COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—A race car veered off the track during a competition in Sri Lanka on Sunday and rammed into a crowd of spectators and race officials, killing seven people and injuring 20 others, officials said. Thousands of spectators looked on as the mishap took place during a race in the town of Diyatalawa in […]
The spotlight is back on a shipping port in Sri Lanka. The United States is getting ready to pour over $550 million into the Port of Colombo. The loan will fund the construction of a deep-water shipping container terminal. It’s coming from a federal agency called the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. The agency says […]
Faced with an imminent financial crisis, Sri Lanka has reached an agreement with the Export-Import (Exim) Bank of China to cover about $4.2 billion of the island nation’s outstanding debt, according to a statement issued by the finance ministry on Oct. 12. The government of the cash-strapped nation, which was hit by its worst economic […]
China has poured $2.2 billion into Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port. Now it’s at the top of a list of possible sites for future Chinese naval bases. The island country sits right at the crossroads of the Indian Ocean trade route and has high naval value, according to an American research project, AidData. Its database shows […]
Sri Lanka has secured India’s support for its debt restructuring plan, a key to Sri Lanka securing a $2.9 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but it still requires support from its biggest bilateral lender, China. Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Friday that India will extend financing assurances to the […]
A Chinese surveillance ship is striking a nerve with India, a major U.S. defense partner in Asia. The ship docked at a strategic port in Sri Lanka on Tuesday. The port sits at a critical location. It’s less than ten miles away from one of the world’s busiest shipping routes and also just miles away […]
An official from the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) foreign ministry on Tuesday confirmed that the regime’s satellite-tracking vessel has docked at Sri Lanka’s port for replenishment, following a delay caused by India’s resistance over security concerns.
BANGKOK—Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived in Thailand on Thursday, according to three Reuters witnesses, as he seek temporary shelter in a second Southeast Asian country after fleeing his island nation last month amid mass protests. Rajapaksa arrived at Bangkok’s Don Muang airport on a chartered flight from Singapore after the city-state’s immigration authority […]
Relax and let your worries be replaced by stunning aerial nature views from some of Sri Lanka’s most beautiful and iconic landscape locations, paired with a brand new meditation piano musical masterpiece. This video can be used to relax, sleep, meditate, do yoga, study, work, read, and more. Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic […]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wraps up her historic visit to Taiwan—after a series of threats from Beijing. A Chinese company is eyeing a deep water port and airstrip in the Solomon Islands amid mounting concerns in the West about a potential Chinese military base just a thousand miles from Australia. India is on high alert. […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—Veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new president Thursday to take charge of a nation bitterly angry that he will remain in power amid an unprecedented economic crisis. Sri Lankans have taken to the streets for months to demand their top leaders step down to take responsibility for economic […]
COLOMBO—Sri Lankan lawmakers voted in acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new president on Wednesday, hoping his long experience in government can help pull the country out of a crippling economic and political crisis. The six-time prime minister won 134 votes in the 225-member parliament, despite public anger with the ruling elite after months of […]
Sri Lanka is negotiating with China for as much as $4 billion in aid. The country is confident that Beijing will agree “at some point,” according to what Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing Sri Lanka’s ambassador to China.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—Sri Lanka’s acting president on Monday declared a state of emergency giving him broad authority amid growing protests demanding his resignation two days before the country’s lawmakers are set to elect a new president. Ranil Wickremesinghe became acting president on Friday after his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled abroad and resigned after monthslong mass […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—Sri Lanka’s prime minister was sworn in Friday as interim president until Parliament elects a successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled abroad and resigned after mass protests over the country’s economic collapse. Lawmakers were to convene Saturday to choose a new leader who would serve the remainder of Rajapaksa’s term, which ends in […]
Sri Lanka’s geopolitical value has not only brought opportunities, but also China’s attention. By expanding its control in the Indo-Pacific region, China absorbed Sri Lanka into its Road and Belt Initiative. Because of that, Beijing has become the country’s biggest lender. NTD takes a closer look at how Sri Lanka found itself in this situation—and […]
COLOMBO/SINGAPORE—Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa submitted a letter of resignation on Thursday, a spokesperson for the parliamentary speaker said, hours after fleeing to Singapore following mass protests over an economic meltdown. The announcement triggered jubilation in the commercial capital Colombo where protesters massed outside the presidential secretariat, defying a city-wide curfew. Crowds set off firecrackers, shouted […]
More updates on the demonstrations in Sri Lanka. Protest organizers and union leaders are warning of a “terrible, massive strike” and more demonstrations if the president and prime minister do not step down by Wednesday. Protesters have reportedly burned down the homes of more than three dozen politicians—including the prime minister’s residence—and the government is ordering […]
COLOMBO—Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to the Maldives on Wednesday, telephoned the speaker of parliament saying that his resignation letter will be sent later in the day. “The president got in touch with me over the phone and said that he will ensure that his resignation letter will be received by me today,” […]
