Sri Lanka: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees the country on military jet
13-07-2022, 08:24

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Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled Sri Lanka ahead of his expected resignation as president

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled Sri Lanka on a military jet, amid mass protests over its economic crisis.

The country's air force confirmed the 73-year-old flew to the Maldives with his wife and two security officials.

They arrived in the capital, Male, at around 03:00 local time (22:00 GMT), BBC Sinhala understands.

Mr Rajapaksa's departure ends a family dynasty that has ruled Sri Lanka for decades.

He had been in hiding after crowds stormed his residence on Saturday, and had The president had earlier pledged to resign on Wednesday 13 July.

A source told the BBC that Mr Rajapaksa will not remain in the Maldives and intends to travel on to a third country.

His brother, former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, has also left Sri Lanka and is said to be heading to the US.

As Sri Lankans awoke to news of the president's departure, thousands of people took to the streets of the capital, Colombo. Many gathered at Galle Face Green, the city's main protest site. Some listened to fiery speeches at a makeshift stage set up for ordinary people to take the mic.

Punctuated by cries of "Victory to the struggle", the rallying cry of the protest movement, speakers railed against a government and the leaders they feel have failed them.

Others were furious about Mr Rajapaksa's departure, seeing a lack of accountability.

"We don't like it. We want to keep him. We want our money back! And we want to put all the Rajapaksas in an open prison where they can do farm work," said protester GP Nimal.

But 23-year-old university student Reshani Samarakoon told the BBC that the former president's exile offered "hope that in the future we can eventually become a developed country, economically and socially".

Sri Lankans blame President Rajapaksa's administration for their worst economic crisis in decades.

For months they have been struggling with daily power cuts and shortages of basics like fuel, food and medicines.

The leader, who enjoys immunity from prosecution while he is president, is believed to have wanted to flee abroad before stepping down to avoid the possibility of arrest by the new administration.

 

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Sri Lanka: The basics

 

  • Sri Lanka is an island nation off southern India: It won independence from British rule in 1948. Three ethnic groups - Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim - make up 99% of the country's 22 million population.
  • One family of brothers has dominated for years: Mahinda Rajapaksa became a hero among the majority Sinhalese in 2009 when his government defeated Tamil separatist rebels after years of bitter and bloody civil war. His brother Gotabaya, who was defence secretary at the time, is the current president but says he is standing down.
  • Presidential powers: The president is the head of state, government and the military in Sri Lanka but does share a lot of executive responsibilities with the prime minister, who heads up the ruling party in parliament.
  • Now an economic crisis has led to fury on the streets: Soaring inflation has meant some foods, medication and fuel are in short supply, there are rolling blackouts and ordinary people have taken to the streets in anger with many blaming the Rajapaksa family and their government for the situation.

BBC

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1 July 2025 04:35
#1   Graciela
      
These combinations, or melds, range in worth and complexity.
A player might not put down K♠, Q♠, J♦ and score both
for the marriage and for the pinochle; only one meld could also be
made in any flip. The participant may put down Q♠ and J♦ for
forty factors; and, after successful a subsequent trick, they might add the K♠ and score for the
wedding. If incorrect numbers of cards are dealt, the hand
is declared a misdeal, and the vendor must perform their
duties (shuffle, supply a reduce, reseal) till there are no mistakes.
With a kitty, the four playing cards are
distributed one to every participant by the winner of the bid.
Each the teams scored in the melding & trick-taking part of the
Pinochle. Pinochle guidelines are super straightforward, simple, and attention-grabbing.


The remaining 12 cards are positioned within the
kitty, which is a separate pile of playing cards
that might be used later in the game. It is essential for each participant to understand
their function and to work along with their associate to achieve their team’s
goals. This means that a Pinochle deck has a complete of
forty eight playing cards.
The Power Pinochle web site (archive copy) had
some helpful resources for learning the sport and a discussion board the
place bidding and enjoying strategy are discussed.

The web site was down when I last checked however there could be additionally a
Energy Pinochle facebook page. The deck consists of eighty cards,
containing A Ten K Q J in every of the 4 suits, and
with 4 identical copies of each card.
Comparable to three-handed pinochle, cutthroat is a straightforward modification. The supplier deals the whole deck out (16 playing cards
to each player), in packets of 4. The player to the left of the vendor begins the bidding as soon as
meld has been silently determined by all players.
Play continues normally in terms of scoring and trick taking.
The solely approach to win in cutthroat pinochle, however, is to "bid and out", or to have
taken the bid and surpassed the predetermined successful score.

The declarer and their companion then get the
chance to change 4 cards. The quantity handed
can be set in the Options menu to 3 or this stage may be disabled.
Over time, Pinochle developed and became a more advanced
game, with totally different variations and rules
relying on the place you performed. Your opponent(s) will then have the chance to meld as properly.


Variations are for the bid winner and partner to trade
the designated number of cards simultaneously, or
for no passing to happen. The other players then play a card
in flip, with the very best card of the suit led winning the trick.

If a player can not follow swimsuit, they'll play any card.
Proceed to the auction part of the game of two handed Pinochle.

Here, each player takes turns declaring a "bid," which is an approximation of
the number of factors the playing cards in her hand might doubtlessly rating.


For a single deck, Pinochle is performed with a forty
eight card deck containing two sets of Aces via 9s.

After groups are decided amongst the gamers, the vendor passes out
12 cards if there are 4 players, eight playing cards if there are 6 players and 6 cards if there are eight
players. If there are three players and pass playing cards is disabled, players
get 16 playing cards; if pass playing cards are enabled, gamers get 15 cards.

If, after melding, the bidding group's bid is greater than 250 points larger than their combined rating they've gone set.

The player who gained the bid can at this second throw within the hand.
Doing this can cause them to go set, have their bid subtracted
from their complete rating, the opposing staff gets
their melds added to their rating, and the next round begins.
Groups can't throw within the hand under different situations, if their
bid is 250 points higher than their rating or less they must play the hand.

In this case the bidder scores all of the points he gained in melds and play.
Every of the other two gamers additionally score for his or her meld and whatever they
received within the play, supplied that they gained
a minimal of one counter. Any participant that fails to capture a counter in the play of
the hand scores nothing for any meld they might have had
on the hand (this is identified as "dropping your meld").
Not all variations require
the opponents to fail to make their bid 3 times so as to cross
the profitable level threshold.
In that model solely the high bidder can meld and the bidder either wins or loses.

Variations of Pinochle for other numbers of players are lined on other pages
of this website online. One Other model of this,
often known as "shooting the moon," could be referred to as out by the highest bidder before melding.
In this variation, neither team lays their meld down, and the
partner of the high bidder does not take part in trick taking.
1 July 2025 03:08
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