Debt-stricken Sri Lanka marks independence day

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake hoists the Sri Lankan national flag during the country’s 77th Independence Day ceremony (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)

Debt-stricken Sri Lanka marked its 77th independence anniversary with a military parade, while the country’s newly elected president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, pledged to heal Sri Lanka’s economic woes by the end of his five-year term.

Sri Lanka, which gained independence from Britain in 1948, suffered its worst economic crisis in 2022, forcing the island nation to declare bankruptcy.