Lanka's president escapes censure motion

COLOMBO, May 17 (AFP): Sri Lanka's beleaguered president side-stepped a censure motion on Tuesday after his fractured coalition rallied to delay a resolution blaming him for the country's worst economic crisis.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa's shaky coalition voted against taking up the unprecedented "displeasure of parliament" motion.
The non-binding motion was proposed by the main opposition Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance, saying it echoed the demands of thousands of anti-government demonstrators who have for weeks been seeking Rajapaksa's resignation.
Shortages of food, fuel and medicines, along with record inflation and lengthy blackouts, have brought severe hardships to Sri Lankans, in the worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.
Earlier, Sri Lanka's new prime minister won crucial support from two main opposition parties on Monday, easing the pressure on the ruling Rajapaksa clan in the face of the island's worsening economic crisis.
But highlighting the dire situation still facing Sri Lanka's 22 million people, Ranil Wickremesinghe said the country had run out of petrol and that the "next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives".
"I have no desire to hide the truth and to lie to the public," Wickremesinghe said in an address to the nation.
The main opposition SJB party appeared to drop its demands that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should step down before backing a coalition to manage the crumbling economy.