July 19, 2022

*) Sri Lankan opposition withdraws from presidential race last-minute Sri Lanka's main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has withdrawn from the country's presidential election in favour of a ruling party dissident. Premadasa announced the move on Twitter minutes before nominations formally opened. He said "for the greater good” of the country, his party will support Dullas Alahapperuma, a senior ruling party lawmaker, to replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa who resigned last week. Alahapperuma is up against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who took over as acting president - and leftist leader Anura Dissanayake. *) Ukraine sacks more officials amid intense Russia shelling As Russia has kept up its relentless shelling across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expanded the shakeup of his security services. Zelenskyy has suspended 28 more officials, a day after he dismissed two senior officials over allegations that their agencies harboured "collaborators and traitors." In his new video address, Zelenskyy said a "personnel audit" of the Security Service of Ukraine was under way. *) ​​Erdogan meets Raisi in Tehran to discuss bilateral, regional issues Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi for talks in Tehran. Bilateral and regional matters are the top issues on the agenda. Erdogan and Raisi will co-chair the 7th Meeting of the Türkiye-Iran High Level Cooperation Council. All aspects of bilateral ties and potential steps to enhance bilateral cooperation will be discussed. Erdogan and Raisi will later meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for discussions on developments in Syria and the fight against the terrorist organizations. *) New Ecuador prison brawl leaves multiple inmates dead Thirteen inmates have been killed and two others wounded in yet another violent fight in a notorious Ecuadorian prison, law enforcement officials said. The incident took place at the same Bellavista prison in the town of Santo Domingo de los Colorados – about 80 kilometres fr