Former Lankan parliament speaker dies
Sri Lanka's former parliament speaker and son of two prime ministers, Anura Bandaranaike, died yetserday after a brief battle with liver cancer, a family friend said.
Bandaranaike, 59, was hospitalised after he defected from the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse in December over political differences. He was the national heritage minister at the time.
"Anura passed away today," a close family friend said.
He was speaker of the national parliament from 2000 to 2001.
Bandaranaike is the younger brother of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga and the son of two late prime ministers -- Sirima Bandaranaike, the world's first elected woman premier, and Solomon Bandaranaike, who was assassinated in 1959.
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