Indian Sub-continent

Kanpur: Not only one but everyone was surprised to see them cycling towards the school. Their friend asked, "How amazing it looked that all of you were reaching school by bicycle. How has it become operational now?" In the morning they proceed to their school from the same places. Puffed-up bag on the sturdy back the three students paddle fast and reach the school within a very short time.

They appear like the true story of the 'three Musketeers' who were based on four high-ranking French soldiers of Louis XIII's elite Black Musketeer regiment.

COLOMBO, July 24 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's new President Ranil Wickremesinghe told diplomats this week that non-violent protests against his government will be allowed to continue, including in the commercial capital Colombo, his office said in a statement on Sunday.

In a pre-dawn raid on Friday, hundreds of security personnel dismantled part of an anti-government protest camp outside the presidential secretariat, raising fears of a wider crackdown by Wickremesinghe who was sworn in a day earlier. 

COLOMBO, July 24 (Reuters) - A rights group documenting alleged abuses in Sri Lanka has filed a criminal complaint with Singapore's attorney general, seeking the arrest of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for his role in the South Asian nation's decades-long civil war.

The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) said Rajapaksa committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the civil war in 2009 when he was country's defence chief, according to a copy of the complaint seen by Reuters.

KATHMANDU, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The Nepali government on Sunday announced a number of measures to revive the tourism industry battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, including a plan to declare the years between 2023 and 2033 as Visit Nepal Decade.

Unveiling the Tourism Rehabilitation Action Plan, Jeevan Ram Shrestha, Nepal's minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation, said the government is breaking the tradition of announcing a single year as Visit Nepal Year so as to run a sustained campaign to promote tourism, a major foreign exchange earner and job creator for the country.

ISLAMABAD, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The Border and Health Services Pakistan has been strictly monitoring the entry routes to the country after the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the monkeypox outbreak an international public health emergency, the Pakistani Health Ministry said.

Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Abdul Qadir Patel instructed the relevant federal and provincial authorities to take necessary steps to barricade the outbreak of the disease in the country, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

ISLAMABAD, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Hamza Shahbaz from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday won the election in the provincial assembly to retain his position as the chief minister of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, the deputy speaker of the assembly announced.

Shahbaz, son of Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, secured 179 votes against 176 votes received by Pervaiz Elahi, a joint candidate of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of former prime minister Imran Khan and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), said deputy speaker Dost Mazari.

NEW DELHI, July 22 (NNN-Bernama) — India’s central bank is using its vast foreign exchange reserves accumulated over the years to prop up the rupee.

The Indian currency has hit record lows against the US dollar in recent days, prompting the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to supply extra dollars.

RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said on Friday the rupee’s movements have been relatively smooth and orderly due to the central bank’s actions, including measures to encourage inflows.

TALUQAN, Afghanistan, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Heavy rains and flash floods have rendered huge property damages in Afghanistan's Panjshir and Takhar provinces, officials said Friday.

Mohammad Akram, an official with the Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs of Panjshir province, said heavy rain and flash flood swept out several gardens, farmlands and bridges in Nawabad and Abrina villages of Abshar district on Thursday night.

COLOMBO, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Dinesh Gunawardena was sworn in as the prime minister of Sri Lanka by President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday.

Gunawardena, parliamentarian of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party, took his oath in the capital Colombo in the presence of other senior legislators.

Wickremesinghe was elected as the new president of the South Asian country in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday, and was sworn in as Sri Lankan president on Thursday.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Six-times Sri Lanka’s prime minister, President Ranil Wickremesinghe had long aspired to the pinnacle of power, enduring setback after setback but always managing to recover from seemingly impossible defeats.