"Opaque" loans for “headline-grabbing” infrastructure projects, were among the factors behind the current crisis that has engulfed Sri Lanka, said Samantha Power, Administrator, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), on Wednesday.

SJB lawmaker Eran Wickrmaratne speaking in the debate on the extension of the emergency regulation said that though the President declared the state of emergency to control the nation, an emergency law is really needed to save the people from hunger, ensure food security and supply gas and fuel including essential goods.

Sri Lanka's Parliament on Wednesday approved a state of emergency that had been declared by President Ranil Wickremesinghe as his government cracks down on demonstrators it accuses of violence while trying to find a way out of the country's worst economic crisis.

The second session of the ninth parliament will be prorogued tonight (27), according to sources in parliament.

The prevailing situation will create a civil war of bloodshed in the country by December, warns President's Counsel Tirantha Walaliyadde.

Parliamentarian Premanath C. Dolawatte says his group of 10 parties will support the passage of the state of emergency at today’s (27) vote in parliament as law enforcement needs to be empowered to maintain peace.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is prepared to hold talks with president Ranil Wickremesinghe with regard to the losses caused to the Tamils during the war and political solutions, said its leader R. Sampanthan.

Victims of enforced disappearances that took place during the war are working like slaves in factories owned by the Rajapaksas in Uganda, allege their relatives.

Parties in the opposition are making extensive plans to defeat the state of emergency at tomorrow’s (27) vote in parliament, political sources say.

Sri Lanka received humanitarian supplies worth around $22 million (LKR 3.4 billion) donated by the Government of Tamil Nadu.