welcome to newsday. it s 8am in singapore, and 5am in the maldives, where sri lanka s president has arrived after fleeing sri lanka on a militaryjet. gotabaya rajapaksa s departure from sri lanka ends a family dynasty that has ruled the country for decades. he had been in hiding, after crowds stormed his residence on saturday. his brother, former finance minister basil rajapaksa, has also left the country, sources have told the bbc. president rajapaksa had promised to resign, but by remaining in position, he kept his immunity from prosecution. many sri lankans blame him for the economic crisis which has crippled their country, leaving it short of funds to buy medicines or fuel. our correspondent rajini vaidyanathan was with protestors outside the presidential palace in colombo when the news of president rajapaksa s departure was made public. there is a real party atmosphere here at colombo seafront, which has been a protest site for many weeks, one of the main demands protest
over its economic crisis, and he s landed in the maldives. mr rajapaksa left aboard a militaryjet, ending a family dynasty that has ruled the country for decades. he had been in hiding, after crowds stormed his residence on saturday. they are still there. sources have told the bbc his brother, former finance minister basil rajapaksa, has also left the country. the president had promised to resign, but by remaining in position, he kept his immunity from prosecution. many sri lankans blame him for the economic crisis which has crippled their country, leaving it short of funds our correspondent rajini vaidyanathan was with protestors outside the presidential palace in colombo when the news of president rajapaksa s departure was made public. there is a real party atmosphere here at colombo seafront, which has been a protest site for many weeks, one of the main demands protesters had was for gotabaya rajapaksa to go. their slogan, their chant was go home, gota . we now know that
welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. sri lanka s president gotabaya rajapaksa has left the country amid mass protests over its economic crisis, and he s landed in the maldives. mr rajapaksa left aboard a militaryjet, ending a family dynasty that has ruled the country for decades. he had been in hiding, after crowds stormed his residence on saturday. sources have told the bbc his brother, former finance minister basil rajapaksa, has also left the country. the president had promised to resign, but by remaining in position, he kept his immunity from prosecution. i want to show you some pictures from the presidential office itself in colombo. people expect a resignation to be announced. we have heard that the speaker of parliament saying nothing yet, but there should be something official by this evening colombo time. quite a few hours still to wait if that is the case, but crowds expectant in anticipation of the president s resignation. they blame him f
his formal resignation is expected to be announced at some point today. the bbc understands the president s military jet has landed in male, the capital of the maldives. he had been in hiding after protestors stormed his residence on saturday. our south asia correspondent rajini vaidyanathan sent this report from colombo. many sri lankans feel that leaving is their only option, in a crisis defined by endless waits. hundreds queue for passports. a chance to leave their troubled homeland in search of something better. many trying to make it to the middle east, like vasana, whose hoping she ll find work as a cleaner to support her six year old. how do you feel about wanting to leave sri lanka? your heart is in sri lanka? she says she s going because she s struggling to even get food and that s one of the reasons why she s trying to find work in kuwait. me, i m planning to go to uk. we don t see any future. so that s basically we want to move on this country for our kids, not for