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Sri Lankan president sends resignation letter after fleeing to Singapore

Sri Lankan president sends resignation letter after fleeing to Singapore

UDITHA JAYASINGHE, ALASDAIR PAL and CHEN LIN SRI Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has submitted a letter of resignation, two government sources said, after he fled to Singapore following mass protests over his country's economic meltdown. Rajapaksa emailed a letter of resignation to the speaker of the country's parliament late on Thursday, two sources said. It was not immediately clear if the letter, sent shortly after Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore, would be accepted in email form, the sources added. In commercial capital Colombo, troops patrolled the streets to enforce a curfew. Rajapaksa, who fled to the Maldives on Wednesday to escape…
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Sri Lankan president flees to Maldives, protesters storm prime minister’s office

Sri Lankan president flees to Maldives, protesters storm prime minister’s office

UDITHA JAYASINGHE, DEVJYOT GHOSHAL and WARUNA CUDAH NIMAL KARUNATILAKE Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday, driven out after an economic collapse unleashed a popular uprising that appeared to end his family's near two-decade dominance of the country. His decision to leave his ally Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in charge as acting president triggered more demonstrations, with protesters storming the premier's office demanding that he go too. Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left the main international airport near Colombo aboard an air force plane early on Wednesday, the air force said in a statement. Reuters…
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Seething Sri Lanka stops president’s brother flying out of the country

Seething Sri Lanka stops president’s brother flying out of the country

UDITHA JAYASINGHE and DEVJYOT GHOSHAL SRI Lankan immigration officials stopped the president's brother and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa from flying out of the country on Tuesday, as anger mounted over the island's worst economic crisis in decades. It was not clear where Rajapaksa, who also holds U.S. citizenship, was trying to go. He resigned as finance minister in early April as street protests surged against shortages of fuel, food and other necessities, and quit his seat in parliament in June. His elder brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, will resign as president on Wednesday to make way for a unity government, after…
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