Politics

Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister of Sri Lanka amid a wave of violence, as the country endures its worst ever economic crisis. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the president and Mahinda’s younger brother, also came under pressure to step down. Protesters burned down politicians’ houses and a museum dedicated to the Rajapaksas, whom they blame for crippling shortages of food and fuel and for runaway inflation. Gotabaya called for the opposition to join a government of national unity and ordered the army to shoot rioters on sight.