The Latest Breaking News from Sri Lanka

Ranil Wickremesinghe says new PM should be ‘acceptable to both the government and opposition’.

Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EDT. For up-to-the minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan at https://newsroom.ap.org.

Sri Lanka's Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who oversaw a ruthless crushing of Tamil Tiger guerrillas to end a long-running civil war and went on to become president, had been due to step down on Wednesday to appease a population angry over several tumultuous months of economic and political crisis.

It follows months of protests over Sri Lanka's economic crisis.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife flew to the Maldives on a military plane early on Wednesday morning.

The Rajapaksa dynasty dominated Sri Lankan politics until April when street protests against fuel and food shortages began to slip out of control. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country early on Wednesday, leaving no one from the once- illustrious family in a position of power.

A deep financial crisis has left Sri Lanka struggling to pay for imports of food, medicine and fuel and brought thousands of protesters on to the streets.

Before he fled Sri Lanka on Wednesday, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the last of six members of the country’s most influential family still clinging to power

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had already agreed to resign. Protesters had stormed his home and office and the official residence of his prime minister amid a three-month economic crisis.