Petition challenging LG Election postponed to 23rd February

Two Americans whose abduction in Mexico was captured in a video that showed them caught in a cartel shootout have been found dead, officials said Tuesday. Two others who were kidnapped with them were found alive, with one wounded.

block JetBlue Airways' $3.8 billion purchase of Spirit Airlines, saying Tuesday that the deal would reduce competition and drive up air fares for consumers.The Justice Department said the tie-up would especially hurt cost-conscious travelers who depend on Spirit to find cheaper options than they can find on JetBlue and other airlines.Attorney General Merrick Garland held a news conference to announce the antitrust lawsuit — a sign of the importance that the administration places on stopping further consolidation in the airline industry."If allowed to proceed, this merger will limit choices and drive up ticket prices for passengers across the country" and "eliminate Spirit's unique and disruptive role in the industry," he said.The Justice Department lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Boston, stressed that the deal would mean the end of the nation's biggest "ultra-low-cost carrier." Those are airlines that generally provide the cheapest fares but also tend to charge more fees.The Justice Department lawyers said Spirit's demise would eliminate about half of all ultra-low-cost seats in the market.New York, Massachusetts and the District of Columbia joined the lawsuit. JetBlue and Spirit vowed to continue fighting to salvage their agreement.JetBlue and Spirit have anticipated a legal challenge for weeks.

Channel 4 show Mucky Mansion. Katie turns her attention to her outside space tonight and sprucing up her garden, but a trip to a garden centre turns into a nightmare when she spots a photographer. As she picks up some compost, she notices the photographer and warns him she will call the police because he's "stalking" her.

TEMPE, Ariz. - New details surrounding the arrest of a man for allegedly committing a sexual act at the Tempe Town Lake area on Mar. 5 have been released.According to court documents, 30-year-old Jonathen Baxter is accused of public sexual indecency in connection with the incident, which happened during the afternoon hours of Mar.

HOUSTON - Two podcasters were filming their latest episode at a Houston coffee shop Saturday when a car crashed into the window right behind them. The incident was all caught on camera and fortunately, both men walked away with minor scratches.MORE UNUSUAL STORIESThe freak accident happened around 4:30 p.m.

FILE - In this photo illustration lie two asthma inhalers in a handbag on Feb. 3, 2021 in Bonn, Germany.

In Niger, a COVID-19 vaccination team heads out into the countryside to reach people outside their clinic. ©WHO

Colombo (News 1st) – State Minister of Technology Kanaka Herath stated that Sri Lanka is in need of an Online Safety Act to regulate social media.He made these comments during an adjournment motion presented by the ruling faction highlighting the importance of regulating social media and formulating relevant laws in Parliament on Tueday (07)."SLCERT is empowered to regulate this. They will initiate a program in this regard.

Pennsylvania who went missing more than 30 years ago and was legally declared dead has turned up, very much alive, in a nursing home in Puerto Rico.Patricia Kopta, 83, was last seen by her family in Pittsburgh in 1992, according to a missing person flyer posted by the Pennsylvania Emergency Response Center. At the time, she was a well-known street preacher known as “The Sparrow” because of her slight build.Her husband Bob Kopta reported her missing in 1992, noting it wasn’t uncommon for his wife to leave for short periods of time.

Colombo (News 1st) – The International Monetary Fund announced on Tuesday (07) that Sri Lanka has received financial assurances from all its major bilateral creditors. This paves the way for the IMF Board to consider the approval of the Staff Level Agreement for financing under the Extended Fund Facility on March 20.Earlier in the day, China gave assurances that it will support Sri Lanka's debt restructuring, clearing the biggest hurdle for the nation to secure a USD 2.9 billion bailout from the IMF. The IMF approval for a USD 2.9 billion loan depended on financial assurance from all Sri Lankan creditors.

PHILADELPHIA - The Temple Association of University Professionals (TAUP) has scheduled a meeting to consider a no-confidence vote against university President Jason Wingard and other key administrators. According to the TAUP, the meeting will be held on March 17. All members of the collective bargaining unit will be able to vote on whether or not to authorize a no-confidence vote in the school's central administration. The request for a no-confidence vote comes as graduate students strike over pay, violent crime in the area continues to rise, and following the line-of-duty death of Temple University Police Sgt.

FILE - Rachael Ray speaks onstage at the 46th annual Daytime Emmy Awards at Pasadena Civic Center on May 05, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)After 17 years of cooking delicious food and interviewing celebrities to entertain the masses, Rachael Ray is saying goodbye to her talk show, "Rachael Ray." "In my more than 20 plus years in television I have had 17 wonderful seasons working in daytime television with Rachael.

LOS ANGELES - Phone scams can come in many different forms. The most common type of scams include one-ring scams, traffic-pumping scams, and package delivery scams. Phone scams are the most common. According to the Federal Communications Commission, around 60 million Americans reported a phone scam in 2021. Officials are reminding you to never return a phone call from a number you don't recognize unless you've done the research first and identified it as a legitimate one. In the U.S., one-ring scams are gaining traction.

File: Chinnapong / iStock / Getty Images Plus) First came "quiet quitting;" now comes "bare minimum Monday" – the latest workplace trend receiving more and more support from the U.S. labor force."Bare minimum Mondays, I can go with that.

A full moon sets behind Rocca Calascio castle and village (LAquila), Italy, on March 7, 2023. (Photo by Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images) The time has come for March’s full moon to light up the night’s sky, and if conditions are clear, it could be visible for several nights.The full worm moon is slated to peak in illumination on Tuesday morning, at 7:40 A.M.

File: President Donald Trump waves while standing with Hope Hicks, outgoing White House communications director, right, outside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, March 29, 2018. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Ge NEW YORK - Donald Trump’s former spokesperson Hope Hicks met Monday with Manhattan prosecutors who are investigating hush-money payments made to women on the ex-president’s behalf — the latest member of the Republican's inner circle to be questioned in the renewed probe.Hicks and her lawyer, Robert Trout, spent several hours inside the Manhattan district attorney’s office and, afterward, were seen walking to a waiting SUV.

FILE IMAGE - Michelle Obama on Nov. 14, 2022.

Here's a deeper look into it.  Size and structure of the virus: It is the structure of the virus that causes all the difference. “All coronaviruses are just about the same size. It is certainly the structure, but a virus has several adaptations that make it more likely to be passed from one person to another," said Dr Keith Roach, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Weill-Cornell; syndicated columnist To Your Good Health, as quoted by Sun Journal.  Viruses that can reproduce faster and produce a high number of viral particles are more likely to be transmitted from one person to another.

children’s aid society in 2012, she went on a listening tour about the child-welfare system that left her feeling appalled.At roundtables, kids described brutal conditions. Being stigmatized.

COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka has now received financing assurances from all major bilateral creditors, said Krishna Srinivasan, Director of Asia and Pacific Department of IMF on Tuesday (7).This paves the way for consideration by the IMF’s Board on March 20th the approval of the Staff Level Agreement reached on September 1st, 2022 for financing under an Extended Fund Facility. Approval by the Board would also catalyze financing from other creditors, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, he said in a statement.The arrangement will support the authorities’ program of ambitious reforms, that they have already embarked upon, which will help Sri Lanka emerge from its current crisis and set it on a trajectory of strong and inclusive growth, said Krishna Srinivasan, Director of Asia and Pacific Department of IMF.

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia police are asking for the public's help to find a group of suspects they say brutally attacked one woman just blocks from City Hall last month.Shocking video captured the moment a 33-year-old woman was beaten to the ground at 15th and Chestnut streets on February 23.Police say the group continued to punch and stomp on the victim until she became unconscious, then left her injured on the sidewalk.MORE HEADLINES:The woman was treated for injuries to her head, face and body at a local hospital.Eight suspects were caught on surveillance footage in connection to the attack, and police are asking anyone with information to contact them.

CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico - Four Americans who traveled to Mexico last week to seek health care got caught in a deadly shootout and were kidnapped by heavily armed men who threw them in the back of a pickup truck, officials from both countries said Monday.The four were traveling Friday in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates. They came under fire shortly after entering the city of Matamoros from Brownsville, at the southernmost tip of Texas near the Gulf coast, the FBI said in a statement Sunday."All four Americans were placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men," the FBI said.

TOKYO - Japan’s space agency intentionally destroyed a new H3 rocket minutes after its launch Tuesday because the ignition failed for the second stage of the country's first new rocket series in more than two decades.Coming three weeks after an aborted launch due to a separate glitch, the H3's failure was a setback for Japan’s space program — and possibly for its missile detection program — and a disappointment for space fans who were rooting for Tuesday's retrial.The H3 rocket with a white head blasted off and soared into the blue sky from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as fans and local residents cheered. It followed its planned trajectory and the second stage separated as designed, but the ignition for it failed, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.JAXA officials apologized for the failure, and said it sent a command to destroy the rocket about 14 minutes after liftoff as there was no hope for it to complete its mission.Japan's next-generation H3 rocket failed after liftoff on March 7, 2023, with the space agency issuing a destruct command after concluding the mission could not succeed.

FILE - Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during an interview by David Rubenstein, Chairman of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., at the Renaissance Hotel on Feb. 7, 2023 in Washington, D.C.

FILE - North Koraen Leader Kim Jong Un (L) and sister Kim Yo Jong attend the Inter-Korean Summit at the Peace House on April 27, 2018 in Panmunjom, South Korea. (Photo by Korea Summit Press Pool/Getty Images) SEOUL, South Korea - The influential sister of North Korea’s leader warned Tuesday that her country is ready to take "quick, overwhelming action" against the United States and South Korea, a day after the U.S.

Ensitrelvir can shorten symptoms of mild to moderate COVID-19 by about a day Ensitrelvir, a new antiviral drug, has been shown to shorten symptoms of mild to moderate COVID-19 and moreover, it has the potential to prevent long COVID, study has shown. Here's all you need to know about the drug, can it really prevent long COVID and why the experts are still skeptical about it.  Ensitrelvir has been developed by Shionogi in Osaka, Japan and they claim that it shorten symptoms of mild to moderate COVID-19 by about a day and reduce the number of days people test positive for coronavirus.  The trial data was presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.  The trial involved roughly 1,200 people and aimed to determine whether the drug could accelerate recovery.

China’s foreign minister blamed the U.S. for rising tensions between Washington and Beijing and said if the U.S. does not change its path no amount of guardrails can prevent derailment and there will “surely be conflict and confrontation.”The U.S.

Kerry Katona has revealed that her eight-year-old daughter, DJ, collapsed in the “most terrifying” incident during a family holiday. Mum-of-five Kerry, 42, had taken her family to Turkey but during the trip, her youngest child became unwell. Opening up about the ordeal, Kerry explained that she first became aware that her daughter was ill when she was brushing her hair.

The government aims to provide low cost and good-quality medicines to everyone through Jan Aushadhi Kendras New Delhi: Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched the NaMo Free Dialysis Centre and 100th Janaushadhi Kendra in Bengaluru South on Tuesday. The minister also inaugurated NaMo Day Care Centre and flagged off four NaMo mobile healthcare units.

Kerry Katona has told of the "most terrifying moment" a family trip abroad took a downward turn as her eight-year-old daughter was rushed to hospital after collapsing on the floor in Turkey.

Colombo (News 1st) – Issuing a release on Tuesday (7) Commissioner General of elections Saman Sri Ratnayake says District Returning Officers have been notified that the new date for the impending Local Government Elections will be the 25th of April.The release further notes although the intial date for the Local Government Elections was set for the 9th of March 2023, unexpected and unavoidable circumstances including the inability to print ballots led to the postponement of the original date, hence the National Election Commission has deemed it more suitable for the election to be held on the 25th of April and District Returning Officers have been informed accordingly.

ALSO READ: H3N2 also spreads like Covid, says ex-AIIMS chief Randeep Guleria As per researchers, capturing coronavirus in this ways would prevent it from reaching and infecting more people, who added the coronavirus could be detected and destroyed using electrical pulses. "We discovered that electric current can pass through the spike protein and because of this, the protein can be electrically detected," co-author of study Essam Dief, a PHD candidate at Curtin University, said.

Covid cases when after a gap of 97 days, The nation started recording more than 300 cases in a day.  Further it should be noted that India have been reporting a high number of influenza cases in the last two months with prolonged illness, lingering cough, symptoms that are similar to Covid-19. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that this is due to the Influenza A subtype H3N2 virus.

POINT PLEASANT NEW JERSEY - FEBRUARY 19: Environmentalists gather during a 'Save the Whales' rally calling for a halt to offshore wind energy development along the Jersey Shore on February 19, 2023 in Point Pleasant New Jersey. The rally, hosted by t ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - New Jersey utility regulators are seeking additional offshore wind farm projects to generate electricity, even as opponents of wind power want to pause or halt the projects.The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities approved a third solicitation of offshore wind projects Monday; three wind farms have already been approved for the waters off southern New Jersey."Today marks a pivotal next step toward accomplishment of our offshore wind development goals," said Gov.

HAYWARD, Calif. - A Hayward couple says they were left stranded in the ocean while snorkeling on their honeymoon. It happened in Maui about 18 months ago, and now they’ve filed a $5 million lawsuit against the tour boat company.  The attorney says it was a pretty scary situation for the newlyweds who realized that they’d been left behind.

Hundreds of police officers have been signed off work with long Covid since the start of the pandemic, new date has revealed.

The Medical and Family Welfare Minister of Tamil Nadu, Ma Subramanian, announced on Tuesday that the state's health department will conduct more than 1,000 fever camps on March 10. This decision was made due to a reported increase in fever cases among the public in the state. Subramanian added, "Tamil Nadu Health Department to conduct a mega fever camp where 1000 camps all over the state to be conducted on 10th March from 9 AM.

Though The Tragically Hip knows how important it is for some people to play My Music At Work, they don’t seem to want Pierre Poilievre to use their tunes for his.

The United States’ list of recently sanctioned entities for alleged support for Russia’s war effort in Ukraine includes two Canadian companies, U.S. and Canadian authorities said on Monday.

If comedian Chris Rock wants people to know one thing about “the slap heard around the world,” it’s that he can take a blow just like Manny Pacquiao.

influenza. We need to wear a mask if we're going to crowded places.

₹ 10,000-1,50,000, depending on the surgical case. Glamyo Health offers financial assistance for all minimally invasive elective surgeries, of various categories such as proctology, laparoscopy, urology, vascular, ophthalmology, gynaecology, cosmetic, ENT, orthopaedic, and dental.

File: Malcolm Smith of the Cleveland Browns reacts after finishing a drill during a joint practice with the New York Giants on August 19, 2021 in Berea, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images) INDIANAPOLIS - The Minnesota Vikings treat their players best, according to a new NFL Players Association survey.The Washington Commanders have a long way to go.The report, released Wednesday during the league's annual scouting combine, rated teams in eight categories — everything from meals and nutrition to training and travel — based on anonymous responses from about 1,300 players.

COLOMBO (News1st) – China has given assurances that it will support Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring, clearing the biggest hurdle for the South Asian nation to secure a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.According to Bloomberg Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral creditor gave written support for the debt restructuring via the Export-Import Bank of China on March 6. Bloomeberg quoted people familiar with the situation as saying the letter meets the requirements of the IMF.China’s backing completes the support Sri Lanka needs from creditor nations to allow the IMF board to approve the loan that was agreed upon by the Fund staff in September. 

Colombo (News 1st) – The Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena informed the Parliament that he has received MP Mayantha Dissanayake's letter of resignation from the post of Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance (COPF).He made the announcement when Parliament convened on Tuesday (7).

Colombo (News 1st) – State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasooriya says that "Sri Lanka actively participated and contributed to the process," of agreeing upon the historic High Seas Treaty.After more than 20 years of negotiations, over 100 member states of the United Nations on Saturday (4th) finally agreed upon the text of the historic High Seas Treaty, the world's first international treaty aimed at protecting the millions of species that inhabit the world's oceans.The High Seas Treaty places 30% of the seas into protected areas by 2030, aiming to safeguard and recuperate marine nature.The agreement was reached on Saturday evening, after 38 hours of talks, at UN headquarters in New York.The negotiations had been held up for years over disagreements on funding and fishing rights.The last international agreement on ocean protection was signed 40 years ago in 1982 – the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.When News 1st reached out to State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasooriya in this regard, he said that "Sri Lanka actively participated and contributed to the process."He added, "An agreement was reached following more than a decade of discussions on the 4th of March 2023 by UN member states to have an internationally legally binding instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity beyond areas of natural jurisdiction under the united nations law of the sea."  That agreement established an area called the high seas – international waters where all countries have a right to fish, ship and do research – but only 1.2% of these waters are protected.Marine life living outside of these protected areas has been at risk from climate change, overfishing, and shipping traffic.

COLOMBO (News 1st); A writ application filed by Retired Sri Lanka Army Colonel W. M.

COLOMBO (News 1st); The petition filed with the Supreme Court against the circular issued by Neel Bandara Hapuhinne, the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government to suspend the acceptance of bonds for the Local Government Election, will be taken up for consideration on the 23rd of February.The matter was called up in the presence of Supreme Court Justices Priyantha Jayawardena, Murdhu Fernando, and Achala Wengappuli on Thursday (16).President's Counsel Upul Jayasuriya appearing for the petitioner requested the court to consider the petition at an earlier date noting that the circular was issued in an attempt to obstruct the People's Franchise.Additional Solicitor General Nerin Pulle appearing for the Attorney General informed the court that the letter was issued on the directive of the Cabinet Secretary, and it was recalled several hours later by the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government.He also noted that an apology was also made to the National Election Commission.The application was filed by Colombo Mayoral Candidate for the Samagi Jana Balavegaya, Mujibur Rahuman.