Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has declined to comment on reports claiming he held discussions with CPI(M) members in Dubai. CPI(M) dismisses speculation about Tharoor joining, while Congress denies he is leaving.
"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.
The emergency has been extended another month amidst campaign for the presidential elections to be held in November.
The Sri Lankan parliament on Friday voted by a majority to impeach the chief Justice which could eventually lead to her removal from office.
Ousted SLC president Shammi Silva petitioned the court against the dismissal and was granted a two-week stay order.
PM Modi addressed the Sri Lanka Parliament on Friday.
"International Cricket Council Board has suspended Sri Lanka Cricket's membership of the ICC with immediate effect," read a statement from the ICC.
Ranil Wickremesinghe -- six times Sri Lanka's prime minister -- realised his long cherished dream when he arrived on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, to inaugurate the country's parliament, finally as its president.
Rajapaksa, 73, fled Sri Lanka after the July 9 uprising when people broke into the President's House after months of public protests against him for mishandling the country's worst economic crisis since 1948.
This is the first time in 44 years that Sri Lanka's parliament has directly elected a president.
Rajapaksa said he took the best steps like trying to form an all-party government to counter the economic meltdown.
The Sri Lankan Parliament is all set to elect the successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa in a three-way presidential contest on Wednesday, following a high-voltage political drama which saw the former president fleeing the country and resigning after a popular uprising against his government for mismanaging the economy.
Ranil Wickremesinghe was on Wednesday elected as Sri Lanka's new President by Parliament, in a rare move that could provide continuity for ongoing discussions with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout for the cash-strapped nation but a development likely to anger anti-government protesters who have been demanding his resignation from office for weeks.
Sajith Premadasa, the 55-year-old leader of Sri Lanka's principal opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya, said on Tuesday that he was withdrawing from the race of President to provide support to Alahapperuma.
The ex-president returned to Sri Lanka on a Singapore Airlines flight.
During the 13-minute special session, Dhammika Dassanayake, ecretary general of Parliament, announced the vacancy for the post of president.
The arrested man is Charles Gnanakone.
The two brothers led a decisive campaign that helped end the island nation's three decade long civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Speaker Joseph Michael Perera said Kumaratunga had no authority to prorogue Parliament without the concurrence of the legislature.
``We have full faith in the prime minister,'' declared Labor Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, quoting from a a letter signed by 124 of the nation's 225 MPs.
Sri Lanka's Parliament on Wednesday approved the private sector participation in oil and gas exploration, paving way for the Indian companies to invest in the island nation.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived in Colombo on Friday on a two-day trip to set the stage for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Sri Lanka next week, the first bilateral visit to the country by an Indian premier in over 25 years.
Modi strongly pitched for enhanced cooperation in key areas of maritime security and counter-terrorism.
Xi Jinping is winning the war without firing a shot in Sri Lanka, observes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
The parliament has approved a no-trust vote against Prime Minister Rajapaksa, speaker of parliament Karu Jayasuriya announced in the House.
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