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X-Press Pearl was carrying 1,486 containers containing 25 tons of nitric acid, other chemicals and cosmetics on board, according to a statement released by Sri Lanka Navy. (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lankan authorities are trying to douse a massive fire aboard a container ship near Colombo's coast to avoid a chemical as well as an oil spill. [Extracted from the article]

(Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka's commercial lenders have been asked to give to the central bank a chunk of foreign exchange earnings converted by exporters into domestic currency, Deputy Governor Dhammika Nanayakkara said Saturday. Operating instructions have been issued to lenders to surrender half of the 25% converted by exporters to the central bank, Nanayakkara said by phone. [Extracted from the article]

Airbus SE and AirAsia Bhd., the discount airline built by Tony Fernandes, were inseparable for years, with the boisterous aviation executive gorging on ever-larger aircraft orders to become the manufacturer's biggest customer for single-aisle jets. Four days after the order announcement, an AirAsia executive emailed a senior Airbus employee saying that "instead of sponsorship we want to put it as a grant.". [Extracted from the article]

Airbus SE and AirAsia Bhd., the discount airline built by Tony Fernandes, were inseparable for years, with the boisterous aviation executive gorging on ever-larger aircraft orders to become the manufacturer's biggest customer for single-aisle jets. Fernandes will leave his role as chief executive officer of AirAsia for two months while the government examines corruption claims, according to a statement Monday. [Extracted from the article]

AirAsia Group Bhd Founder Tony Fernandes became the first marquee airline executive to lose his post in the aftermath of planemaker Airbus SE's record $4 billion bribery settlement. AirAsia's Fernandes and Meranun denied allegations of wrongdoing, after Malaysia's anti-graft agency said Saturday that it was looking into corruption at the airline. [Extracted from the article]

After starting his career in Richard Branson's Virgin Group in the U.K, Fernandes returned home to Malaysia and teamed up with Meranun to buy an ailing and indebted AirAsia for 1 ringgit in 2001. Fernandes and Meranun, together with Nasarudin Nasimuddin, chairman of car assembler Naza Group, founded the Caterham Formula One Team in motor racing in 2009, later counting Airbus among its sponsors. [Extracted from the article]

"AirAsia is clearly a major Airbus customer", said Sash Tusa, an aerospace and defense analyst at Agency Partners in London. Fernandes and Meranun, together with Nasarudin Nasimuddin, chairman of car assembler Naza Group, founded the Caterham Formula One Team in motor racing in 2009, later counting Airbus among its sponsors. Four days later, an AirAsia executive emailed a senior Airbus employee saying that "instead of sponsorship we want to put it as a grant", according to the prosecutors. [Extracted from the article]

Developments in the two Asian countries, as well as in Colombia, show airlines and governments tagged in Airbus's sweeping settlement are now embarking on their own reckoning with the case. The investigations into corrupt practices at Airbus ran several years, after the company reported itself to the U.K.'s Serious Fraud Office in 2016. [Extracted from the article]

Sri Lankan prosecutors are seeking the arrest of the state-owned airline's former top boss and his wife in the latest fallout from a wide-ranging corruption probe into bribery at planemaker Airbus SE. Prosecutors in the three countries published numerous examples of bribery allegations meant to influence government officials and other decision makers on airplane sales around the world. [Extracted from the article]

Sri Lanka's new government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa wants to undo the previous regime's move to lease the southern port of Hambantota to a Chinese venture, citing national interest. A similar port deal under the Belt and Road program in Myanmar was drastically scaled to $1.3 billion from $7.5 billion, while in Malaysia the government canceled $3 billion worth of pipelines and renegotiated a rail project in 2019, cutting that one's cost by a third to $11 billion. [Extracted from the article]

Six children among the dead found by military in raid The military raids were part of investigations into a devastating series of blasts across high-end hotels and churches in Sri Lanka that killed about 253 people on Easter Sunday. Soldiers recovered explosives, ISIS flags, suicide kits and military uniforms in another raid in the Samanthurai area on Friday, a military spokesman said in a statement. [Extracted from the article]

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said he asked the country's defense secretary Hemasiri Fernando and police chief Pujith Jayasundara to resign following deadly Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed 253 people. In a speech on Friday morning, Sirisena said the country's security forces has arrested about 70 people and are still looking for as many as 140 suspects. [Extracted from the article]

An expected extension of Sri Lanka's lending arrangement with the International Monetary Fund should give a critical cushion to the economy in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, a fund official said. Sri Lanka secured a staff-level agreement from the IMF in March to extend a $1.5 billion lending facility for an additional year, and days later Sri Lanka tapped international markets via a $2.4 billion bond sale to cover 2019 debt obligations. [Extracted from the article]

Tourists are scrambling to leave Sri Lanka and hotels are bracing for cancellations after a deadly terrorist attack that killed 290 people targeted foreigners and churchgoers. The U.S., Canada and the U.K. cautioned citizens about traveling to Sri Lanka, with the U.K. warning about the possibility of more attacks. [Extracted from the article]

Sri Lanka had previously received warnings of possible church attacks, but not on hotels, Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando said on Sunday, noting some of the explosions were suicide bombings. "Sri Lanka is just about recovering from a civil war and so obviously this is not a good sign", Joshi said. [Extracted from the article]

A proposed oil refinery in Sri Lanka could boost a barely used Chinese-operated port that has piled on debt for the country and fueled criticism of President Xi Jinping's signature Belt and Road infrastructure-building initiative. "It will help make the Hambantota port an active port", said Nalin Bandara, deputy minister of development strategies and international trade at a news conference in Colombo on Tuesday. [Extracted from the article]

The article reports on the consequences of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena firing his prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. It mentions Sirisena's attempt to replace Wickremesinghe with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, the impact on Sri Lankan politics, and the need for elections to bring order back to the government.

Move will restrains Rajapaksa and newly appointed ministers Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal issued an interim order preventing newly appointed prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government's ministers from exercising powers until it hears a petition challenging their authority. [Extracted from the article]

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said he definitely won't reappoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister even if the ousted leader were able to show a majority in the island's legislature. Sirisena said he would be willing to appoint a new prime minister from Wickremesinghe's party if there was a majority in parliament. Sirisena said in comments Sunday that he plans to set up a presidential commission to investigate corruption allegations during Wickremesinghe's term as prime minister. [Extracted from the article]

Protest in Colombo today calls for reconvening parliament Colombo has been gripped by political intrigue ever since Sirisena said he had to fire Wickremesinghe late on Friday because of an assassination plot. Relations between Wickremesinghe and Sirisena have been strained this year, especially after their coalition was defeated in local government elections by a Rajapaksa-backed party. [Extracted from the article]

TPG Capital bid failed in 2017 after PE firm's due diligence Sri Lanka has revived the process of privatizing the state-run carrier that is saddled with at least $1 billion of debt, a year after talks with sole bidder TPG Capital collapsed following due diligence of the struggling airline. Those included U.S. buyout firm Blackstone Group LP and TPG, Bloomberg News reported at the time. [Extracted from the article]

Sri Lanka's two-week-old government plans to start discussions with the International Monetary Fund on reducing a debt burden that grew under the previous administration, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said. Karunanayake, who will meet IMF officials today, said in an interview late yesterday that President Maithripala Sirisena wanted to reduce interest costs on the island nation's 7.2 trillion rupees ($55 billion) in total debt. [Extracted from the article]

China signed a 10-billion-yuan ($1.63 billion) currency-swap agreement with Sri Lanka, another step in Beijing's efforts to promote the use of the yuan in global trade and finance. The People's Bank of China last month granted Sri Lanka's central bank a license to invest in China's domestic interbank bond market. [Extracted from the article]