Sri Lanka’s PM steps down
Sri Lanka’s prime minister resigned Monday following weeks of protests demanding that he and his brother, the country’s president, step down for dragging the nation into its worst economic crisis in decades.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Twitter that he submitted his resignation to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a move that followed a violent attack by government supporters on the protesters, prompting authorities to deploy armed troops in the capital, Colombo.
Four people, including a ruling party lawmaker, died in Monday’s violence, police spokesman Nihal Thalduwa told the Associated Press. President Rajapaksa imposed a countrywide curfew Monday evening lasting until Wednesday morning.
Marcos son ahead in Philippine election
The son and namesake of ousted Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos took a commanding lead in an unofficial vote count in Monday’s presidential election in the deeply divided Asian democracy.
With 80% of the votes tabulated, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had 25.9 million, far ahead of his closest challenger, current Vice President Leni Robredo, a champion of human rights, who had 12.3 million.
The election winner will take office on June 30 for a single six-year term as leader of a Southeast Asian nation hit hard by two years of COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns.
Still more challenging problems include deeper poverty and unemployment and decadeslong Muslim and communist insurgencies. The next president is also likely to hear demands to prosecute outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte for thousands of killings during his anti-drug crackdown — deaths already under investigation by the International Criminal Court.
Death toll from Cuba hotel explosion rises
More bodies were pulled from the ruins of a luxury hotel in Cuba’s capital Monday, bringing the official death toll of a powerful explosion at the iconic building to 40.
Dr. Julio Guerra, chief of hospital services at the Ministry of Health, said at a news conference that more bodies had been recovered. He added that there were still 18 people hospitalized for injuries from Friday’s blast at the 19th-century Hotel Saratoga.
Search crews with dogs have been hunting through debris in the hotel in Cuba’s capital.
Before the latest update given by Dr. Guerra, the toll of dead was 35, and 20 injured patients were listed as hospitalized.
The 96-room, five-star hotel in Old Havana was preparing to reopen after being closed for two years when an apparent gas leak ignited Friday, blowing the outer walls into the busy, midmorning streets just a block from Cuba’s capital.
Several nearby structures also were damaged, including the historic Marti Theater and the Calvary Baptist Church, headquarters for the denomination in western Cuba.
Authorities said an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the explosion at the hotel, which is owned by Grupo de Turismo Gaviota SA, one of the businesses run by the Cuban military.