Sri Lanka Security

In Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, security around the Parliament building was heightened on Saturday with armed masked soldiers and roads near the building closed to the public.

Sri Lankan lawmakers were meeting to begin choosing a new leader on Saturday after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled abroad and resigned amid mass protests over the country’s economic collapse.

A day earlier, Sri Lanka’s prime minister was sworn in as interim president until Parliament elects a successor to Rajapaksa, whose term ends in 2024. The country’s Parliament speaker promised a swift and transparent political process that should be done within a week.