Tag Archives: Sri Lanka

Shoot-on-sight orders issued to quell Sri Lanka riots

Sri Lanka’s defense ministry on Tuesday ordered troops to shoot on sight people involved in looting or damaging property, a day after mobs targeted the homes of ruling-party politicians. “Security forces have been ordered to shoot on sight anyone looting public property or causing harm to life,” the ministry said. …

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Sri Lanka’s PM Rajapaksa resigns amid deadly violence kills 5, injures about 190

Sri Lanka Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has resigned, following a series of violent confrontations between his supporters and anti-government protesters that saw five people killed and 189 wounded. Rohan Weliwita, Rajapaksa’s spokesman, said on Monday the 76-year-old sent his letter of resignation to his younger brother President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, clearing …

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Sri Lanka president agrees to remove brother as PM: Lawmaker

Sri Lanka’s president has agreed to replace his older brother as prime minister in a proposed interim government to solve a political impasse caused by the country’s worst economic crisis in decades, a prominent lawmaker said Friday. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed that a national council will be appointed to name …

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Heavy rain, floods kill at least 17 in Sri Lanka

Heavy rain has lashed Sri Lanka triggering floods and landslides that have killed at least 17 people and forced tens of thousands from their homes, officials said on Monday. After days of rain, rivers on the island nation’s southern and western plains overflowed on the weekend, inundating low-lying areas and …

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Disaster feared as chemical cargo ship sinks off Sri Lanka

A cargo ship carrying tonnes of chemicals is sinking off Sri Lanka’s west coast, the country’s government and navy said on Wednesday, in one of Sri Lanka’s worst-ever marine disasters. The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl, carrying 1,486 containers, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, along with other chemicals and cosmetics, …

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