SRI LANKA'S PM RANIL WICKREMESINGHE SWORN IN AS SRI LANKA’S INTERIM PRESIDENT

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as acting president after the speaker of the parliament accepted a resignation letter sent by embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after he fled the country, due to protests over the nation’s economic collapse.

Lawmakers were to convene Saturday to begin choosing a new leader who would serve the remainder of Rajapaksa's term, which ends in 2024.

A tenuous calm returned to the capital of Colombo on Thursday after protesters who had occupied government buildings retreated, but with the political opposition deeply fractured, a solution to Sri Lanka’s many problems seemed no closer.

As people celebrated in the streets, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana promised a swift and transparent political process that should be done within a week.

The new president could appoint a new prime minister, who would then have to be approved by Parliament. After Rajapaksa resigned, pressure on the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was rising.

In a televised statement, Wickremesinghe said he would initiate steps to change the constitution to curb presidential powers and strengthen Parliament, restore law and order and take legal action against “insurgents.”

"There is a big difference between protesters and insurgents. We will take legal action against insurgents,” he said.

Wickremesinghe became acting president after Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka on Wednesday, flying first to the Maldives and then to Singapore. The prime minister's office said Wickremesinghe was sworn in Friday as interim president by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya. It was unclear to whom he was referring.

Sri Lanka’s opposition leader, who is seeking the presidency, vowed to “listen to the people” and to hold Rajapaksa accountable.

In an interview with The Associated Pres s from his office, Sajith Premadasa said that if he wins the election in parliament, he would ensure that “an elective dictatorship never, ever occurs” in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Friday barred former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa from leaving the country till July 28.

The order was passed by the apex court during the hearing of a petition filed by global civil society organisation Transparency International on the economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

JOHNSON WANTS ‘ANYONE BUT RISHI’ TO REPLACE HIM: REPORT

London : UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pushing for failed Tory leadership candidates to back “anyone but Rishi” Sunak, it was claimed on Friday, amid reports that the whole team at 10 Downing Street “hates” the former Chancellor for causing the PM’s downfall, media reports said.

Johnson, who announced last week that he will step down as party leader when his replacement is decided, has said he will not publicly endorse any candidate or get involved in the increasingly bitter leadership race, the Daily Mail reported.

However, Boris Johnson has reportedly made clear in private discussions with failed leadership hopefuls that Sunak should not be his successor. Citing a source close to one such conversation, The Times said that Johnson appeared to be most enthusiastic about his foreign secretary Liz Truss becoming prime minister.

Truss has been publicly backed by some of Johnson's closest cabinet allies — including Nadine Dorries, Jabob Rees-Mogg and Attorney General Suella Braverman — but has come third in the two rounds of voting that ha- ve been held so far.

Sunak came out on top of Thursday’s voting, and in second was Penny Mordaunt, who was also bearing the brunt of the attacks from rival camps as she gained the most momentum.

The Times reported that Johnson has indicated he would also be open to Mordaunt succeeding him if it meant that Sunak did not win the leadership election.

SAUDI ARABIA OPENS UP AIRSPACE TO ALL AIRLINES, INCLUDING ISRAELI

Saudi Arabia on Friday opened its airspace to “all air carriers,” signaling the end of its longstanding ban on Israeli flights overflying its territory — a key step toward normalization between the two nations as President Joe Biden visits the region.

In a statement posted to Twitter hours before Biden is set to become the first U.S. leader to fly directly from Israel to the kingdom, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said it was announcing “the decision to open the Kingdom’s airspace for all air carriers that meet the requirements of the Authority for overflying.”

The announcement is an incremental step toward the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel and builds on the strong but informal ties the erstwhile foes have developed recent years over their shared concerns about Iran’s growing influence in the region.

SAUDI ARABIA: BIDEN RAISED KHASHOGGI MURDER WITH CROWN PRINCE

US President Joe Biden says he raised the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Mr Biden is in Saudi Arabia to rebuild relations, having previously promised to make the country a "pariah" over its human rights record.

He said he had made it clear the killing in 2018 was "vitally important to me and the United States".

But he also said the two countries reached agreements on other issues.

Mr Biden's visit has been criticised as validating the Saudi government following the murder of the US-based Saudi dissident journalist Khashoggi in October 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was accused by US intelligence agencies of approving the murder.

The prince has always denied the allegations, and Saudi prosecutors blamed "rogue" Saudi agents.

"With respect to the murder of Khashoggi, I raised it at the top of the meeting, making it clear what I thought of it at the time and what I think of it now," Mr Biden said in a press briefing after Friday's meeting.

"I said very straightforwardly, 'for an American president to be silent on an issue of human rights is inconsistent with who we are and who I am. I'll always stand up for our values'."

Mr Biden said the crown prince claimed he was "not personally responsible" for the death, the Associated Press reported. "I indicated I thought he was," the president said he replied.

Prior to the meeting Mr Biden was pictured fist-bumping the crown prince, indicating an apparent warming of relations between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the publisher and CEO of the Washington Post, Fred Ryan, said "the fist bump between President Biden and Mohammed bin Salman was worse than a handshake - it was shameful. It projected a level of intimacy and comfort that delivers to MBS the unwarranted redemption he has been desperately seeking."

Aside from Khashoggi's murder, President Biden said he and his Saudi counterpart had discussed energy and that he expected to see Saudi Arabia, a major oil producer, take "further steps" to stabilise the market in the coming weeks.

Mr Biden also announced Saudi Arabia would open its airspace to aircraft flying to and from Israel, which was previously banned.

IRAN, BELARUS TO BE NEWEST SCO MEMBERS

Iran and Belarus are likely to be the two newest additions to the China and Russia-backed Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) grouping, officials said on Friday.

Expanding the group is among the issues that leaders of the grouping, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely to discuss at the SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in September.

The current SCO Secretary, General Zhang Ming, a veteran Chinese diplomat, told reporters on Friday the grouping hopes for an in-person summit in Uzbekistan, which could see Mr. Modi meet with Mr. Xi for the first time since 2019.

“So far, all participating countries have confirmed the attendance of their leaders but the format of attendance is not finalised. All wish to switch to the traditional way of meeting which is more efficient,” said Mr. Zhang, who recently visited Samarkand and said the facilities for the summit would be constructed by the end of this month. “At the same time, the epidemic situation is changing and there are new variants emerging,” he said, adding a note of caution, with last year’s summit held virtually on account of COVID-19.

China, Russia and four Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan — were the founding members of the SCO, while India and Pakistan joined the grouping in 2017 in its first round of expansion. Last year’s summit in Dushanbe agreed for Iran to join, while Belarus has also begun the membership process.

G20 SLAMS RUSSIA AS PUTIN’S WAR OVERSHADOWS TALKS

Vinnytsia : Western officials accused their Russian counterparts of war crimes on Friday after Russian missiles struck a Ukrainian city far behind the frontlines in an attack Kyiv officials said killed at least 23 people.

Ukraine said Thursday’s strike on Vinnytsia had been carried out with Kalibr cruise missiles launched from a Russian submarine in the Black Sea. Ukraine’s state emergency service said three children, including a 4-year-old girl, were killed in Thursday’s attack. Another 71 people were hospitalised and 29 people were missing.

The Vinnytsia attack overshadowed the start of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Indonesia on Friday, where top US and Canadian representatives accused Russian officials in attendance of culpability in atrocities.

US treasury secretary Janet Yellen condemned Russi- a’s “brutal and unjust war” and said Russian finance officials shared responsibility.

Canadian finance minister Chrystia Freeland told Russian officials at the meeting that she held them personally responsible for “war cri- mes”, a Western official said.

As Russia pressed its offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the US and more than 40 other countries agreed on Thursday to coordinate investigations into suspected war crimes.

ITALY STUCK IN POLITICAL LIMBO, PROSPECT OF EARLY POLL GROWS

Rome : Italy might need early elections to overcome a political impasse, government officials said Friday, after Prime Minister Mario Draghi tendered his resignation in the wake of a mutiny by a coalition partner.

President Sergio Mattarella rejected Draghi’s resignation on Thursday and asked him to address parliament next week to get a clearer picture of the political situation.

If unity cannot return swiftly to government ranks, the only alternative would be for an election to be called in the autumn, foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said, warning that an early vote would be welcomed by Russia, but would damage Italy’s economy. “If Draghi falls, we vote,” he told RTL radio, adding without a fully functioning government, Italy would risk losing billions of euros in EU post-pandemic recovery funds and would not be able to enact measures to combat climbing energy costs