Sri Lanka PM to appear before Parliamentary committee to probe Easter attacks

Agencies
July 13, 2019

Colombo, Jul 13: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he would appear before the Parliamentary Select Committee probing the Easter Sunday attacks that claimed 258 lives and would provide all available information, according to a media report.

The prime minister made the remarks after his government on Thursday defeated the no-confidence motion that accused it of failing to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings despite receiving intelligence inputs from India.

The motion, moved by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, was defeated by a vote of 119-92 after two days of debate.

Emphasising that his government will uncover the truth behind the attacks, Wickremesinghe, in a statement, said the committee has been set-up to probe the lapses in communicating intelligence warnings which were received prior to the tragedy, the Times Online reported.

He said that the government hopes to adopt new laws to curb global terrorism while looking forward to working with international intelligence agencies as well.

Rejecting claims that the country's activities had been stalled since the terror attacks, he said that several projects concerning housing, economy and employment are going on, the report said.

Wickremesinghe said that steps have been taken to revive the tourist industry which had faced adverse impacts owing to the bombings.

Nine suicide bombers carried out a series of devastating blasts on April 21 that tore through three churches and three high-end hotels frequented by tourists in Sri Lanka's deadliest terror attack since the devastating civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended in 2009.

The Islamic State claimed the attacks, but the government blamed local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaath (NTJ) for the bombings which killed 258 people, including 11 Indians, and injured hundreds.

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News Network
July 9,2020

Washington, Jul 9: The United States recorded 55,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours on Wednesday (Thursday in Malaysia), a tally by Johns Hopkins University showed, bringing its total to 3,046,351 recorded infections since the pandemic began.

The country, the hardest-hit in the world, had earlier on Wednesday passed the grim milestone of three million infections. The actual number is likely far higher due to issues over getting tested in March and April.

The US also added an additional 833 virus deaths, bringing the death toll to 132,195, the Baltimore-based institution showed at 8.30pm (0030 GMT Thursday).

US President Donald Trump regularly downplays the numbers, attributing them to an increase in testing capacity during the month of June.

Coronavirus cases are surging in several southern hotspots including Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Arizona, but the pandemic has almost entirely receded from its former epicentre in New York and the north-east.

Several states have been forced to suspend their reopening processes or even reverse course, with some ordering bars to close again.

On Wednesday morning, Trump called on schools throughout the country to reopen in the fall, lashing out at his own top health agency to ease health and safety requirements aimed at slowing the spread of the virus, such as social distancing.

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News Network
July 5,2020

Washington, Jul 5: US President Donald Trump on Saturday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his wishes on America's 244th Independence Day.

On Saturday, PM Modi tweeted: "I congratulate @POTUS @realDonaldTrump and the people of the USA on the 244th Independence Day of the USA. As the world's largest democracies, we cherish freedom and human enterprise that this day celebrates. @WhiteHouse"

While replying to PM Modi's wishes, Mr Trump tweeted: "Thank you my friend. America loves India!"

The US President also attended the July 4 American Independence Day celebrations in South Dakota.

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News Network
March 23,2020

Singapore, Mar 23: Oil prices fell at the open in Asia on Monday after a trillion-dollar Senate proposal to help the coronavirus-hit American economy was defeated and death tolls soared across Europe and the US.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate initially tumbled more than three percent but then pulled back some ground to trade 1.5 percent lower, at $22 a barrel.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 4.9 percent to $25 a barrel.

Prices have fallen to multi-year lows in recent weeks as lockdowns and travel restrictions to fight the virus hit demand, and top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia engage in a price war.

The latest drop came after a trillion-dollar Senate proposal to rescue the US economy was defeated after receiving zero support from Democrats, and with five Republicans absent from the chamber because of virus-related quarantines.

The bill had proposed funding for American families, thousands of shuttered or suffering businesses and the nation's critically under-equipped hospitals.

Coronavirus deaths soared across Europe and the United States at the weekend despite heightened restrictions.

The death toll from the virus -- which has upended lives and closed businesses and schools across the planet -- surged to more than 14,300 Sunday, according to an AFP tally.

AxiCorp chief markets strategist Stephen Innes said that "total demand devastation" had set it.

"Oil markets collapsed out of the gate this morning as prices react... to stringent containment lockdown measures," he said.

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