WORLD
Sri Lanka's tryst with China, India
Days before his election, rampaging mobs had burnt down his house in a tony area of the capital, Colombo, indicating that popular perception sees him no different from Gotabaya Rajapakse who has fled the country. Well, Wickramasinghe is certainly not a very popular leader. In the last nation-wide poll, he was the lone winner of his party, United National Party (UNP).
Joe Biden tests positive for Covid-19, has mild symptoms
Biden (79), who is fully vaccinated and has taken the booster dose, is showing mild symptoms and has begun taking Paxlovid, an antiviral used to treat Covid-19. Kevin O'Connor, the President's doctor, said in a statement that Biden tested positive in a routine morning screening on Thursday, first by an antigen test and subsequently through RT-PCR.
NASA targets late Aug for Artemis 1 moon rocket launch: Report
NASA said it has tentatively selected 3 dates for the launch: August 29; September 2; and September 5. However, "it's not an agency commitment," Jim Free, NASA's associate administrator for exploration systems development, said during a media briefing. "But these are the dates that the team is working to and have a plan to. "We're trying to make sure that everybody understands this is the first time that we're going to try and launch this vehicle.
January 6 committee chairman contracts Covid but hearing as per schedule
July 21 is yet another crucial day in the senate select committee's hearings as two key witnesses are scheduled to depose before it - Sarah Mathews, Press Aide and Mathhew Pottinger, deputy national security advisor, both of whom resigned immediately from Trump's administration after the January 6 Capitol Hills attack by the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
Lightning strike kills 1 soldier, injures 9 at US Army base
A base spokesperson told US media outlets that the incident occurred at approximately 11:10 a.m. (1510 GMT) on Wednesday when there was bad weather in the area and that the soldiers "sustained injuries associated with a lightning strike at one of their training areas." The soldiers were taken to a medical centre at the base for treatment, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the spokesperson.
Top 10 most powerful passports in the World
According to the index, Japan has topped the list, allowing its citizens to travel as many as 193 destinations either without a visa or by providing a visa upon arrival. Japan is followed by Singapore and South Korea respectively. For a country to top the passport index, it has to allow a passport holder to travel without a visa, with a visa-on-arrival or with a visa in advance. Henley & Partners ranking is based on data from the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world’s largest database of travel information.
Pakistan industry warns of Sri Lanka like crisis
FPCCI President Irfan Iqbal Shiekh said the rupee's free fall has reached a point where it has become a threat to national security as the letters of credit (LCs) for petroleum imports were being opened at a much higher rate than the interbank rate, Dawn reported. He feared that a serious law and order situation might emerge in the event of any fuel shortages for transportation and electricity generation.
Ranil sworn in as 8th President of Sri Lanka
Out of 225 parliamentarians, 223 voted in the ballot of which four were invalid votes, while two MPs abstained from voting. Soon after getting elected as President, Wickremesinghe invited all political parties to join hands with him and work together to overcome the economic crisis and bring in a new political change.
US CDC recommends Novavax's Covid vaccine for adults
The recommendation came on Tuesday following a meeting of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, Xinhua news agency reported. The Novavax vaccine will be available as two-dose primary series for adults, three weeks apart. It is the fourth Covid-19 vaccine available in the US, and it uses a different type of vaccine technology than the other three approved vaccines.
BA.5 Omicron subvariant accounts for nearly 80% new infections in US
The BA.5 subvariant accounted for 77.9 per cent of new infections in the week ending July 16, up from 68.7 per cent a week before, Xinhua news agency reported. Another new subvariant, BA.4, accounted for 12.8 per cent of new infections, CDC data show. The two contagious subvariants now made up over 90 per cent of new infections in the US.
Don't Miss
Advertisement