New Sri Lanka cabinet 'without any Rajapaksa' to be appointed this week: President Gotabaya
- "I am going to appoint the prime minister and the cabinet that has the trust of the people," he said in a televised address.
Amid the escalating political and economic crisis in Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapksa on Wednesday addressed the nation and said he was working with all party leaders to establish a new government in the country. He also promised to a appoint new Prime Minister and a “young cabinet without any Rajapaksas," according to news agency PTI
"I am going to appoint the prime minister and the cabinet that has the trust of the people," he said in a televised address.
Gotabaya also spoke on the recent violent clashes, and said he has ordered “relevent authorities” to take action against the perpetrators of the violence. “No one can justify the violent acts orchestrated on the May 9 and during the past few days,” he also said, adding, “violence and hatred must be stop.”
The president also said he will empower parliament, bringing back the 19th amendment. Gotabaya added that he was ready to abolish the executive presidency once the country stabilises, reported Newswire.
The address comes as Sri Lanka is battling its worst economic crisis and political instability since its independence in 1948. Its Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on Monday after his supporters clashed with the anti-government protesters outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office in Colombo. Eight people died and over 200 were injured.
The country’s defence ministry on Tuesday ordered troops to shoot at any persons damaging public property or threatening lives, as it attempted to take control of the situation.
The situation is reported to be relatively calm now as strict curfew is in effect.
The island nation needs at least USD 4 billion to tide over its mounting economic woes, according to a report by Reuters. For the same, the country has been negotiating with Intenrational Monetary Fund as well as World Bank for a relief aid.
The country has also approached China, Japan and the Asian Development Bank for help, Reuters also reported.
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
Imran, PTI leaders booked over arson, vandalism by supporters during Azadi March
In the first case, a First Information Report was registered for fire and vandalism on the Jinnah Avenue, while a second FIR was launched for arson and damage to property in the Express Chowk area of the city. Both the FIRs were registered on the complaint of police officials, but the second case clearly named Imran Khan and senior PTI leaders Asad Umar, Imran Ismail, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Ali Amin Gandapur and Ali Nawaz Awan among others.
-
Instagram down for thousands of users: Downdetector
Meta Platforms Inc's image-sharing platform Instagram was down for thousands of users on Thursday, according to outage-tracking website Downdetector.com. More than 6,000 users reported issues with Instagram on Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources including user-submitted errors on its platform. The outage may be affecting a larger number of users. Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
-
Powerful 7.2-magnitude quake rocks southern Peru
A strong 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked southeastern Peru on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, with Peruvian authorities adding there were no dead or injured. The quake hit at 7:02 am local time (1202 GMT), at a depth of 218 kilometers (135 miles), according to the USGS, sending people fleeing into the streets. Peru's National Seismological Center said the quake had a magnitude of 6.9 and a depth of 240 kilometers.
-
Facebook to roll out updated privacy policy from July 26
Social media platform Meta, formerly Facebook, has started sending out notification to users about privacy policy update which it will roll out from July 26, the company said on Thursday. Meta in its post said that it has rewritten and re-designed its privacy policy to make it easier to understand and clearer about how it uses users' information.
-
Man in Japan spends ₹12 lakh to look like a dog, pictures go viral
In a bizarre incident, a man from Japan has fulfilled his lifelong dream to look alike a dog by spending a whopping amount of ₹12 lakh. The man didn't go for any medical procedure but commissioned a life-sized dog costume from a professional agency called Zeppet to look like a collie - dog breed. Japanese news portal news.mynavi reported that Zeppet is known for making sculptures for advertisements, movies, and amusement parks.
