International news brief: President Ranil Wickremesinghe invites Sri Lankan parties to form national government

International

oi-PTI

Colombo,
July
30:
Sri
Lankan
President
Ranil
Wickremesinghe
has
written
to
members
of
Parliament,
inviting
them
to
form
an
all-party
national
government
to
help
the
bankrupt
country
to
recover
from
the
worst
economic
crisis.

“The
government
is
currently
engaged
in
great
efforts
to
gradually
restore
normalcy
to
the
political
and
social
unrest
created
by
the
economic
crisis
that
the
country
is
facing
today,” Wickremesinghe
said
in
the
letter
on
Friday.

Spain
reports
2nd
death
from
monkeypox

Spain
reported
Saturday
a
second
death
in
as
many
days
from
monkeypox.
These
are
believed
to
be
the
first
confirmed
fatalities
from
the
disease
in
Europe
since
its
recent
spread
beyond
Africa.
The
ministry
based
in
Madrid
said
both
fatalities
were
young
men.
It
reported
its
first
death
on
Friday,
the
same
day
that
Brazil
also
reported
its
first
death
from
monkeypox.

Taliban
say
2
died
in
Friday
explosion
at
Kabul
cricket
game

The
Taliban
on
Saturday
raised
the
casualty
toll
from
a
hand
grenade
explosion
during
a
cricket
game
in
the
capital
of
Kabul
the
previous
day,
saying
two
civilians
at
the
stadium
died
from
the
blast.
No
one
has
so
far
claimed
responsibility
for
the
explosion
but
the
blame
is
likely
to
fall
on
militants
from
the
Islamic
State
group
–
the
Taliban’s
chief
rivals
since
they
took
over
the
country
a
year
ago
as
U.S.
and
NATO
forces
pulled
out
of
Afghanistan
after
20
years
of
war.

Pak
Army
chief
Bajwa
holds
talks
with
top
US
commander

Pakistan
values
its
relations
with
the
US
and
earnestly
looks
forward
to
enhance
mutually
beneficial
multi-domain
relations,
Army
chief
General
Qamar
Javed
Bajwa
said
on
Saturday
as
he
held
telephonic
talks
with
top
US
commander
General
Michael
Erik
Kurilla.
During
the
call,
Gen
Bajwa
and
Gen
Kurilla,
Commander
United
States
(US)
CENTCOM
discussed
matters
of
mutual
interests,
regional
stability
as
well
as
defence
and
security
cooperation
in
detail,
according
to
a
statement
by
the
Pakistan
Army.
The
Pakistan
Army
chief
said
that
his
country
was
looking
forward
to
deepening
ties
with
the
US.

Pak
PM
Shehbaz
urges
Imran
Khan
to
sue
Financial
Times
for
its
report
on
his
political
rise

Pakistan
Prime
Minister
Shehbaz
Sharif
has
urged
Imran
Khan
to
file
a
defamation
case
against
the
British
newspaper
Financial
Times
for
publishing
a
damning
report
that
alleges
how
funds
collected
through
charity
cricket
matches
were
used
for
the
rise
of
the
ousted
premier’s
political
party.
The
Financial
Times
on
Thursday
published
the
story
titled
‘The
strange
case
of
the
cricket
match
that
helped
fund
Khan’s
political
rise’.