LIVE: Lankan Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa headed to Saudi Arabia, says report

Live news upedates: Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is headed to Saudi Arabia via Singapore

9:31 AM

France reports over 127,000 Covid cases ahead of its national day

France has reported 127,642 new Covid-19 cases, one day ahead of the country's national day.

Health professionals are warning of a seventh wave of the pandemic in the country with the spread of Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, Xinhua news agency reported.

About 19,580 patients are currently being hospitalised, of whom 1,184 were admitted to critical care services.

9:27 AM

Sri Lanka majority parties threaten no confidence motion against Ranil Wickremesingeh

Leading Sri Lanka's politics into further chaos, a majority of the political parties have threatened to bring a no confidence motion against the Prime Minister and Acting President Ranil Wickremesingeh.

Opposition parties have informed the Speaker that Ranil Wickremesinghe should resign immediately and Parliament should be summoned forthwith.

On Wednesday protesters, who demanded the exit of Wickremesinghe, took over the Prime

Minister's office despite the use of heavy force by the police and the military who fired water cannons and tear gas and finally shot in the air. Nearly 40 protesters were admitted to the hospital with injuries.

9:21 AM

Delhi: Fire breaks out in Paharganj hotel, 10 rescued

A major fire broke out at a hotel in Centre Delhi's Paharganj on Thursday morning from where ten people were rescued by the firefighters.

According to the fire department, they got a call at around 4 a.m regarding the fire at Roma Delux Hotel in Paharganj.

Four fire tenders were rushed to the spot. "We rescued ten people from the third floor of the hotel. They had been trapped," said a firefighter.

9:20 AM

90 pc work of Goa's Mopa airport complete, commissioning after Aug 15: CM Sawant

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said that about 90 per cent work of the Mopa international airport in the state has been completed.

Speaking in the state Assembly during the monsoon session on Wednesday, Sawant also said the airport at Mopa in North Goa district would be commissioned "between August 15 and September 1 this year".

Almost 90 per cent of the work on this project has been completed and trials at the airport are on, he said without elaborating further.

9:12 AM

Gotabaya Rajapaksa still in Maldives, awaits private jet to depart for Singapore: Report

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has fled to the Maldives, could not board a scheduled Singapore Airlines flight from Male to Singapore due to security concerns and is now waiting to travel on a private aircraft, according to a media report on Thursday.

Rajapaksa, the 73-year-old leader who had promised to resign on Wednesday, appointed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as the acting President hours after he fled the country, escalating the political crisis and triggering a fresh wave of protests.

Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said that Rajapaksa had appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe to act to perform his functions while he is abroad.

9:03 AM

US House passes Active Shooter Alert Bill with bipartisan vote

The US House passed bipartisan legislation on Wednesday night that would help state and local governments set up a warning system for active shooter situations, and enhance law enforcement’s communication with the public in such emergencies.

 

It would be similar in operation to the Amber Alert system that’s deployed whenever a child is abducted.  

 

The legislation, approved by a vote of 260-169, was originally introduced in February, gained new urgency following the deadly mass shootings in Buffalo, New York; Uvalde, Texas; and Highland Park, Illinois. In the wake of those massacres, Congress last month approved a package of gun-safety measures that comprised the most significant firearms regulations in three decades.

9:01 AM

Pakistan reaches agreement with IMF to resume loan

Pakistan has reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund, a milestone that would pave the way for the release of an additional $1.2 billion in loans and unlock more funding.

 

The IMF will also consider an extension of the facility to end-June 2023, it said in a statement. The accord will make additional funds available once the board approves, taking the extended loan facility with Pakistan to about $7 billion, it said.

 

Funds from the IMF will help avert a potential default, and pave the way for more aid from other multilateral institutions and friendly nations. Pakistan needs at least $41 billion in the next 12 months to repay debt and fund imports as foreign-exchange reserves shrink to a level that could only cover less than two months of imports.

8:50 AM

Hyundai Motor launches first electric sedan, taking on Tesla

Hyundai Motor Co on Thursday launched its first electric sedan, Ioniq 6, which the South Korean automaker is betting will help it grab a bigger share of the electric vehicle (EV) market dominated by Tesla Inc.

The Ioniq 6 is one of more than 31 electric models that Hyundai Motor Group - including Hyundai Motor, its sister company Kia Corp and premium brand Genesis - plans to introduce through 2030 to secure a projected 12% of the global EV market.

Hyundai's sedan will expand its EV range beyond its current crossovers and SUVs to compete head-to-head against Tesla's best-selling Model 3 sedan.

8:45 AM

North Korea's new suspected Covid cases fall below 600

North Korea's new suspected Covid-19 cases dropped below 600, according to its state media on Thursday.

More than 560 people showed symptoms of fever over a 24-hour period until 6 p.m. the previous day, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, citing data from the state emergency epidemic prevention headquarters. It marked the third consecutive day for the count to stay under 1,000.

It did not provide information on whether additional deaths have been reported. As of July 5, the death toll had stood at 74, with the fatality rate at 0.002 per cent, Yonhap news agency reported.

8:42 AM

Death toll from Covid-19 surpasses 200,000 in UK

More than 200,000 Covid-19 deaths have been recorded across the UK, showed the latest data released from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The grim milestone has been reached in late June, but not revealed until Wednesday due to a delay in registration. Up to the start of July, a total of 200,247 Covid-19 deaths have occurred, the ONS said. The figures include deaths due to Covid-19 as well as those involving the virus, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the week ending July 1, 2022, 11,828 deaths were registered in the UK, 12.1 per cent above the five-year average (1,278 excess deaths), said the ONS.

8:32 AM

No holiday in UP on Independence Day this year

For the first time, schools, colleges, universities, government, non-government offices and most importantly, markets will remain open on Independence Day.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that this Independence Day will be celebrated as a special event this year in each district as it is the 75th year of Independence.

Chief Secretary D.S. Mishra said that a special sanitation drive would be carried out, as is done during the festival of Diwali, and this should be made into a national public movement.

8:28 AM

Sri Lanka Ministers hold party leaders' meet to resolve ongoing crisis

In order to tackle the ongoing political crisis in Sri Lanka, leaders of political parties met and decided that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should resign immediately to resolve the current situation in the country.

It was discussed at the special meeting held in Parliament this afternoon (13) with the participation of the members of the Committee on Parliamentary Business and the party leaders that the Prime Minister should resign from his position as soon as possible to resolve the current crisis situation in the country.

As per the media reports, all party leaders discussed the current situation in the country at length and the Chief of Defense Staff, the Commanders of the three-armed forces and the Inspector General of Police briefed the Members of Parliament about the current security situation.

8:15 AM

PM Modi to participate in first I2U2 Leaders' Summit virtually today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to participate in the first Leaders' Summit of I2U2 virtually, along with leaders of Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States on Thursday.

The proposed virtual summit of India, Israel, UAE, and the USA dubbed "I2U2" is being projected as the Quad for West Asia. I2U2 is aimed to encourage joint investments in six mutually identified areas such as water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be participating in an I2U2 Summit, along with Prime Minister of Israel Yair Lapid, President of the UAE Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and President of the USA Joseph R Biden," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Tuesday.

8:06 AM

Mining lease case: EC to hear Jharkhand CM Soren's counsel today

The Election Commission (EC) is likely to hear the legal counsel for Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM leader Hemant Soren on Thursday in the mine lease case in which the BJP has sought his disqualification as an MLA under electoral law.

When the EC had commenced hearing in the matter on June 28, the BJP counsel had sought his disqualification under Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which deals with "Disqualification for Government contracts, etc."

The BJP as the petitioner in the case had asserted that Soren violated the provision of the election law by extending himself a favour with regard to a government contract while in office.

7:57 AM

British Parliament felicitates BCCI President Sourav Ganguly

It was a memorable day for BCCI President Sourav Ganguly as the former India captain was felicitated by the British Parliament on Wednesday.

 

"I was felicitated by the British Parliament as a Bengali so it was nice. It was in the Parliament. They contacted me six months ago. They do this award every year and I got it," said BCCI President Sourav Ganguly while speaking exclusively to ANI.

 

The Indian cricket legend was felicitated on the same date July 13 when he led India to Natwest final win in 2002 and exactly 20 years later on the same day he was honoured in the same city.