Sri Lanka protesters storm PM's office defying emergency after President flees abroad

News Network
July 13, 2022

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Colombo, July 13: Protesters in Sri Lanka defied tear gas, water cannon and a state of emergency to storm the prime minister's office on Wednesday after the president fled overseas, with the crowd demanding both men step down in the face of an economic crisis.

In a televised statement Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he had instructed the military and police to do "what is necessary to restore order".

But footage showed armed security personnel standing by in the grounds of his office as protesters, some holding national flags, milled and took pictures.

Other demonstrators at one point broke into state television studios, as the country's months-long political and economic crisis appeared to be moving towards a climax.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised at the weekend to resign on Wednesday after escaping his own official residence in Colombo just before tens of thousands of protesters overran it.

As president, Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest, and he is believed to have wanted to go abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of being detained. The 73-year-old, his wife and two bodyguards took a military aircraft to the neighbouring Maldives, immigration sources told the press.

Hours later, with no formal announcement he was stepping down, thousands of demonstrators mobbed the office of Wickremesinghe -- whom Rajapaksa named as acting president during his absence -- demanding both officeholders should go.

"Go home Ranil, Go home Gota," they shouted.

Tear gas and water cannon fired by police and the declaration of both a nationwide state of emergency and a curfew failed to disperse them and the crowd poured into the building.

Wickremesinghe, also 73, would automatically become acting president if Rajapaksa steps down, but has himself announced his willingness to resign if consensus is reached on forming a unity government.

"We can't tear up our constitution," he said in his statement. "We can't allow fascists to take over. We must end this fascist threat to democracy," he said, adding that the official buildings occupied by protesters must be returned to state control.

The protesters' actions were a repeat of the capture of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's home and office on Saturday, when Wickremesinghe's private home was also set ablaze.

The prime minister's office confirmed that Rajapaksa had left the country, but said it had no schedule for any presidential resignation announcement.

The succession process could take between three days -- the minimum time needed for parliament to elect an MP to serve out Rajapaksa's term, which ends in November 2024 -- and a maximum of 30 days allowed under the statute.

Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the economy to a point where the country ran out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports, leading to severe hardships for its 22 million people.

Earlier Wednesday, smiling Sri Lankans again thronged the corridors of the president's official residence after his departure, with young couples walking around hand in hand in a mood of quiet celebration.

"People are very happy, because these people robbed our country," said retired civil servant Kingsley Samarakoon, 74.

"They've stolen too much money, billions and billions."

But he held little hope for an immediate improvement in Sri Lanka's plight.

"How are people going to run the country without money?" he asked. "It's a problem."

Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in April and is in talks with the IMF for a possible bailout.

 The island has nearly exhausted its already scarce supplies of petrol. The government has ordered the closure of non-essential offices and schools to reduce commuting and save fuel.

The departure of Rajapaksa, 73 and once known as "The Terminator", had been stymied for more than 24 hours in a humiliating standoff with immigration personnel in Colombo.

He had wanted to fly to Dubai on a commercial flight, but staff at Bandaranaike International withdrew from VIP services and insisted that all passengers had to go through public counters.

On arrival in the Maldives on Wednesday, Rajapaksa was driven to an undisclosed location under police escort, an airport official in the capital Male said.

His youngest brother Basil, who resigned in April as finance minister, missed his own Emirates flight to Dubai on Tuesday after a tense standoff of his own with airport staff.

The leader of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, Sajith Premadasa, who lost the 2019 presidential election to Rajapaksa, has said he will stand for the presidency.

Premadasa is the son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, who was assassinated in a Tamil rebel suicide bombing in May 1993. 

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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News Network
November 21,2025

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An Indian Air Force (IAF) Tejas fighter jet crashed on Friday, November 21, afternoon during its aerial demonstration at the Dubai Air Show, plunging to the ground at around 2:10 pm local time while performing a manoeuvre before thousands of spectators.

The IAF confirmed the incident, stating that a Tejas aircraft participating in the show had crashed and that further details were being gathered. An Air Force spokesperson said more information would be shared after initial assessments.

The crash sent thick black smoke billowing into the sky near the airport, causing panic among visitors, including families and children who had gathered to watch the display. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether the pilot managed to eject before the aircraft went down. Emergency response teams rushed to the scene, and officials have not released information on casualties or damage so far.

The Tejas is a 4.5-generation, multi-role fighter aircraft developed indigenously by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Designed for versatility, it is capable of offensive air support, close combat, ground attack missions and maritime operations. The aircraft family includes single-seat fighters and twin-seat trainers for both the Air Force and Navy.

HAL describes the latest version, the LCA Mk1A, as the most advanced in the series, featuring an AESA radar, an upgraded electronic warfare suite with radar-warning and self-protection jamming, smart multifunction displays, a digital map generator, a combined interrogator–transponder system and a modern radio altimeter. These enhancements significantly improve the aircraft’s combat capability and survivability.

Further updates from IAF and UAE authorities are awaited.

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News Network
November 22,2025

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The Israeli regime’s forces have killed two Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip every day since the ceasefire began in early October, UNICEF has warned.

The UN children’s agency said on Friday that Israeli forces continue to attack Palestinians in Gaza even though the agreement was meant to stop the killing.

“Since 11 October, while the ceasefire has been in effect, at least 67 children have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the Gaza Strip. Dozens more have been injured. That is an average of almost two children killed every day since the ceasefire took effect,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said in Geneva, reminding that each number in the statistics represents a child whose life had ended violently.

“These are not statistics,” he said. “Each child had a story, a family, and a future that was stolen from them.”

Data from Palestinian factions, human rights groups, and government bodies recorded since the US-brokered ceasefire deal went into effect on October 10 show that Israeli forces have carried out numerous attacks, each constituting a separate ceasefire violation.

UNICEF teams say they repeatedly continue to witness heart-wrenching scenes of fearful Palestinian children sleeping outdoors with amputated limbs, while others live as orphans in flooded, makeshift shelters.

“I saw this myself in August. There is no safe place for them. The world cannot normalize their suffering,” Pires said, lamenting that the UN could “do a lot more if the aid that is really needed was entering faster.”

The UNICEF spokesperson warned that with the advent of winter, the risks for hundreds of thousands of displaced children will increase.

He warned, “The stakes are incredibly high” for children as winter acts as a threat multiplier, where children have no heating, no insulation, and few blankets. He said respiratory infections rise.

“Too many children have already paid the highest price,” Pires said. “Too many are still paying it, even under a ceasefire. The world promised them it would stop and that we would protect them.”

“Now we must act like it,” the UNICEF spokesperson added.

Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, it has killed nearly 70,000 people in the territory, most of them women and children, and injured over 170,000 more, while reducing most of the structures in the enclave to rubble.

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