Sri Lanka: President's resignation to be announced as protesters gather on streets to celebrate

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation will be announced officially at 7:30 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) on Friday, the speaker's office said late on Thursday.

Rajapaksa, who fled the country on Wednesday, submitted his resignation to the parliamentary speaker late on Thursday. 

Maldives government has granted diplomatic clearance for a Sri Lanka Air Force aircraft carrying Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his spouse, on a transit visit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

Exhausted and drained after nearly 100 days of protests, a small crowd gathered its remaining strength on Thursday to celebrate the resignation of Sri Lanka's leader at the seaside headquarters of their campaign to oust him.

A stone's throw from what had days earlier been the office of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, people smiled wearily at their compatriots as they danced, handed out sweets, embraced each other or waved the national flag.

For more than three months, the seafront boulevard has been home to a cluster of tents used as a staging post for protesters demanding the despised leader step down for his role in driving Sri Lanka's battered economy to ruin.