EIGHT LEFT IN CONTEST TO LEAD CONSERVATIVES, AFTER SAJID JAVID PULLS OUT

Eight candidates are left in the race to lead the Conservative Party - and become the next prime minister - after former health secretary Sajid Javid pulled out of the contest.

To stay in the race, leadership hopefuls had to get support of at least 20 Tory MPs by Tuesday evening.

Minutes before the deadline, Mr Javid withdrew, saying he "looked forward to seeing the debate unfold".

Junior minister Rehman Chishti also pulled out of the contest.

The remaining candidates are Kemi Badenoch, Suella Braverman, Jeremy Hunt, Penny Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat and Nadhim Zahawi.

Trade Minister Ms Mordaunt is expected to launch her campaign on Wednesday morning.

The first round of voting will take place on Wednesday from 13:30 to 15:30 BST and any candidate who gets less than 30 votes from their fellow MPs will have to drop out.

Over the next few days, further votes will take place to whittle the number of candidates down to a final two.

These two will then go to a full ballot of around 160,000 Conservative Party members over the summer. The result is expected on 5 September.

PRESIDENT RAJAPAKSA IN MALDIVES AS RESIGNATION EXPECTED

Gotabaya fled the country right before the Wednesday deadline where the public had been told that he would be resigning.

However those statements were provided by Rajapaksa's allies - the prime minister and the parliament's speaker - and were not given by him directly. He has not spoken publicly since his residence was stormed on Saturday.

The Sri Lanka Air Force has now confirmed that military aircraft was provided for President Rajapaksa, his wife Ioma Rajapaksa, and two security officers to fly to the Maldives, following a request by the existing government.

It remains unclear whether the embattled president will remain in the Maldives or is simply using it as a temporary port of call before flying on to another destination.

This morning, the country is still awaiting an official resignation.

Technically, the president needs to submit a resignation letter to the parliament's speaker to trigger succession in Sri Lanka's politics. This is a period where an interim president will step in for a month to organise an election.

However, the parliament's speaker this morning has said that they haven't yet received a letter from President Rajapaksa.

Meanwhile, India has "categorically denied baseless and speculative media reports" that it facilitated the president's departure.

CHINA LOCKS DOWN CITY OF 300K OVER SINGLE CASE

Thousands of people were under lockdown in a small Chinese city on Tuesday after just one case of Covid was detected. After reporting the new domestic case, Wugang announced on Monday that it would implement three days of “closed control” in response to “needs of disease prevention”, as per an official notice. None of the city’s 320,000 people are allowed to set foot outside their homes until Thursday, it said.

U.K. TROOPS SHOT DOWN UNARMED AFGHANS: REPORT

Commandos in Britain’s elite Special Air Service (SAS) corps killed at least 54 Afghans in suspicious circumstances but the military chain of command concealed concerns, a BBC probe revealed on Tuesday.

Unarmed Afghan men were routinely shot dead “in cold blood” by SAS troops during night-time raids, and weapons were planted on them to justify the crimes, the probe found.

Senior officers, including General Mark Carleton-Smith, who headed U.K. Special Forces at the time, were aware of concerns within the SAS about the operations but failed to report them, it said.

Under U.K. law, it is a criminal offence for a commanding officer to fail to inform the military police if they become aware of potential war crimes, it noted.

The Ministry of Defence said prior probe into the conduct of U.K. forces in Afghanistan found insufficient evidence to bring charges. “No new evidence has been presented, but the service police will consider any allegations should new evidence come to light,” it said in a statement to the BBC.

TWITTER SUES ELON MUSK OVER $44BN TAKEOVER DEAL

Twitter has taken billionaire Elon Musk to court to try to force him to buy the social media firm, setting up a legal battle with the world's richest man.

It comes after Mr Musk announced he was walking away from his proposed $44bn (£37bn) takeover of Twitter on Friday.

He claimed Twitter had not given information about the number of fake and spam accounts on the platform.

Now Twitter has asked a Delaware court to order Mr Musk to complete the merger at the agreed $54.20 per Twitter share.

"Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, [Mr] Musk apparently believes that he - unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law - is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away," said the lawsuit.

The lawsuit went on to accuse Mr Musk of "a long list" of violations of the merger agreement that "have cast a pall over Twitter and its business".

Twitter chairman Bret Taylor tweeted that the microblogging site wanted "to hold Elon Musk accountable to his contractual obligations".

Mr Musk tweeted on Tuesday: "Oh the irony lol [laughing out loud]."

The lawsuit said Mr Musk had backed out of the deal because it "no longer serves his personal interests".

On Friday, Mr Musk said he was pulling out of the deal, claiming a lack of information about spam accounts and inaccurate representations amounted to a "material adverse event".

He also said Twitter sacking executives meant it was not living up to its obligations.

In response, Twitter said it planned to pursue legal action to enforce the agreement, saying it was "committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr Musk".

The original merger agreement includes a $1bn break-up fee.

COMPLY WITH SEA RULING, U.S. TELLS CHINA

U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed a call to China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea. He warned that Washington is obligated to defend treaty ally Philippines if its forces, vessels or aircraft come under attack in the disputed waters.

China did not participate in the arbitration, rejected its ruling as a sham.

PUTIN TO HEAD TO TEHRAN FOR SYRIA TALKS

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, a day after the U.S. warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with drones for its action in Ukraine.

During a trip to Tehran next Tuesday, Mr. Putin will attend a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Iran and Turkey, the so-called Astana format of meetings for Syria-related talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Mr. Putin’s visit to Iran will follow U.S. President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia this week, where Iran’s nuclear programme will be a key focus of discussion.

Mr. Peskov said the Russian President will also have a separate meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In March, Mr. Erdogan helped mediate talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Istanbul, Turkey. Mr. Peskov said there was no discussion about a new round of such negotiations.

U.S. DRONE STRIKE KILLS ISLAMIC STATE SYRIA CHIEF: PENTAGON

A man who U.S. officials called the leader of the Islamic State militant group in Syria was killed on Tuesday in a drone strike, the Pentagon and local organisations said.

Maher al-Agal was killed near Jindires in northern Syria, and one of his top aides was seriously injured in the attack, Pentagon Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn said.

The volunteer Syrian Civil Defence Force said the attack targeted the two while they were on a motorcycle outside Aleppo.

President Joe Biden said the strike “takes a key terrorist off the field and significantly degrades the ability of ISIS to plan, resource, and conduct their operations in the region.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed Agal’s death and said he was the Islamic State governor for the Levant region.

The U.S. Central Command called the victim “one of the top five” leaders of Islamic State overall.

“In addition to being a senior leader within the group, Al-Agal was responsible for aggressively pursuing the development of IS networks outside of Iraq and Syria,” it said in a statement.

According to a spokesman for the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, both the men had links to Ahrar al-Sharqiya, an armed group operating in northern Syria.

JAPAN BIDS FAREWELL TO ABE

Japanese bid their final goodbye to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday as his funeral was held at a temple days after his assassination.

Hundreds of people gathered outside the Zojoji temple in Tokyo to bid farewell to Abe.

HEATWAVE IN CHINA CITIES BUCKLES ROADS, POPS ROOF TILES

Beijing : China’s commercial capital of Shanghai and dozens of other Chinese cities baked in scorching temperatures as unusually hot weather buckled roads, popped roof tiles and drove people to seek the cool in raid shelters underground. By 3pm (local time) on Tuesday, 86 cities had issued red alerts, the highest in a three-tier warning system, warning of temperatures of over 40° Celsius in the next 24 hours. Construction and other outdoor work are to be halted.

Shanghai told its population of 25 million to prepare for hot weather this week after issuing its first red alert in five years on Sunday. Since record-ke- eping began in 1873, Shanghai has had just 15 days of temperatures exceeding 40°C.

In a photo shared on social media, a Covid health worker in a full-body hazmat suit hugged a one-metre tall block of ice by a road. Authorities citing climate change have warned against disasters from mid-July, usually the hottest and wettest time of year.

In a town in iangxi province, asection of a road arched up (6 inches because of the heat, state television showed. Nanjing, one of China’s three “furnaces” notorious for their searing summers, has opened its underground air-raid shelters to residents since Sunday, with its war-time bunkers equipped with WiFi, books and microwave ovens. The city issued a red alert on Tuesday.

In Chongqing, the second “furnace”, the roof of one museum melted, with the tiles of a traditional Chinese roof popping as the heat dissolved the underlying tar. The city called a red alert on Monday.

MONSOON FURY KILLS 150 IN A MONTH IN PAK

Islamabad : Monsoon rains over the past month have killed at least 150 people across Pakistan, with most of the deaths occurring in the southern Sindh and southwestern Balochistan provinces, reports Omer Farooq Khan. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said the deceased include 88 women and children. At least 26 people have died in Sindh so far whereas in Balochistan, 62 people — 23 women, 15 men, and 24 children — have lost their lives in rain-related tragedies, as per the NDMA. Incessant showers have also damaged homes, roads, bridges and power stations across the country.