Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Wickremesinghe appointed acting president

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed at the acting president of the country, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana announced on Wednesday.

Abeywardena in a statement broadcast over television said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who left Sri Lanka earlier in the day, had given the authority for Wickremesinghe to act on his behalf.

Rajapaksa fled the country earlier in the day to Maldives on an air-force flight after weeks of protests and the storming of his office on Saturday.    (dpa)