Update: Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksas win super-majority, cement grip on power

COLOMBO, Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sri Lanka’s ruling Rajapaksa brothers have secured a two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections, giving them powers to change the constitution and unravel democratic safeguards, final results showed Friday. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP) won 145 seats and can also count on…

Covid-19: Cases worldwide pass 19 million

PARIS/GENEVA, Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of coronavirus cases recorded worldwide has passed 19 million, according to tally from official sources. At least 19,000,553 cases and 712,315 deaths have now been registered. Forty percent of cases were in the United States and Brazil, the two worst-affected countries with 4,870,367…

US Pres Trump signs executive order banning transactions with TikTok parent after 45 days

WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order barring transactions with the Chinese parent company of social media platform TikTok after 45 days. “The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security,” the order said.…

Update: Lebanese investigators focus on negligence in Beirut blast

pInvestigators probing the wednesday blast say there are looking into a possibility of negligence BEIRUT, Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Investigators probing the deadly blast that ripped across Beirut focused on possible negligence in the storage of tons of a highly explosive fertiliser in a waterfront warehouse, while the government ordered…

Argentine marshland threatened by worst fires in decades

BUENOS AIRES, Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ravaged by drought, the Parana Delta in Argentina, one of the largest and most biodiverse in the world, has been burning like never before since the beginning of the year. During the first seven months of 2020, more than 11,000 fires were detected in…

Covid-19: Mexico’s deaths surpass 50,000

MEXICO CITY, Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mexico’s coronavirus death toll surged past 50,000 on Thursday, the government said, just days after becoming the third-highest in the world. The health ministry announced 819 more deaths in its daily update, taking the total to 50,517 since the Latin American country’s first case…

China sentences Canadian to death on drugs charge

Ketamine has become popular as a recreational drug GUANGZHOU (China), Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Chinese court has sentenced a Canadian citizen to death on charges of producing the drug ketamine. A court notice in the city of Guangzhou said Xu Weihong was found guilty after a trial. His alleged…

Covid-19: Almost 100 people in Ohio were infected with coronavirus after US man attended church service

91 fall sick in Ohio after man with coronavirus attended church COLUMBUS (Ohio, US), Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A man with COVID-19 went to church in mid-June, then 91 other people got sick, including 53 who were at the service, according to Ohio’s governor. “It spread like wildfire, wildfire. Very, very scary,”…

Covid-19: Facebook and Twitter ‘punish’ US pres Trump for virus claim on children immunity

WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Facebook and Twitter have penalised US Pres Donald Trump and his campaign for posts in which the president claimed children were “almost immune” to coronavirus. Facebook deleted the post – a clip from an interview Trump gave to Fox News – saying it contained “harmful…

Islamists becoming ‘more aggressive’ in Mozambique, warns US

People displaced by the attacks have been fleeing to nearby islands MAPUTO, Aug 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US has warned that Islamist militants are getting more aggressive in Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado with support from the Daesh group.The militants, known locally as al-Shabab – although it has no…