EXPLAINER: Why Sri Lanka’s Economy Collapsed And What’s Next

Protesters stand on a vandalised police water canon truck and shout slogans at the entrance to president's official residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, July 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

BY KRISHAN FRANCIS AND ELAINE KURTENBACH

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AP) — Sri Lanka’s prime minister said late last month that the island nation’s debt-laden economy had “collapsed” as it runs out of money to pay for food and fuel. Short of cash to pay for imports of such necessities and already defaulting on its debt, it is seeking help from neighboring India and China and from the International Monetary Fund.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took office in May, was emphasizing the monumental task he faced in turning around an economy he said was heading for “rock bottom.” On Saturday both he and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed to resign amid mounting pressure from protesters who stormed both their residences and set fire to one of them.

Sri Lankans are skipping meals as they endure shortages and lining up for hours to try to buy scarce fuel. It’s a harsh reality for a country whose economy had been growing quickly, with a growing and comfortable middle class, until the latest crisis deepened.

HOW SERIOUS IS THIS CRISIS?

The government owes $51 billion and is unable to make interest payments on its loans, let alone put a dent in the amount borrowed. Tourism, an important engine of economic growth, has sputtered because of the pandemic and concerns about safety after terror attacks in 2019. And its currency has collapsed by 80%, making imports more expensive and worsening inflation that is already out of control, with food costs rising 57%, according to official data.

The result is a country hurtling towards bankruptcy, with hardly any money to import gasoline, milk, cooking gas and toilet paper.

Political corruption is also a problem; not only did it play a role in the country squandering its wealth, but it also complicates any financial rescue for Sri Lanka.

Anit Mukherjee, a policy fellow and economist at the Center for Global Development in Washington, said any assistance from the IMF or World Bank should come with strict conditions to make sure the aid isn’t mismanaged.

Still, Mukherjee noted that Sri Lanka sits in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, so letting a country of such strategic significance collapse is not an option.

HOW IS IT AFFECTING REAL PEOPLE?

Tropical Sri Lanka normally is not lacking for food, but people are going hungry. The U.N. World Food Program says nearly nine of 10 families are skipping meals or otherwise skimping to stretch out their food, while 3 million are receiving emergency humanitarian aid.

Doctors have resorted to social media to try to get critical supplies of equipment and medicine. Growing numbers of Sri Lankans are seeking passports to go overseas in search of work. Government workers have been given an extra day off for three months to allow them time to grow their own food.

In short, people are suffering and desperate for things to improve.

WHY IS THE ECONOMY IN SUCH DIRE STRAITS?

Economists say the crisis stems from domestic factors such as years of mismanagement and corruption.

Much of the public’s ire has focused on President Rajapaksa and his brother, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The latter resigned in May after weeks of anti-government protests that eventually turned violent.

Conditions have been deteriorating for the past several years. In 2019, Easter suicide bombings at churches and hotels killed more than 260 people. That devastated tourism, a key source of foreign exchange.

The government needed to boost its revenues as foreign debt for big infrastructure projects soared, but instead Rajapaksa pushed through the largest tax cuts in Sri Lankan history. The tax cuts were recently were reversed, but only after creditors downgraded Sri Lanka’s ratings, blocking it from borrowing more money as its foreign reserves sank. Then tourism flatlined again during the pandemic.

In April 2021, Rajapaksa suddenly banned imports of chemical fertilizers. The push for organic farming caught farmers by surprise and decimated staple rice crops, driving prices higher. To save on foreign exchange, imports of other items deemed to be luxuries also were banned. Meanwhile, the Ukraine war has pushed prices of food and oil higher. Inflation was near 40% and food prices were up nearly 60% in May.

WHY DID THE PRIME MINISTER SAY THE ECONOMY HAS COLLAPSED?

The stark declaration in June by Wickremesinghe, who is in his sixth term as prime minister, threatened to undermine any confidence in the state of the economy and didn’t reflect any specific new development. The prime minister appeared to be underscoring the challenges facing his government as it seeks help from the IMF and confronts criticism over the lack of improvement since he took office weeks earlier. The comment might have been intended to try to buy more time and support as he tries to get the economy back on track.

The Finance Ministry said Sri Lanka had only $25 million in usable foreign reserves. That has left it without the wherewithal to pay for imports, let alone repay billions in debt.

Meanwhile the Sri Lankan rupee has weakened in value to about 360 to the U.S. dollar. That makes costs of imports even more prohibitive. Sri Lanka has suspended repayment of about $7 billion in foreign loans due this year out of $25 billion to be repaid by 2026.

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WHAT IS THE GOVERNMENT DOING ABOUT THE CRISIS?

So far Sri Lanka has been muddling through, mainly supported by $4 billion in credit lines from India. An Indian delegation came to the capital, Colombo, in June for talks on more assistance, but Wickremesinghe warned against expecting India to keep Sri Lanka afloat for long.

“Sri Lanka pins last hopes on IMF,” read a June headline in the Colombo Times. The government is in negotiations with the IMF on a bailout plan, and Wickremesinghe has said he expected to have a preliminary agreement later this summer.

Sri Lanka has also sought more help from China. Other governments like the U.S., Japan and Australia have provided a few hundred million dollars in support.

Earlier in June, the United Nations launched a worldwide public appeal for assistance. So far, projected funding barely scratches the surface of the $6 billion the country needs to stay afloat over the next six months.

To counter Sri Lanka’s fuel shortage, Wickremesinghe told The Associated Press in a recent interview that he would consider buying more steeply discounted oil from Russia.

Kurtenbach, the AP’s Asia business editor, contributed from Bangkok.

Sri Lanka Catholics Celebrate Mass Via TV Amid New Warnings

Sri Lankan naval soldiers engage is re construction work of the exploded St. Anthony's church in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, May 3, 2019. Catholic services are being canceled for a second weekend in Sri Lanka's capital after the government warned of more possible attacks by the same Islamic State-linked group that carried out Easter suicide bombings. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

BY KRISHAN FRANCIS

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AP) — Sri Lankan Catholics celebrated Sunday Mass in their homes for a second week as churches remain closed amid fears of possible fresh attacks by Islamic extremists.

Cardinal Malcom Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, offered a televised Mass from his residence that was attended mostly by priests and nuns.

A letter from Pope Francis addressed to him was read out at the end of the service in which the pontiff said he prayed that “hearts hardened by hatred may yield to His will for peace and reconciliation among all his children.”

At St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, one of the sites targeted by Easter suicide bombings that killed 257 people, a Mass was celebrated for a small group of children as a means for inner healing.


The Rev. Prasad Harshana said before the Mass that prayers will be offered not only for the victims of violence, survivors, Catholics and the country as a whole but also for “those suicide bombers and all those people who are involved in it.”

“Because they are also misled by the evil one, we need to pray for the conversion of those people. We pray for the conversion of the hearts of the terrorists, whoever they may be.”

“That is our faith ... we love them all,” said Harshana.

The coordinated bombings that targeted three churches and three luxury hotels were carried out by a group of Sri Lankan nationals with links to the Islamic State group.

Almost all churches remained closed with armed soldiers and police guarding them. Authorities canceled Sunday services after reports emerged that a Catholic church and lay institution could be targeted this weekend.

Catholic schools have also been closed until further notice.

However, all government schools are to reopen Monday for grade 6 and up. Police have announced they will search the premises of all schools Sunday.

On Thursday, the cardinal sent a letter to church officials saying he received “foreign information” that attempts would be made last week to attack a church and another church institution. The letter later appeared on social media.

Ranjith, an outspoken critic of the Sri Lankan government’s apparent failure to act on Indian government intelligence ahead of the Easter attacks, said in the letter that he was closing churches and Catholic schools throughout Sri Lanka and canceling public congregations for Mass “until further notice.”

“For your own good, we have decided to close down those institutions,” he wrote.

Sri Lanka Minister: Easter Bombings A Response To NZ Attacks

Sri Lankans pray during a three minute nationwide silence observe to pay homage to the victims of Easter Sunday's blasts outside St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, April 23, 2019. A state of emergency has taken effect giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers not used since civil war ended in 2009. Police arrested 40 suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by suicide bombers involved in deadly Easter bombings. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

BY EMILY SCHMALL, KRISHAN FRANCIS

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AP) — A top Sri Lanka official on Tuesday called the Easter attack on churches, hotels and other sites “retaliation” for the shooting massacre by a white supremacist at two New Zealand mosques last month, as the Islamic State group sought to claim responsibility for the attack.

Ruwan Wijewardene, the state minister of defense, told Parliament the government possessed information that the bombings were carried out “by an Islamic fundamentalist group” in response to the Christchurch attacks. He also blamed “weakness” within Sri Lanka’s security apparatus for failing to prevent the nine bombings.

“By now it has been established that the intelligence units were aware of this attack and a group of responsible people were informed about the impending attack,” Wijewardene said. “However, this information has been circulated among only a few officials.”

Wijewardene’s comments came shortly before the Islamic State group asserted it was responsible for the bombings in and outside of Colombo that killed over 320 people. But neither Wijewardene nor IS provided evidence to immediately support their claims, and authorities previously blamed a little-known Islamic extremist group in the island nation for the attack.

The office of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern issued a statement responding to the Christchurch claim that described Sri Lanka’s investigation as “in its early stages.”

“New Zealand has not yet seen any intelligence upon which such an assessment might be based,” it said. An Australian white supremacist, Brenton Harrison Tarrant, livestreamed the March 15 shootings.

Authorities announced a nationwide curfew would begin at 9 p.m. Tuesday.

As Sri Lanka’s leaders wrangled with the implications of an apparent militant attack and massive intelligence failure, security was heightened Tuesday for a national day of mourning and the military was employing powers to make arrests it last used during a devastating civil war that ended in 2009.

The six near-simultaneous attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels and three related blasts later Sunday was Sri Lanka’s deadliest violence in a decade. Wijewardene said the death toll from the attack now stood at 321 people, with 500 wounded.

In some places, the violence struck entire families. On Easter Sunday, as they did every Sunday, Berlington Joseph Gomez and his wife, Chandrika Arumugam, went to church at Colombo’s St. Anthony’s Shrine. And as always, they brought their three sons: 9-year-old Bevon, 6-year-old Clavon and baby Avon, just 11 months old.

Two days later, they were all being mourned by dozens of neighbors gathered at the modest home of Berlington’s father, Joseph Gomez.

“All family, all generation, is lost,” Gomez said.

Word from international intelligence agencies that a local group was planning attacks apparently didn’t reach the prime minister’s office until after the massacre, exposing the continuing political turmoil in the highest levels of the Sri Lankan government.

On April 11, Priyalal Disanayaka, Sri Lanka’s deputy inspector general of police, signed a letter addressed to the directors of four Sri Lankan security agencies, warning them that a local group was planning a suicide attack in the country.


The intelligence report attached to his letter, which has circulated widely on social media, named the group allegedly plotting the attack, National Towheed Jamaar, identifying its leader as Zahran Hashmi, and said it was targeting “some important churches” in a suicide terrorist attack that was planned to take place “shortly.”

The report named six individuals likely to be involved in the plot, including someone it said had been building support for Zahran and was in hiding since the group clashed with another religious organization in March 2018.

On Monday, Sri Lanka’s health minister held up a copy of the intelligence report while describing its contents, spurring questions about what Sri Lanka police had done to protect the public from an attack.

It was not immediately clear what steps were taken by any of these security directors. Disanayaka did not answer calls or messages seeking comment.

Among the 40 people arrested on suspicion of links to the bombings were the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide attackers and the owner of a house where some of them lived.

Heightened security was evident at an international airport outside the capital where security personnel walked explosive-sniffing dogs and checked car trunks and questioned drivers on roads nearby. Police also ordered that anyone leaving a parked car unattended on the street must put a note with their phone number on the windscreen, and postal workers were not accepting pre-wrapped parcels.

A block on most social media since the attacks has left a vacuum of information, fueling confusion and giving little reassurance the danger had passed. Even after an overnight curfew was lifted, the streets of central Colombo were mostly deserted Tuesday and shops closed as armed soldiers stood guard.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he feared the massacre could unleash instability and he vowed to “vest all necessary powers with the defense forces” to act against those responsible.

Authorities said they knew where the group trained and had safe houses, but did not identify any of the seven suicide bombers, whose bodies were recovered, or the other suspects taken into custody. All seven bombers were Sri Lankans, but authorities said they strongly suspected foreign links.

Later Tuesday, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Sri Lanka attack via its Aamaq news agency, but offered no photographs or videos of attackers pledging their loyalty to the group. Such material, often showing suicide bombers pledging loyalty before their assaults, offer credibility to their claims.

The group, which has lost all the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria, has made a series of unsupported claims of responsibility. It recently offered its first claim of an attack in Congo.

Also unclear in Sunday’s attack was the motive. The history of Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, a country of 21 million including large Hindu, Muslim and Christian minorities, is rife with ethnic and sectarian conflict.

In the nation’s 26-year civil war, the Tamil Tigers, a powerful rebel army known for using suicide bombers, had little history of targeting Christians and was crushed by the government in 2009. Anti-Muslim bigotry fed by Buddhist nationalists has swept the country recently.

In March 2018, Buddhist mobs ransacked businesses and set houses on fire in Muslim neighborhoods around Kandy, a city in central Sri Lanka that is popular with tourists.

After the mob attacks, Sri Lanka’s government also blocked some social media sites, hoping to slow the spread of false information or threats that could incite more violence.

Sri Lanka, though, has no history of Islamic militancy. Its small Christian community has seen only scattered incidents of harassment.

Associated Press journalists Bharatha Mallawarachi, Jon Gambrell and Rishabh Jain in Colombo and Gemunu Amarasinghe in Negombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.

Follow Emily Schmall on Twitter @emilyschmall

Official: Sri Lanka Failed To Heed Warnings Of Attacks

A Sri Lankan couple, whose family member was killed in a yesterday blast, leaves from a mortuary after identifying the body, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, April 22, 2019. Easter Sunday bombings of churches, luxury hotels and other sites that killed hundreds of people was Sri Lanka's deadliest violence since a devastating civil war in the South Asian island nation ended a decade ago. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
BY BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI, KRISHAN FRANCIS

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AP) — Sri Lankan officials failed to heed warnings from intelligence agencies about the threat of an attack by a domestic radical Muslim group that officials blame for Easter Sunday bombings which killed more than 200 people, the country’s health minister said Monday.

The coordinated bombings that ripped through churches and luxury hotels were carried out by seven suicide bombers from a militant group named National Thowfeek Jamaath, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said.

International intelligence agencies warned of the attacks several times starting April 4, Senaratne said. On April 9, the defense ministry wrote to the police chief with intelligence that included the group’s name, he said. On April 11, police wrote to the heads of security of the judiciary and diplomatic security division, Senaratne said.

It was not immediately clear what action, if any, was taken in response. Authorities said little was known about the group except that its name had appeared in intelligence reports.

Shortly after Senaratne spoke to reporters, a van parked near one of the bombed churches, St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, exploded, sending pedestrians fleeing in panic. While inspecting it, police found three bombs they attempted to defuse but that instead detonated. No injuries were reported.

Also on Monday, police found 87 detonators near Colombo’s main bus depot, officials said. They declined to comment on whether they were linked to Sunday’s attacks.

Because of political dysfunction within the government, Seranatne said, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet were kept in the dark about the intelligence until after the attacks.

President Maithrela Sirisena, who was out of the country at the time of the attacks, ousted Wickremesinghe in late October and dissolved the Cabinet. The Supreme Court eventually reversed his actions, but the prime minister has not been allowed into meetings of the Security Council since October.

All of the bombers were Sri Lankan citizens, but authorities suspect foreign links, Senaratne said.

Earlier, Ariyananda Welianga, a government forensic crime investigator, said an analysis of the attackers’ body parts made clear that they were suicide bombers. He said most of the attacks were carried out by individual bombers, with two at Colombo’s Shangri-La Hotel.

The bombings, Sri Lanka’s deadliest violence since a devastating civil war that ended a decade ago, killed at least 290 people with more than 500 wounded, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said.

Two other government ministers also alluded to intelligence failures. Telecommunications Minister Harin Fernando tweeted: “Some intelligence officers were aware of this incidence. Therefore there was a delay in action. Serious action needs to be taken as to why this warning was ignored.” He said his father had heard of a possible attack as well and had warned him not to enter popular churches.

Mano Ganeshan, the minister for national integration, said his ministry’s security officers had been warned by their division about the possibility that two suicide bombers would target politicians.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, said the attacks could have been thwarted.

“We placed our hands on our heads when we came to know that these deaths could have been avoided. Why this was not prevented?” he said.

Earlier, Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena described the blasts as a terrorist attack by religious extremists, and police said 13 suspects had been arrested, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

In the civil war, the Tamil Tigers, a powerful rebel army known for its use of suicide bombers, was crushed by the government in 2009, and had little history of targeting Christians. While anti-Muslim bigotry has swept the island in recent years, fed by Buddhist nationalists, the island also has no history of violent Muslim militants. The country’s small Christian community has seen only scattered incidents of harassment in recent years.

The explosions — mostly in or around Colombo, the capital — collapsed ceilings and blew out windows, killing worshippers and hotel guests in one scene after another of smoke, soot, blood, broken glass, screams and wailing alarms.

A morgue worker in the town of Negombo, outside Colombo, where St. Sebastian’s Church was targeted, said many bodies were hard to identify because of the extent of the injuries. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

Nilantha Lakmal, a 41-year-old businessman in Negombo, went with his family to St. Sebastian’s for Easter Mass. He said they all escaped the blast unscathed, but he remains haunted by images of bodies being taken from the sanctuary and tossed into a truck.

At the Shangri-La Hotel, a witness said “people were being dragged out” after the blast.

“There was blood everywhere,” said Bhanuka Harischandra, a 24-year-old from Colombo and founder of a tech marketing company. He was heading to the hotel for a meeting when it was bombed. “People didn’t know what was going on. It was panic mode,” he said.

Most of those killed were Sri Lankans. But the three bombed hotels and one of the churches, St. Anthony’s Shrine, are frequented by foreign tourists, and the ministry of tourism said 39 foreigners from a variety of countries were killed.

The U.S. said “several” Americans were among the dead, while Britain, India, China, Japan and Portugal said they, too, lost citizens.

The streets were largely deserted Monday afternoon, with most shops closed and a heavy deployment of soldiers and police. Stunned clergy and onlookers gathered at St. Anthony’s Shrine, looking past the soldiers to the stricken church.

The Sri Lankan government initially lifted a curfew that had been imposed during the night but reinstated it Monday afternoon. Most social media remained blocked Monday after officials said they needed to curtail the spread of false information and ease tension in the country of about 21 million people.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said he feared the massacre could trigger instability, and vowed to “vest all necessary powers with the defense forces” to take action against those responsible.

The scale of the bloodshed recalled the worst days of the civil war, when the Tamil Tigers, from the ethnic Tamil minority, sought independence from the Sinhalese-dominated country. The Sinhalese are largely Buddhist. The Tamils are Hindu, Muslim and Christian.

Sri Lanka, off the southern tip of India, is about 70% Buddhist. In recent years, tensions have been running high between hard-line Buddhist monks and Muslims.

Two Muslim groups in Sri Lanka condemned the church attacks, as did countries around the world, and Pope Francis expressed condolences at the end of his traditional Easter Sunday blessing in Rome.

Six nearly simultaneous blasts took place in the morning at the shrine and the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La and Kingsbury hotels in Colombo, as well as at two churches outside Colombo.

A few hours later, two more blasts occurred just outside Colombo, one at a guesthouse where two people were killed, the other near an overpass, Atapattu said.

Also, three police officers were killed during a search at a suspected safe house on the outskirts of Colombo when its occupants apparently detonated explosives to prevent arrest, authorities said.

Authorities said a large bomb had been found and defused late Sunday on an access road to the international airport.

Air Force Group Captain Gihan Seneviratne said Monday that authorities found a pipe bomb filled with 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of explosives. It was large enough to have caused damage in a 400-meter (400-yard) radius, he said.

Harischandra, who witnessed the attack at the Shangri-La Hotel, said there was “a lot of tension” after the bombings, but added, “We’ve been through these kinds of situations before.”

He said Sri Lankans are “an amazing bunch” and noted that his social media feed was flooded with photos of people standing in long lines to give blood.

Associated Press journalists Gemunu Amarasinghe in Negombo, Sri Lanka, Rishabh Jain in Colombo and Sheila Norman-Culp in London contributed to this report.

A Look At Sri Lanka's Troubled Recent History Marked By War

A Sri Lankan police commando enters a house suspected to be a hideout of militants following a shoot out in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019. More than hundred were killed and hundreds more hospitalized with injuries from eight blasts that rocked churches and hotels in and just outside of Sri Lanka's capital on Easter Sunday, officials said, the worst violence to hit the South Asian country since its civil war ended a decade ago. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AP) — A series of blasts in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, blamed on religious extremists, recalled the worst days of the country’s 26-year civil war.

A look at a long and troubled history marked by ethnic and religious divides:

YEARS OF WAR

Sri Lanka, an island nation of some 23 million people, was dominated for decades by the sharp divide between the majority Sinhalese, who are overwhelmingly Buddhist, and the minority Tamil, who are Hindu, Muslim and Christian. The mistreatment of Tamils helped nurture the growth of armed separatists and led to nearly 30 years of civil war, with Tamil Tiger fighters eventually creating a de facto independent homeland in the country’s north. The Tigers were crushed in a 2009 government offensive, with some observers believing that tens of thousands of Tamils died in the last few months of fighting alone.

A RELIGIOUS DIVIDE

There is no history of violent Muslim militants in Sri Lanka. However, after the civil war ended, a religious divide quickly took hold, with hard-line Buddhist monks rallying Sri Lankans against what they argue is a pernicious threat: Muslims, who make up roughly 10 percent of the country’s population. Buddhist nationalist leaders and false social media reports accuse Muslims of recruiting children, trying to grow their ranks by marrying Buddhist women and attacking Buddhist shrines. Small-town economics also plays a significant role, since Muslims own many of the country’s small shops. As for the country’s small Christian minority: While there have been scattered incidents of anti-Christian harassment in recent years, there has been nothing on the scale of what happened Sunday.

SOCIAL MEDIA WAR

In 2018, anti-Muslim violence flared across the hills of central Sri Lanka, fed by rumors spread over social media about attacks on Buddhists. Mobs of Buddhists swept through small towns, attacking mosques and Muslim-owned shops. The government briefly declared a state of emergency and ordered popular social media networks, including Facebook, Viber and WhatsApp, blocked for a time to stop the violence from spreading.

THE LATEST: Dutch Citizen Among Sri Lanka Attack Victims

Sri Lankan army soldiers secure the area around St. Anthony's Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019. More than hundred people were killed and hundreds more hospitalized from injuries in near simultaneous blasts that rocked three churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, a security official told The Associated Press, in the biggest violence in the South Asian country since its civil war ended a decade ago. (AP Photo/ Rohan Karunarathne )
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AP) — The Latest on explosions in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday (all times local):

7:05 p.m.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok says a Dutch national is among the dead after a series of blasts in Sri Lanka.

Blok in a Twitter posts gives no details and says he is “horrified by the terrible attacks.”

More than 200 people were killed in the Easter Sunday blasts that targeted churches and hotels popular with foreigners.

No one has claimed responsibility for what Sri Lankan officials have described as a terrorist attack by religious extremists.

6:50 p.m.

The British high commissioner to Sri Lanka says the UK government understands that “some British citizens were caught in the blasts” but it is too soon to say how many might have been affected.

James Dauris is urging Britons to get in touch with family members to let them know they are safe.

The Easter Sunday blasts targeting churches and hotels popular with foreigners killed more than 200 people.

6:45 p.m.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expressing “deep shock” over the deadly attacks in Sri Lanka that killed more than 200 people.

Netanyahu issued a statement on Sunday saying that “Israel stands ready to assist the authorities in Sri Lanka at this difficult time.”

The prime minister says that “the entire world must unite in the battle against the scourge of terrorism.”

6:35 p.m.

Sri Lanka’s defense minister says most of the eight blasts that rocked the capital and surrounding areas are suspected suicide attacks.

Police say 207 people were killed and 450 wounded in Sunday’s explosions, whose targets included at least three churches and three luxury hotels.

No one has taken responsibility for the attacks, but officials say seven suspects have been arrested.

The attacks are the worst chaos Sri Lanka has seen since a bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

6:10 p.m.

Sri Lankan police say 207 people were killed and 450 wounded in a series of blasts in and around the country’s capital.

Six nearly simultaneous blasts went off Sunday morning in three churches where worshippers were celebrating Easter and in three luxury hotels frequented by foreign tourists.

Hours later, a blast at a guesthouse killed at least two people. After an eighth explosion near an overpass in the area of Dematagoda on the outskirts of Colombo, the capital, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara says three police officers were killed when they went to question suspects following a tip.

Two blasts went off shortly after the officers entered a house in Dematagoda.

Officials say seven suspects have been arrested.

5:45 p.m.

Chinese state media report that a Chinese citizen has died in the Sri Lanka attacks.

Earlier, China’s embassy said four Chinese nationals were hospitalized and in stable condition. It is not clear if the deceased was among them.

And Portugal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms that one victim was a Portuguese citizen.

The ministry in a Twitter post offers condolences to the family.

The attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday killed at least 190 people.

5:35 p.m.

SriLankan Airlines is telling passengers booked on flights out of the country that they will be able to fly despite the curfew imposed after deadly Easter Sunday attacks.

The carrier says in a statement that travelers on all airlines operating out of Bandaranaike International Airport can access the airport by showing their tickets and passports at checkpoints.

The airline says security has been tightened at the airport, and it advises passengers to arrive four hours before their scheduled flights.

Authorities have imposed a 12-hour overnight curfew beginning at 6 p.m. after a series of coordinated deadly blasts rocked the heavily touristed island nation.

5:25 p.m.

Sri Lanka’s government has imposed a nationwide curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. following a series of blasts in and around the capital that killed at least 190 people.

Shops were closed and streets were deserted in Colombo, the capital, ahead of the curfew Sunday.

At least three churches, three luxury hotels and a guesthouse were among the targets of the Easter Sunday attacks.

5:25 p.m.

Chinese state media say one Chinese citizen has died in a series of terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka that killed at least 190 people.

The People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper, said Sunday evening that one Chinese national has been confirmed dead.

Earlier, China’s embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, said four Chinese nationals were sent to the hospital and were in stable condition after the attacks. It is not clear if the deceased was among the four.

The Chinese Embassy issued a safety reminder to local Chinese-funded enterprises, overseas Chinese and visiting Chinese delegations.

5:20 p.m.

Sri Lankan officials say the death toll in eight bomb blasts that struck in and just outside of the capital, Colombo, on Easter Sunday has climbed to 190, and that several suspects have been arrested.

The foreign minister says at least 27 foreigners were among those killed and that two police officers were killed during an operation to capture suspects from a safehouse in Dematagoda, the area outside Colombo where the eighth blast occurred.

At least three churches, three luxury hotels and a guesthouse were among the targets of the attacks.

The defense minister says seven suspects linked to the blasts have been arrested.

4:45 p.m.

President Donald Trump is offering “heartfelt condolences” after the attacks in Sri Lanka but mistakenly says 138 million people have been killed.

The U.S. president in a Twitter post cited the “horrible terrorist attacks on churches and hotels that have killed at least 138 million people and badly injured 600 more.”

The death toll at the time of the tweet was at least 138 people.

Trump says America stands ready to help Sri Lanka cope.

4:10 p.m.

Foreign tourists in Sri Lanka have hurriedly contacted loved ones around the world to say they were OK after attacks on churches and hotels killed over 130 people.

Tour operators warn that access to Facebook and Twitter would be cut by the government and that a curfew likely would be put into place.

Local tourism workers were shocked and dismayed by the attacks.

“After so many years we’ve started again,” said Gamini Francis, a longtime hotel worker. “A lot of people are going to lose their jobs. 100% sure. It’s tragic. Crazy people killing innocent people.”

4 p.m.

Iran’s foreign minister says he is “terribly saddened” by the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka that have killed at least 138 people.

Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted that “terrorism is a global menace with no religion: it must be condemned & confronted globally.”

Lebanon’s prime minister calls the attacks “blind terrorism” and offers solidarity to Sri Lanka’s people.

Saad Hariri in a tweet asks for mercy for the “innocent victims” and speedy recovery for the injured.

The series of blasts is the worst violence in Sri Lanka since the South Asian country’s bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

3:55 p.m.

Pope Francis is denouncing the “cruel violence” of the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka and is praying for all those who are suffering from the bloodshed.

Francis added an appeal at the end of his traditional Easter Sunday blessing to address the massacre which killed more than 130 people.

Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis said: “I want to express my loving closeness to the Christian community, targeted while they were gathered in prayer, and all the victims of such cruel violence.”

He added: “I entrust to the Lord all those who were tragically killed and pray for the injured and all those who are suffering as a result of this dramatic event.”

3:45 p.m.

A Sri Lankan military spokesman has confirmed two more explosions just outside the capital, hours after six nearly simultaneous blasts rocked churches and luxury hotels, killing at least 138 people.

The spokesman, Brig. Atapattu, says a seventh blast occurred at a guesthouse in Dehiwala, killing at least two people. Atapattu says an eighth blast occurred in Dematagoda on the outskirts of Colombo. He did not have details on the Dematagoda blast.

Earlier Sunday, a series of blasts at three churches and three luxury hotels killed at least 138 people.

It’s the worst bout of violence in Sri Lanka since the South Asian country’s bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

3:45 p.m.

Sri Lanka’s defense minister has blamed religious extremists for what he called the “unfortunate terrorist incident” involving a series of blasts at churches celebrating Easter Sunday services and luxury hotels.

Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena told reporters that he believed police and military forces had identified the perpetrators of the blasts that killed at least 138 people and wounded hundreds more.

He said those “involved in this unfortunate terrorist incident will be taken into custody as soon as possible.”

3:10 p.m.

The archbishop of Paris and parishioners of fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral are mourning the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka.

Archbishop Michel Aupetit tweeted: “Why so much hate on this day when we celebrate love? On this Easter day, we are in communion with our murdered brethren of Sri Lanka.”

Aupetit celebrated Easter Mass for worshippers displaced from normal services at Notre Dame because of Monday’s fire.

A soldier and several police guarded the building. It was unclear whether the extra security was linked to the Sri Lanka attack, but parishioner Monique Pigere said “I understand why” security is needed, lamenting the “terrible” news.

3:05 p.m.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has condemned the “devastating” attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.

In a statement, Ardern referred to the March 15 shootings at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch in which 50 died.

“New Zealand condemns all acts of terrorism and our resolve has only been strengthened by the attack on our soil,” Ardern said. “New Zealand rejects all forms of extremism and stands for freedom of religion and the right to worship safely.”

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says 115 New Zealanders are registered as being in Sri Lanka but more are likely to be there. There is no indication New Zealanders are among the victims.

3 p.m.

European leaders are expressing horror at the attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote in a message to his Sri Lankan counterpart that he was “stunned and horrified” by the “cowardly terror attacks.” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz wrote on Twitter that he was “deeply shaken and concerned by (the) devious terrorist attacks.”

The head of the European Union’s executive Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he learned of the bombings “with horror and sadness.”

2:50 p.m.

Three Gulf Arab nations have condemned the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka that have killed at least 138 people.

Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates all issued statements via their foreign ministries over the attack.

The UAE called upon “the international community to close ranks and uproot the scourge of terrorism in order to ensure international peace and security.”

Qatar said it wanted to stress its “its firm stance on rejecting violence and terrorism.”

Bahrain, meanwhile, said “these acts of terrorism are incompatible with religious principles and human and moral values.”

The series of blasts at three churches and three luxury hotels killed at least 138 people. It’s the worst bout of violence in Sri Lanka since the South Asian country’s bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

2:40 p.m.

British Prime Minister Teresa May has condemned what she called the “truly appalling” attacks in Sri Lanka.

May said on Twitter that “The acts of violence against churches and hotels in Sri Lanka are truly appalling, and my deepest sympathies go out to all of those affected at this tragic time.”

She added, “We must stand together to make sure that no one should ever have to (practice) their faith in fear.”

The series of blasts at three churches and three luxury hotels killed at least 138 people. It’s the worst bout of violence in Sri Lanka since the South Asian country’s bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

2:30 p.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced a series of attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka as “cruel and cynical.”

In a telegram of condolences sent to his Sri Lankan counterpart, the Russian leader said Moscow remains a “reliable partner of Sri Lanka in the fight against international terrorism.”

He added that the Russians “share the grief of the relatives of those killed and wish a quick recovery to all those who were wounded” after the Easter Sunday blasts that killed at least 138 people.

Putin voiced confidence that “the perpetrators and the masterminds of such a cruel and cynical crime committed amid the Easter festivities will take the punishment they deserve.”

2:25 p.m.

The Archbishop of Colombo is calling for those responsible for the Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka to be punished “mercilessly.”

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith called on Sri Lanka’s government to launch a “very impartial strong inquiry” and to punish those found responsible “mercilessly because only animals can behave like that.”

The series of blasts at three churches and three luxury hotels killed at least 138 people. It’s the worst bout of violence in Sri Lanka since the South Asian country’s bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was meeting top military officials and tweeted earlier Sunday that “the government is taking immediate steps to contain the situation.”

2:10 p.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka, calling them “an assault on all of humanity.”

In comments posted on Twitter, Erdogan offered his condolences to families of the victims and to the people of Sri Lanka.

The near simultaneous attacks against three churches and three luxury hotels killed at least 138 people, according to a security official. It was the worst violence in the South Asian country since its civil war ended a decade ago.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: “Regardless of the motive, the attack in Sri Lanka is the same as the traitorous attack in Christchurch: cowardly, barbaric and cruel.”

He was referring to last month’s attacks against two mosques in New Zealand during Friday prayers that killed 50 people.

1:50 p.m.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has convened Sri Lanka’s top military officials at an emergency meeting of the National Security Council following a series of Easter Sunday blasts.

A senior official says at least 138 people died in the blasts at three churches and three luxury hotels. Hundreds of others have been hospitalized. The violence is the worst since Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

The official says at least two of the blasts were suspected to have been caused by suicide bombers.

Earlier, Wickremesinghe tweeted that “the government is taking immediate steps to contain the situation.”

1:50 p.m.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry has condemned explosions and terrorist attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.

Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said in a statement that the people and government of Pakistan stand by Sri Lanka after the Easter Sunday blasts that killed at least 138 people.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka enjoy close relations. Pakistan helped train Sri Lankan army officers in the civil war battle against Tamil rebels.

11:10 a.m.

A Sri Lanka hospital spokesman says several blasts on Easter Sunday have killed at least 30 people and wounded 283 others.

National Hospital spokesman Dr. Samindi Samarakoon says the nearly 300 wounded have been admitted to the capital Colombo’s main hospital.

A security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters says that six near simultaneous explosions hit three churches and three hotels frequented by foreign tourists.

The official suspects at least two of the blasts were caused by suicide bombers.

10:50 a.m.

A security official says six near simultaneous blasts have hit three churches and three hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.

The official says the explosions have caused multiple fatalities among worshippers and hotel guests.

The official says they suspect the blasts at two churches were carried out by suicide bombers.

One church, St. Anthony’s Shrine, and the three hotels are in Colombo and are frequented by foreign tourists. The other two churches are in Negombo, a Catholic majority town north of Colombo, and the eastern town of Batticaloa.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak with reporters.

10:10 a.m.

Witnesses are reporting two explosions have hit two churches in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, causing casualties among worshippers.

The first blast ripped through St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo.

Alex Agileson who was in the vicinity says buildings in the surrounding area shook with the blast.

He says a number of injured were carried in ambulances.

A second explosion was reported at St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a Catholic majority town north of Colombo.

The church has appealed for help on its Facebook page.

Sri Lankan security officials say they are checking for details.

Explosions Kill At Least 207 In Sri Lanka On Easter Sunday

Sri Lankan Army soldiers secure the area around St. Anthony's Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019. A Sri Lanka hospital spokesman says several blasts on Easter Sunday have killed dozens of people. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

BY BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI, KRISHAN FRANCIS

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AP) — At least 207 people were killed and hundreds more injured in eight blasts that rocked churches and hotels in and just outside Sri Lanka’s capital on Easter Sunday, officials said, pitching the South Asian island nation into the worst chaos it has seen since a bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena, who described the blasts as a terrorist attack by religious extremists, told reporters Sunday evening that seven suspects had been arrested, though no one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he feared the violence could trigger instability in the country and its economy.

Since the end of the nation’s 26-year civil war, in which the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group from the ethnic Tamil minority, sought independence from ethnic Sinhala Buddhist majority Sri Lanka, the country has seen sporadic ethnic and religious violence.

But the scale of Sunday’s bloodshed recalled the worst days of the war, when the Tigers and other rebels set off explosions at Sri Lanka’s Central Bank in downtown Colombo, a busy shopping mall, an important Buddhist temple and tourist hotels.


Wickremesinghe said his government would “vest all necessary powers with the defense forces” to take action against those responsible” for Sunday’s attacks, “regardless of their stature.”

The nearly simultaneous first six blasts Sunday morning toppled ceilings and blew out windows at a famous Catholic church in Colombo, the capital, and at three luxury hotels in the city. The other two occurred at St. Sebastian Catholic church in Negombo, a majority Catholic town north of Colombo where footage showed people dragging the injured out of blood-splattered pews, and at the Protestant Zion church in the eastern town of Batticaloa.

Three police officers were killed while conducting a search operation at a suspected safe house in Dematagoda, on the outskirts of Colombo, where the last of eight blasts took place.

After police moved into Dematagoda, at least two more blasts occurred, with the occupants of a safe house apparently blasting explosives to prevent arrest.

Shops were closed and streets deserted in Colombo even before the government imposed a nationwide curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said 207 people were killed and 450 wounded in the blasts.

Two of the blasts were suspected to have been carried out by suicide bombers, a senior official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with reporters. Worshippers and hotel guests were among the dead, the official said.

Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary, Ravinath Aryasinghe, said the bodies of 27 foreigners were recovered from the blast sites.

Countries around the world condemned the attacks, and Pope Francis added an appeal at the end of his traditional Easter Sunday blessing to address the massacre.

Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis said, “I want to express my loving closeness to the Christian community, targeted while they were gathered in prayer, and all the victims of such cruel violence.”

“I entrust to the Lord all those who were tragically killed and pray for the injured and all those who are suffering as a result of this dramatic event,” the pope added.

Sri Lanka, a small island nation at the southern tip of India, has a long history with Christianity. Christian tradition holds that St. Thomas the Apostle visited Sri Lanka and southern India in the decades after the death of Christ.

The majority of the island’s Christians are Roman Catholic.

St. Anthony’s Shrine and the three hotels where the blasts took place are frequented by foreign tourists.

Local TV showed damage at the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La and Kingsbury hotels.

The Shangri-La’s second-floor restaurant was gutted in the blast, with the ceiling and windows blown out. Loose wires hung and tables were overturned in the blackened space.

A police magistrate was at the hotel to inspect the bodies recovered from the restaurant. From outside the police cordon, three bodies could be seen covered in white sheets.

Alex Agieleson, who was near St. Anthony’s Shrine, said buildings shook with the blast, and that a number of injured people were carried away in ambulances.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, called on Sri Lanka’s government to launch a “very impartial strong inquiry” and to punish those found responsible “mercilessly because only animals can behave like that.”

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned the “devastating” attacks, and referred to the March 15 shootings at two mosques in her country’s city of Christchurch in which 50 people died.

“New Zealand condemns all acts of terrorism and our resolve has only been strengthened by the attack on our soil,” Ardern said. “New Zealand rejects all forms of extremism and stands for freedom of religion and the right to worship safely.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the blasts “an assault on all of humanity,” while Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced them as “cruel and cynical.”

British Prime Minister Teresa May said on Twitter, “We must stand together to make sure that no one should ever have to (practice) their faith in fear.”

Foreign tourists on the Classic Sri Lankan tour hurriedly took to their cellphones to text family and loved ones around the world that they were OK after the blasts.

The group was on a 15-day tour of the tropical island nation, seeing sites including huge Buddhist monuments, tea plantations, jungle eco-lodges and famed sandy beaches.

The tour started last week in Negombo, a majority Catholic town north of Colombo where one of the blasts hit a church. It was to end in Colombo, but tour operators said the group may change its itinerary and decide to skip Colombo in light of the attacks.

As the nearest major town to the country’s main airport, Negombo is a gateway for many travelers visiting Sri Lanka. Although not among the country’s top beach destinations, it is home to plenty of hotels and resorts popular with foreign visitors.

“Having experienced the open and welcoming Sri Lanka during my last week travelling through the country, I had a sense that the country was turning the corner, and in particular those in the tourism industry were hopeful for the future,” said Peter Kelson, 41, a technology manager from Sydney. “Apart from the tragedy of the immediate victims of the bombings, I worry that these terrible events will set the country back significantly.”

Sri Lankan security forces in 2009 defeated Tamil Tiger rebels who had fought to create an independent homeland for the country’s ethnic minority Tamils. The U.N. initially estimated the death toll from 26 years of fighting to be about 100,000 but a U.N. experts’ panel later said some 45,000 ethnic Tamils may have been killed in the last months of the fighting alone.

Government troops and the Tamil Tigers were both accused of grave human rights violations, which prompted local and international calls for investigations.

POPE WATCH: Pope Heads To War-Battered Sri Lankan Shrine

A man kisses Pope Francis's hand upon his arrival in the seafront Galle Face Green for the canonization ceremony of Joseph Vaz, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015. Pope Francis pressed his call for Sri Lankan unity and reconciliation Wednesday with a Mass in Colombo to canonize the country's first saint and a visit to the war-ravaged north to pray at a shrine revered by both Sinhalese and Tamil faithful.

(AP) -- Pope Francis is in the second day of a weeklong visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Here are some glimpses of his trip as it unfolds:

IN THE NORTH

EVERYONE IS CARRYING GRIEF

The pope is heading by helicopter to a well-known Catholic shrine in Madhu, a tiny town in Sri Lanka's north that was often controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels — and often a scene of violence — during the country's 25-year civil war.

Mary Conseeta's two teenage brothers were killed when their school bus hit a roadside bomb in 2008. Conseeta, now 22, escaped with a leg wound. Sri Lankan forces that secretly entered the rebel area were blamed for the attack.

"I have faced enormous losses," Conseeta said. "Not only me, everyone who is here is carrying some form of grief. All I pray for is peace. I believe the holy father's visit will be a remedy for our pain."

— By Jayampathi Palipane, AP videojournalist, Madhu, Sri Lanka.

CONVERSION DECREE

Sri Lanka's Catholic bishops knew exactly what they wanted when asked what gift they'd like from Pope Francis to commemorate his visit: a high-quality replica of a 1694 decree issued by the king of Kandy — then an independent state on the island — saying he didn't oppose the conversion to Christianity of Sinhalese Buddhists.

The decree was presented to Pope Leo XIII well over a century ago by the then-archbishop of Colombo. Now — amid increasingly loud demands by extremist Buddhists seeking an all-Buddhist Sri Lanka — the bishops wanted the decree crystalizing religious freedom back home.

According to a translation provided by the Vatican, the document from King Keerthi Sri Raja Singhe of Kandy declares that "it is not prohibited to those who wish among the multitude of Sinhalese to become Christians, and permits all the pastors of the same order to preach to those born in Sri Lanka and believers of the noble doctrine of Buddhism that some convert to Christianity."

It adds that Christian ministers "are authorized to build churches where there are Christian faithful and to carry out whatever is necessary to promote their religion."

— By Nicole Winfield, AP writer, Colombo, Sri Lanka — Twitter: twitter.com/nwinfield

3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT JOSEPH VAZ

Pope Francis canonized the Indian-born Joseph Vaz as Sri Lanka's first saint during a Wednesday morning Mass in Colombo attended by more than a half million people.

— Vaz, a 17th century missionary to Sri Lanka from what was then the Portuguese colony of Goa, sometimes worked in secret, dressing up as a laborer or beggar so he wouldn't be arrested by the island's hard-line Calvinist colonial rulers.

— Catholic tradition says Vaz miraculously brought rain to the independent kingdom of Kandy, in central and eastern Sri Lanka, during a major drought. As a result, Kandy's king gave Vaz protection and allowed him to work there openly.

— The first calls to have Vaz made a saint came soon after he died, in 1711, in Kandy.

— By Tim Sullivan, AP writer, New Delhi — Twitter: twitter.com/SullivanTimAP

IN HIS WORDS

FRANCIS ON JOSEPH VAZ

In his canonization of Sri Lanka's first saint, Pope Francis cited three reasons why Joseph Vaz sets an example, even today:

— Exemplary priest: "He teaches us how to go out to the peripheries, to make Jesus Christ everywhere known and loved."

— Transcending religious divisions: "His example continues to inspire the church in Sri Lanka today. (The church) gladly and generously serves all members of society. She makes no distinction of race, creed, tribe, status or religion."

— Missionary zeal: "I pray that, following the example of Saint Joseph Vaz, the Christians of this country may be confirmed in faith and make an ever greater contribution to peace, justice and reconciliation in Sri Lankan society."

— By Ken Moritsugu, AP writer, Manila, Philippines — Twitter: twitter.com/kmorit

THE POPE — IN PERSON

Mothers carried babies and young people helped elderly relatives as the last of thousands of people streamed onto Galle Face Green, the seaside park where Pope Francis was celebrating Mass on Wednesday morning. The crowds poured off buses and from the nearby railway station. Security was tight, and everyone had to walk the last few hundred meters (yards), but the feel was festive, and taxi drivers were handing out free cups of tea.

Sure you could stay home and watch it all in comfort. But that, they said, could not capture the feel of being there in person.

"With today's advanced technology, you can see him on television and on the Internet," said Kolitha Fernando, a retired clerk from the hill town of Kandy. "But to see him with your naked eyes, that's a great feeling and a privilege for a Catholic."

— By Bharatha Mallawarachi, AP writer, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

A SAINT FOR SRI LANKA

AND INDIA

The pope canonized Joseph Vaz as Sri Lanka's first saint, but Vaz was actually born an Indian in 1651 in what was then the Portuguese colony of Goa.

Vaz spent 23 years ministering to the Catholic community in Sri Lanka, sometimes working in secret because of the threat of persecution by the island's Dutch rulers, who were die-hard Calvinists.

Today, Goa is an Indian state famous for its centuries-old churches, beautiful beaches and hordes of tourists. Catholics still make up about one-quarter of Goa's population of 1.5 million. Bells were to toll in the state's churches and cathedrals at the time of Vaz's canonization, church officials said.

Manuel Ubaldo Dias, a Goa church official, said prayers to commemorate the sainthood would also be held there on Jan. 16, the day traditionally celebrated in Vaz's honor.

"This is a great day for us. Something we have been waiting for years," Dias said.

— By Nirmala George, AP writer, New Delhi — Twitter: twitter.com/NirmalaGeorge1

WAITING OVERNIGHT

Some Sri Lankans didn't take any chances on getting a good view of the pope for the highlight of his two-day visit to their country: an open air Mass and canonization of Joseph Vaz as the country's first saint.

Hundreds camped out overnight on the oceanfront field where the service was held, spending the night under the stars.

For 21-year-old hairdresser Rosemary Barbara Carter, the discomforts of a night on hard ground were a small price to pay for what she hoped to gain.

"I came here so early to get a better view and hoping I can get a better blessing from him," she said.

— By Shonal Ganguly, AP videojournalist, Colombo, Sri Lanka — Twitter: twitter.com/ShonalGanguly

WHAT MIRACLE?

When Pope Francis canonized Sri Lanka's first saint on Wednesday, he again proved he has little tolerance for pointless rules, skirting the Vatican's normal saint-making regulations. While the church traditionally requires two miracles for sainthood, the Vatican never confirmed a second attributed to the intercession of Vaz, who is credited with reviving Catholicism during anti-Catholic persecution by Dutch colonizers.

Rather, Francis simply signed off on a decision by the Vatican's saint-making office that Vaz warranted canonization. It's the same thing Francis did for a far better-known new saint, Pope John XXIII, and is a sign that he firmly believes the faithful need more models of holiness without the technical, time-consuming and costly process of confirming inexplicable miracles.

— By Nicole Winfield, AP writer, Colombo, Sri Lanka — Twitter: twitter.com/nwinfield

BY THE NUMBERS

Catholics make up slightly more than 6 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 21 million, according to the government. They are by far the largest Christian denomination in the country. Other Christians make up just 1.3 percent of the population, which is mostly Buddhist.

Challenger Sirisena Elected Sri Lanka's New President

Supporters of Sri Lanka's main opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena celebrates at the end of voting in the presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015. The November defection by former Health Minister Sirisena turned the race, which President Mahinda Rajapaksa had been widely expected to easily win, into a referendum on the president and the enormous power he wields over the island nation of 21 million.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — In a result that was unthinkable just weeks ago, former Cabinet minister Maithripala Sirisena won Sri Lanka's presidential election, humbling his onetime ally and longtime president who paid the price for blatantly amassing power while failing to address the country's economic troubles.

Sirisena, who defected from the ruling party in a surprise move in November, capitalized on outgoing President Mahinda Rajapaksa's unpopularity among this island's ethnic and religious minorities, as well as grumbling among the Sinhalese majority about his growing power.

Sirisena (si-ri-SAY'-na) received 51.2 percent of the votes in Thursday's election and Rajapaksa got 47.5 percent, said Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya. Rajapaksa had conceded defeat and vacated his official residence early Friday morning, hours before the official announcement.

Sirisena, 63 and a longtime politician, called on his supporters to remain peaceful in the wake of victory, telling them at a gathering at the Election Commission that they shouldn't "even hurt anybody's feelings."

"The honor of this victory is in your peaceful conduct," he said, thanking Rajapaksa for ensuring the transition had so far gone smoothly. Sirisena was expected to be sworn in later Friday. Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who met Rajapaksa early Friday, said the outgoing president saw his defeat in early election results and agreed to hand over power. He said Rajapaksa deserved credit for ending the civil war but the people had called for a change.

Deshapriya, the elections commissioner, said the election was peaceful, although some voters were prevented from casting ballots in the Tamil-dominated north, according to the Center for Monitoring Election Violence.

The lack of violence was a relief for the country, as well as because Pope Francis was scheduled to arrive in the country on Tuesday. While Rajapaksa's campaign centered around his victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009 and his work rebuilding the country's infrastructure, Sirisena's focused on reining in the president's expanding powers. He also accused Rajapaksa of corruption, a charge the president denied.

Jagath Dissanayake, a 40-year-old businessman, said the people had collectively voted against corruption. "We can't give a vote of gratitude to him every day," he said referring to Rajapaksa's war victory.

Wimal Perera, 44, said the results reflected the people's economic hardships. While the economy has grown in recent years on the back of enormous construction projects, many built with Chinese investment money, the country still has a large underclass, many of whom are increasingly frustrated at being left out.

Rajapaksa, who was elected in 2005, had been widely expected to easily win his third term in office until Sirisena suddenly split away in November, gathering the support of other defecting lawmakers and many of the country's ethnic minorities, making the election a fierce political battle.

Rajapaksa was still thought to be tough to beat because he controlled the state media, has immense financial resources and popularity among the Sinhala majority. But polling was notably strong in Tamil-dominated areas, where voting had been poor in previous elections.

Many Tamils were believed to have voted heavily for Sirisena — not so much because they supported him but because they despised Rajapaksa so much. He not only crushed the Tamil Tiger rebellion but also largely ignored Tamil demands to heal the wounds of the fighting and years of ethnic divisions.

Rajapaksa had built up immense power after defeating the Tamil Tigers, using his huge popularity with Sinhalese majority who hailed him as a king. He used his parliamentary majority to scrap a constitutional two-term limit for the president and gave himself the power to appoint many top officials. When the chief justice objected to his moves, he orchestrated her impeachment.

He had also created a cult image for himself and installed numerous relatives in top government positions, sidelining the party's old guard, which helped give rise to the revolt that brought Sirisena to power.

One of Rajapaksa's brothers is a Cabinet minister, another is the speaker of Parliament and a third is the defense secretary. One of his son's is a member of Parliament and a nephew is a provincial chief minister. The diplomatic service was full of his relatives and friends.

Muslims, the second-largest ethnic minority, also appeared to have voted against Rajapaksa, who was accused of backing ultranationalist Buddhist groups and turning a blind eye on anti-Muslim violence last June.

And for the country's Sinhalese, which make up about three-quarters of the population, Sirisena's entry into the race gave them another credible option if they were fed up with Rajapaksa or wary of his growing clout.

Associated Press writer Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report.

Britain Confirms its Cash Bond for Visas Pilot Program

Yes, it is real. Britain means it and their word is now their bond. The British Home Office Monday, July 29, 2013 confirmed it will demand $4,350 refundable bond from visitors of its six former colonies - Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - for the high risk they pose. Critics of the pilot program says its racial.