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Sri Lanka is completing the pre-requisites to unlock a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and expects rapid approval from the global lender, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Saturday.

"We are successfully completing the difficult stage required to get support from the International Monetary Fund. We expect to get their consent without delay," Wickremesinghe said in his address to the nation to mark the 75th Independence Day.

Sri Lanka, caught in the worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948 triggered by a severe shortage of dollars, has seen steep inflation, a currency plunge and its economy slide into recession.

The island of 22 million people has also been hit by high taxes, a shortage of essential items such as medicine and fuel, and daily power cuts.

Wickremesinghe, who took over after his predecessor fled the country and resigned last year after thousands of protesters occupied his office and residence, has pledged to put the economy back on track but warned it will be an uphill task.

"I know that many of the decisions I have been compelled to take since assuming the presidency have been unpopular .... I will continue this new reform program with the majority of people who love this country," he added.

Sri Lanka is currently focused on getting financing assurances from key bilateral creditors China and Japan. India, the third major creditor, agreed to support debt restructuring last month.

Sri Lanka's central bank estimates an economic turnaround in the second half of 2023 and inflation to reach single digits by the end of this year. (Reuters)

India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has begun a process to ban and block 138 betting apps and 94 loan lending apps with Chinese links, India's ANI reported on Sunday, citing sources.

The Ministry of Home Affairs recommended the MeitY ban and block these apps by the coming week under Section 69 of India's IT law, the report said.

The IT law allows the government to block public access to content in the interest of national security, among other reasons. Orders issued under the section are generally confidential in nature. (Reuters)

Pope Francis said on Sunday that he expected to continue travelling despite his knee ailment, joking that "weeds never die" and adding that he hoped to go to Mongolia in September.

The trip would be the first ever by a pope to the Asian country.

During his customary conversation with reporters on his return from a foreign trip, this time from Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, the 86-year-old pope was asked about his health and travel plans.

For months, a chronic knee ailment has forced him to use a wheelchair and a cane. During recent trips, he has held the news conference on the plane while sitting, as he did on Sunday.

"On September 29 I will go to Marseille and from there I will fly to Mongolia but that is not yet certain, there is a possibility," he said.

The day trip to the southern French city of Marseille was known about but the mention of Mongolia was a complete surprise to reporters, so much so that some thought he might have said Angola.

Speaking of his health, Francis, who became pope nearly 10 years ago, said "You know that weeds never die. It (his health) is not like it was at the start of the pontificate, that is true. This knee is bothersome but it moves ahead slowly. Then we will see."

Last August Francis named Archbishop Giorgio Marengo, an Italian, the first cardinal to be based in Mongolia, where he is the Catholic Church's administrator.

The country has fewer than 1,500 Catholics but is strategically significant because it borders with China, where the Vatican is trying to improve the situation of Catholics in the communist country.

Francis, who was on his way home from his 40th foreign trip as pope, also said he would probably go to India next year. He is due to go to Portugal this August. (Reuters)

Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in the campaign against al Qaeda following the militant group's Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, died in Dubai on Sunday after a prolonged illness. He was 79.

Musharraf, a former four-star general who seized power after a 1999 military coup, died in hospital in Dubai, where he was living in self-imposed exile since 2016. His body will be flown to Pakistan for burial on Monday, Geo News reported.

"I offer my condolences to the family of General Pervez Musharraf," tweeted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. "May the departed soul rest in peace."

Musharraf was suffering from a rare organ disease called amyloidosis, and was admitted to hospital last year after he became critically ill, his family said.

He was credited with attracting foreign investment to Pakistan, which saw the strongest economic growth in nearly 30 years during his rule, and he enjoyed the support of the military and Pakistanis who backed his crackdown against militant groups.

But his decade-long rule was also marred by a heavy-handed approach to dissent, which included arresting rivals such as current prime minister Sharif and the imposing of an almost six-week long state of emergency in which he suspended the constitution and censored the media.

"He failed to build on his early popularity to effect sustainable economic and political reforms and became a captive of military power and vested interests," said Shuja Nawaz, author of several books on Pakistan's military and a fellow at U.S. think-tank Atlantic Council.

A graduate from a Christian high school, Musharraf was keen for Pakistan to embrace liberal Islam, an approach that increased his appeal in the West following the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Musharraf joined what Washington called its "war on terror", giving U.S. forces ground and air access into landlocked Afghanistan to chase down al Qaeda militants.

This decision contradicted Pakistan's long-standing support for the Taliban, which at that point controlled Afghanistan, and made Musharraf a target for domestic militant groups. He survived at least four assassination attempts.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, an umbrella group of Pakistani militant organisations formed after Musharraf's crackdown on extremists, celebrated his death.

"This was the infamous army chief who sold off the country's honour and respect," it said a statement.

In a 2006 memoir, Musharraf said he "saved" Pakistan by joining the campaign against al Qaeda. He also successfully lobbied the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush to pour money into the nuclear-armed nation's military, which remains one of the most powerful in South Asia.

Domestically, Musharraf's iron-fist rule created turmoil. The state of emergency in 2007 aimed to quell protests triggered by a clampdown on the judiciary and the media. That same year, his government was criticised for not providing enough security ahead of the assasination by the Pakistani Taliban of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a political rival killed while on campaign for national elections.

The Musharraf-backed party lost the vote, held months later in 2008. Facing impeachment by parliament, he resigned and fled to London.

Musharraf returned to Pakistan in 2013 to run for parliament but was immediately disqualified. He left for Dubai in 2016, and was sentenced to death in absentia three years later for the state of emergency. The verdict was later overturned.

One of Musharraf's former political aides told Geo News that he would either be buried in Karachi, his family's hometown, or Rawalpindi, home to the army's headquarters. (Reuters)