SRI LANKA TO PROBE INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS’ ROLE IN EASTER BOMBINGS

Colombo: Sri Lanka plans to establish a parliamentary committee to investigate allegations from a British TV report of intelligence officials' complicity in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 269 people. The attacks targeted churches and hotels during Easter celebrations. The committee aims to encourage witnesses, including those abroad, to testify.

The report featured Azad Maulana, who claimed to facilitate a meeting between an Islamic State-inspired group and a senior intelligence official to create instability in Sri Lanka and influence the presidential election. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa called for an international inquiry.

The bombings aided Gotabaya Rajapaksa's rise to power, but he resigned in 2022 amid economic protests. Maulana alleged the intelligence officer's strategy was to return the Rajapaksa family to power. Pro-Rajapaksa lawmaker Mahindananda Aluthgamage rejected the accusations, citing Gotabaya's already strong public support.

The situation warrants further investigation and scrutiny.

RUSSIAN MISSILE ATTACK IN UKRAINE AMID BLINKEN'S VISIT: 17 DEAD

Kyiv: During his visit to Kyiv, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged Ukraine's significant progress in its counteroffensive against Russia's invasion. However, this visit was overshadowed by a Russian attack in the east that claimed the lives of at least 17 people. President Volodymyr Zelensky strongly condemned this attack, which struck a crowded market in Kostiantynivka, near the battlefield, resulting in casualties, including a child, and injuries to at least 32 individuals. Zelensky emphasized the urgent need to defeat what he described as "Russian evil" and characterized the attack as a deliberate strike on a "peaceful city." Aides shared video footage capturing the moment of explosion, with people seeking shelter or falling to the ground. Russia has not immediately responded to the attack and has denied intentionally targeting civilians.

RUSSIAN DRONE DEBRIS LIKELY FELL IN ROMANIA, NATO RAISES CONCERN

Pieces that appear to be from a drone used in Russia's recent attacks on Ukraine's Danube River port have been located on Romanian territory, according to Romania's defense minister. Romania, a NATO member since 2004, made this discovery in the eastern Tulcea county, along the Danube River, which serves as a natural border with Ukraine. The defense ministry will conduct technical analysis to ascertain the origin and characteristics of the debris. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis emphasized that if the parts are confirmed to be from a Russian drone, it would constitute "a serious violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania, a NATO ally." NATO has expressed "strong solidarity" with Romania and is closely monitoring the situation.

COURT DECRIMINALISES ABORTION ACROSS MEXICO

Mexico's supreme court has nationwide decriminalized abortion, following a previous ruling favoring a challenge to Coahuila state's abortion law two years ago. The court had deemed criminal penalties for abortion unconstitutional, but progress in repealing penal codes had been slow at both state and federal levels. This new ruling legalizes abortion in all 32 states, emphasizing that denying the option of termination violates women's human rights.

The decision also allows the federal healthcare system to offer abortion services, marking a significant victory for women's rights groups. Although Mexico City decriminalized abortion in 2007, many women remain unaware of this right due to insufficient awareness campaigns by local governments.

While this ruling is celebrated by women's rights advocates, it is expected to face opposition from Mexico's more conservative politicians and the Catholic Church, given the country's strong Catholic influence.

PAKISTAN SHUTS KEY BORDER CROSSING WITH AFGHANISTAN AFTER GUARDS EXCHANGE FIRE

Pakistani authorities closed a key border crossing with landlocked Afghanistan on Wednesday shortly after border guards from the two sides exchanged fire.

Reasons why the two sides exchanged fire were not clear, said Nasrullah Khan, an official in Torkham, a town in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistani authorities said trucks carrying perishable items, including vegetables and fruits, were waiting on both sides of the border for the reopening of the Torkham crossing, which is a vital trade route to Central Asian countries for Pakistan.

Meanwhile, at least four Pakistani soldiers were killed and seven others were injured on Wednesday when the Taliban militants attacked two border check-posts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province’s Chitral district, the Army said.

AVOID A ‘NEW COLD WAR’, CHINA TELLS NATIONS AT ASEAN MEET

China’s Premier said on Wednesday that major powers must keep their differences under control and avoid “a new Cold War”, in a thinly veiled reference to Washington, as top Asian and U.S. officials gathered for talks in Indonesia.

Beijing has expressed concern about U.S.-backed blocs forming on its doorstep, while facing disputes with other powers in the region over the South China Sea and other issues.

“Disagreements and disputes may arise between countries due to misperceptions, diverging interests or external interferences,” Li Qiang said at the start of an ASEAN-plus-three meeting with Japan and South Korea in Jakarta.

“To keep differences under control, what is essential now is to oppose picking sides, to oppose bloc confrontation and to oppose a new Cold War.”

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) is holding separate summits with China, Japan, South Korea, the U.S. and Canada on Wednesday, providing an arena for big powers to lobby the bloc and their rivalries to play out.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is attending in place of President Joe Biden, while Mr. Li was taking part instead of President Xi Jinping.

The Chinese premier’s comments came after Beijing’s Defence Minister Li Shangfu in June warned against establishing NATO-like alliances in the Asia-Pacific region, calling for “inclusive cooperation” instead of “small cliques” at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

JUDGE RULES TRUMP DEFAMED WRITER WHO WON ABUSE SUIT

New York : Four months after a jury found that Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed advice columnist E Jean Carroll, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday that still more of the ex-president’s comments about her were libelous. The decision means that an upcoming second civil trial will concern only how much more he has to pay her. The ruling stands to streamline significantly the second trial, set for January. It concerns remarks that Trump made in 2019, after Carroll claimed that Trump sexually attacked her in a luxury departme nt store dressing room in the 1990s. The first trial concerned the assault claim and whether more recent Trump comments were defamatory. Jurors awarded Carroll $5 million, finding that she was sexually abused but rejecting her allegation that she was raped.

Trump lawyer said Wednesday that his legal team is confident that the jury verdict will be overturned, mooting the judge’s new decision. Trump, the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, also is seeking to put the second trial on hold.

A LAWSUIT SEEKS TO KEEP EX-PREZ OFF BALLOTS

Six Colorado voters filed a lawsuit on Wednesday seeking to keep former President Trump off the state’s presidential ballots next year under the 14th Amendment, which says anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution after taking an oath to defend it is ineligible to hold office. The lawsuit, which was filed in a state district court in Denver with the help of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, demands that the Colorado secretary of state not print Trump’s name on the Republican primary ballot. It also asks the court to rule that Trump is disqualified from holding office in order to end any “uncertainty” about his eligibility. The theory that the 14th Amendment could disqualify Trump has been gaining traction among liberals and anti-Trump conservatives since two prominent conservative law professors published an article last month. But it remains a legal long shot. Trump’s campaign would surely appeal any ruling that he was ineligible, and a final decision could rest with the Supreme Court, which has a conservative supermajority that includes three justices appointed by Trump himself.

CHINA BANS GOVT OFFICIALS FROM USING IPHONES FOR WORK, SAYS REPORT

China has ordered officials at central government agencies to not use Apple’s iPhones and other foreign branded devices for work or bring them into the office, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The orders were given by superiors to their staff in recent weeks, the WSJ said. The ban comes ahead of an Apple event next week that analysts believe will be about launching a new line of iPhones, and could trigger concern among foreign companies operating in China as Sino-US tensions escalate. The WSJ report did not name other phone makers besides Apple.

The latest restriction by China mirrors similar bans taken in the US against Chinese smartphone maker Huawei and TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance.

EU’S DIGITAL MARKETS ACT CRACKS DOWN ON TECH COMPANIES WITH A SET OF GUIDELINES

The European Union is targeting Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook owner Meta and TikTok parent ByteDance under new digital rules aimed at reining in the market power of online companies.

‘Online gatekeepers’

The six companies were classified as online “gatekeepers” that must face the highest level of scrutiny under the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Markets Act.

The act amounts to a list of do’s and don’ts that seeks to prevent tech giants from cornering digital markets.

It’s part of a sweeping update to the EU’s digital rulebook that’s starting to take force this year.

The companies now have six months to start complying with the Digital Markets Act’s requirements, which are spurring changes in how Big Tech companies operate.

BIRMINGHAM DECLARES ITSELF BANKRUPT

London : The local authorities running Britain’s second largest city, Birmingham, have shifted focus on maintaining vital services as they declared the council effectively bankrupt due to an annual budgetary shortfall of millions of pounds. Birmingham city council, which is the largest local authority in Europe, issued a Section 114 notice on Tuesday to say all new expenditures with the exception of protecting vulnerable people and statutory services will stop immediately. The council said the dire situation arose as it must fund an “equal pay liability” that has accrued to date in the region of £650 million to £760 million, but it does not have the resources to do so. Birmingham Council has paid out almost GBP 1.1 billion in equal pay claims since acase was brought against the authority in 2012.