President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled Sri Lanka in a military jet, amid mass protests over the island's economic crisis. The country's air force confirmed the 73-year-old flew to the Maldives with his wife and two security officials.

Seeing no end to Sri Lanka’s fuel crisis, many are now cooking with firewood and charcoal stoves, and turning away from automobiles and towards bicycles. The South Asian nation has failed to pay for petrol and diesel imports and is suffering with prolonge...