additional gas supplies from the National Thermal Power Corporation and Dabhol to increase power generation and help meet demand in the national capital.
Thousands of demonstrators have hit the streets since April 9, as the government ran out of money for vital imports; prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed and there are acute shortages in fuel, medicines and electricity supply.
In 2017, a retired R&AW officer conveyed that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was keen to get monarchy restored in Nepal and suggested that I support these efforts.
"President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa is still in the country, I made a mistake in the (BBC) interview," Speaker Abeywardena told ANI in a telephone call.
Sri Lankan authorities on Wednesday deployed troops and military vehicles in the streets to ensure public security in the capital amidst nationwide protests over the government's failure to tackle the worst economic crisis.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday, hours after his supporters attacked anti-government protesters outside embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's office, leaving at least 78 people injured and prompting authorities to impose a nationwide curfew and deploy army troops in the capital.
Meanwhile, his successor, President Ranil Wickremesinghe tweeted: "Congratulations to the Sri Lankan cricket team on winning the Asia Cup 2022. Well played Pakistan! The second championship for today," he said, adding that it "goes to show that, with dedication and determination we can overcome challenges as a nation. Onwards and upwards Sri Lanka!"
A statement issued by the presidential media division on Friday said an extremist group was behind the unrest near President Rajapaksa's residence in Mirihana.
Only 68 MPs voted in favour of the motion, it said, giving the 72-year-old President a comfortable victory.
The government's poor handling of the economic crisis where people currently endure long hours of power outages and scarcity of essentials has angered the public which planned country-wide protests on Sunday.
Sri Lankan police on Saturday fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse anti-government protestors here as the ongoing agitation demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa over the worst economic crisis intensified as it entered its 50th day.
106 people died on a single day on Thursday.
Speaker's media secretary Indunil Abeywardena said a resignation letter from President Rajapaksa has been received through the Sri Lanka high commission in Singapore.
State-owned CIL on Thursday said that it has floated its maiden tender to import 2.416 million tonnes of coal to ensure adequate supply of the fuel to power plants in the country. The development assumes significance in the wake of the government making all efforts to build up stock of coal to avoid the reoccurrence of power outages which happened in April on account of shortage of the fossil fuel. "In a first ever, Coal India Limited (CIL) on Wednesday floated an international competitive bidding e-tender, seeking bids for import of 2.416 million tonnes (MTs) of coal," the company said in a statement.
A Saudi airlines flight -- SV 788 -- carrying Rajapaksa landed at the Singapore Changi International Airport shortly after 7 pm (local time).
Sri Lanka Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's residence in the city of Kurunegala in the north-western province was set on fire on Monday, hours after the leader tendered his resignation.
A video is being shared on social media showing the protesters counting the currency notes that were unearthed. The recovered money was said to be handed over to the security units, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
Mahinda Rajapaksa has been accused by the Opposition of inciting the ruling party mobs to attack peaceful protesters by making a defiant speech while addressing several thousands of his supporters to deflect calls for his resignation.
India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.
The bench, which wanted the Civil Aviation Ministry to think over the various issues plaguing the national carrier, also said other area of concern was the priority given to private airlines with Air India aircraft being asked to hover around during the peak landing hours causing huge loss of money on fuel.
'In terms of semiconductors, challenges do remain in the pan industry, but I think we are much better than where we were a year or so back.'
There have been growing calls for President Rajapaksa's resignation over the past few weeks over his government's mishandling of Sri Lanka's worsening economic crisis.
'When you need to revive the economy, when you need to revive aggregate demand, you cut taxes.' 'But what's this government doing?' 'It's increasing taxes for the middle class and the vast majority of the poor on fuel, which has a ratchet effect on most other products.'
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is currently facing public demand for his resignation over his mishandling of the economic crisis, is the man who ruthlessly ended Sri Lanka's nearly 30-year civil war with the LTTE with the death of its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2009.
