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
executed detainees and murdered unarmed people in afghanistan. the heatwave is expected to hit a peak on monday as temperatures rise towards 35 degrees in parts of the uk. in sri lanka, the president flees the countryjust days after protesters storm his palace. and the extraordinary impact of the deepest, most detailed view of the universe ever seen. and coming up on the bbc news channel. england are bowled out for 110 as they slumped to a miserable io wicket defeat against india in the first one day international at the oval. welcome to the bbc news at 10:00pm. the first round of voting for the new leader of the conservative party will involve eight conservative mps, with the final two candidates selected before the end of next week. so the next prime minister will be one of these. from left to right nadhim zahawi, rishi sunak, suella braverman, tom tugendhat, penny mordaunt, kemi badenoch, jeremy hunt, and liz truss. any candidate attracting fewer than 30 votes tomorrow
welcome to newsday we start with breaking news. it s six am in singapore and three thirty am in sri lanka where injust the last hour the bbc has confirmed that sri lanka s president gotabaya rajapaksa has left the country days after popular protests forced him to abandon his official residence and after several earlier failed attempts to leave. he left by plane. his destination is not clear, but it s understood he had earlier tried to travel to the united arab emirates. 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. i m joined now by david brewster, a specialist in sri lankan politics with the australia national university. great university. to get you on the program, david. great to get you on the program, david. just to start by saying, the dramatic developments we ve h