The Latest Breaking News from Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency in the country effective from midnight, a government notice said late on Friday.

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Friday declared a state of emergency giving security forces sweeping powers for the second time in five weeks to deal with escalating anti-government protests.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a profound economic crisis, sparking massive protests around the country. The protests are happening against a backdrop of painful and unresolved aspects of the island’s history, following a civil war that drove and deepened ethnic and religious divisions.

Sri Lanka’s finance minister says the South Asian country's economy is in dire straits with its usable foreign reserves down to less than $50 million

Sri Lanka’s main opposition party is demanding a no-confidence vote aimed at ousting the Rajapaksa-led government

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crises since winning independence from Britain in 1948. Inflation is at an all-time high and protests are spreading around the country.

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Thousands of supporters of Sri Lankan opposition parties rallied on Sunday in the commercial capital Colombo as a weeks-long political and economic crisis showed no sign of abating.

Analysts say Thursday’s nationwide strike was the first since a similar call given by the island’s trade unions in 1980.