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US shoots down airship over Atlantic
BBC reported that the United States has shot down a giant Chinese balloon that it says has been spying on key military sites across America.
The Department of Defense confirmed its fighter jets brought down the balloon over US territorial waters.
Three airports were shut and airspace was closed off the coast of North and South Carolina as the military carried out the operation on Saturday.
Footage on US TV networks showed the balloon falling to the sea after a small explosion.
An F-22 jet fighter engaged the high-altitude balloon with one missile – an AIM-9X – and it went down about six nautical miles off the US coast at 14:39 EST (19:39 GMT), a defence official told reporters.
US President Joe Biden had been under pressure to shoot the balloon down since it first appeared in US airspace last week.
The discovery set off a diplomatic crisis, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling off an imminent trip to China over the “irresponsible act”.
The Chinese authorities have denied it is a spying aircraft, and instead said it was a weather ship blown astray.
Veteran actor Amarasiri Kalansuriya has passed away at the age of 82.
BBC reported that former US President Donald Trump will be charged over hush money payments made to a porn star just before the 2016 presidential election.
The details of the case against him have not yet been released. A grand jury has voted to indict him after investigating a $130,000 pay-out to Stormy Daniels in an attempt to buy her silence over an alleged affair.
Trump, 76, denies wrongdoing. He is the first serving or former US president to face a criminal charge.
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has been pursuing the investigation, confirmed that it had contacted Trump’s attorney to “co-ordinate his surrender” on unspecified charges.
The ex-president lives in Florida and is expected to travel to New York City for his formal arrest and first hearing in court. Trump is expected to fly to New York on Monday and be arraigned in court on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. The charges in the indictment will be read to him at the hearing, which is set to last about 10-15 minutes.
The United States Secret Service – which is tasked with protecting serving and former US presidents – will be in charge of security for the court appearance.
President Ranil Wickremasinghe while tabling the IMF agreement in Parliament today (22) in his capacity as the Minister of Finance said that he would introduce Wealth Tax, Gift Tax and Estate Tax in lieu of the existing Property tax.
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