News brief: Big stories of the day
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Confident of 'sweeping' January 5 snap polls, Rajapakse ends 50-year association with Sirisena's party
Sri Lanka's strongman leader Mahinda Rajapakse on Sunday called his five-decade-long association with Sri Lanka Freedom Party, news agency PTI reported.
According to reports, Rajapakse has now joined hands with the newly-formed Sri Lanka People's Party (SLPP).
US President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan met in Paris on Sunday. The meeting came on the sidelines of a dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron on the occasion of the Armistice Day commemorations.
The Indian Air Force is "very much alive" to emerging threats that could arise in the Indo Pacific region, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said Sunday, and asserted that his force was prepared to deal with any challenge to protect India's national interests.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday urged dozens of world leaders marking a century since the end of World War I to come together for a joint "fight for peace".
"Let us build our hopes rather than playing our fears against each other," he told leaders gathered at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Sri Lanka's parliamentary Speaker Sunday accused President Maithripala Sirisena of "usurping" the rights of legislators and asked public servants not to carry out his "illegal orders".