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Astronomers can for the first time detect the smashing together of dead suns know as neutron stars, thanks to a powerful new telescope, BBC reported.

Collisions of neutron stars are key to our understanding of the Universe. 

They are thought to have created heavy metals that formed stars and planets like our own billions of years ago. 

Light from the crashes is only visible for a couple of nights so the telescope must race to locate them. 

Astronomers observed one of these collisions in 2017, but largely came across it by luck.

The British built Gravitational Wave Optical Transient observer (GOTO), located above the clouds on the volcanic Spanish island of La Palma will now systematically hunt for them. 

"When a really good detection comes along, it's all hands on deck to make the most of it," Prof Danny Steeghs, of Warwick University told me on La Palma. 

"Speed is of the essence. We are looking for something very short-lived - there's not much time before they fade away". 

Neutron stars are so heavy that a small teaspoon of their material weighs four billion tonnes. 

The telescope allows astronomers to effectively crack one open to see what is inside.

So that it can get a clear view of the sky, the telescope is situated on a mountain peak, home to a dozen instruments of all shapes and sizes, each studying different phenomena, according to BBC.

When its twin domes open, they reveal two jet-black batteries of eight cylindrical telescopes bolted together - structures that look more like menacing rocket launchers. Each battery covers every patch of sky above it by rapidly rotating vertically and horizontally 

A neutron star is a dead sun that has collapsed under its immense weight, crushing the atoms that once made it shine. They have such strong gravity that they are drawn to each other. Eventually they crash together and merge. 

When that happens, they create a flash of light and a powerful shockwave ripples across the Universe. It makes everything in the Universe wobble, including, imperceptibly, the atoms inside each one of us. 

The shockwave, called a gravitational wave, distorts space. When it is detected on Earth, the new telescope scrambles into action to find the exact location of the flash.

The operators aim to locate it within hours, or even minutes of the gravitational wave detection. They take photographs of the sky and then digitally remove the stars, planets and galaxies that were there the previous night. Any speck of light that wasn't there before may be the colliding neutron stars. 

This normally takes days and weeks, but now it must be done in real time. It's a big task, done using computer software. 

"You would think that these explosions are very energetic, very luminous, it should be easy," said astrophysics professor Dr Joe Lyman. "But we are having to search through a hundred million stars for the one object that we are interested in, BBC reported.

"We have to do this very rapidly because the object will disappear within two days."

The team work with other astronomers to study the collision in greater detail. 

Once they pinpoint the collision, they turn to larger, more powerful telescopes across the world. These probe the collision in much greater detail, and at different wavelengths. 

This process is "telling us about physics at the extreme," Dr Lyman explains. 

The mountain peak brings the astronomers a little bit closer to the stars. With the telescope they have a new way to peer into the cosmos, says GOTO's instrumentation scientist, Dr Kendall Ackley, according to BBC.

Traditional astronomy was about being lucky, she says. "Now we're not hoping for new discoveries anymore. Instead, we're being told where to find them, and getting to uncover, piece-by-piece what lies out there in the Universe."

Security forces in Sri Lanka have raided the main anti-government protest camp in the capital Colombo and have begun pulling down tents, BBC reported.

Hundreds of troops and police commandos moved on the protesters outside the presidential offices, hours before they were due to leave the area.

A BBC video journalist was beaten by the army and one soldier snatched his phone and deleted videos.

It comes after Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as president.

Sri Lanka's ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country last week.

Mr Wickremesinghe - the former prime minister - is seen as deeply unpopular with the public, and has vowed tough action against demonstrators. But some protesters have said they will give him a chance.

Sri Lanka has seen months of mass unrest over an economic crisis.

Many blame the Rajapaksa administration for mishandling the nation's finances, and see Mr Wickremesinghe as part of the problem. But there were few demonstrations on the streets the day after he won the parliament vote, according to BBC.

Soon after Mr Wickremesinghe was sworn in, he made clear that any attempt to topple the government or occupy government buildings was not democracy and warned that those who indulge in such activities will be dealt with firmly according to the law.

There had been concerns among demonstrators that the government might gradually crack down on the protest movement sooner or later.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has raised interest rates for the first time in more than 11 years as it tries to control soaring eurozone inflation, BBC reported.

The ECB increased its key interest rate by 0.5 percentage points to 0.0% and plans further hikes this year.

The rate has been negative since 2014 in a bid to boost the region's economy after years of weak growth.

But consumer prices rose at a record 8.6% in the 12 months to June as food, fuel and energy costs soared.

That is well above the bank's 2% target.

Inflation is the pace at which prices are rising. For example, if a bottle of milk costs €1 and that rises by 5 cents compared with a year earlier, then milk inflation is 5%.

The Ukraine war and Covid supply chain issues have driven up everyday costs across the eurozone, putting pressure on households.

The bloc is vulnerable because it relies heavily on Russia for its oil and gas. This week it urged member states to begin rationing supplies amid fears Moscow will halt gas deliveries this year, causing further price spikes, according to BBC.

Explaining its decision to raise rates in July, ECB president Christine Lagarde said: "Economic activity [in the eurozone] is slowing. Russia's unjustified aggression towards Ukraine is an ongoing drag on growth.

"We expect inflation to remain undesirably high for some time owing to continued pressure from energy and food prices and pipeline pressures in the pricing chain," she added. 

The bank says further rate hikes "will be appropriate" and that it will take a "meeting-by-meeting" approach to raising rates.

It comes after the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve put up their rates to try and rein in rising prices. 

The idea is that by making it more expensive to borrow, people will spend less, bringing down demand and therefore prices. 

However, there are also concerns that higher rates could push countries into recession - which is defined as two successive quarters of economic decline, BBC reported.

These fears helped push the euro to a 20-year low against the dollar in recent weeks.

The ECB began cutting interest rates after the 2008 financial crisis to stimulate growth, and took them as low as -0.5% during the pandemic.

However, earlier this year it signalled it planned to increase them again, although economists had only expected an increase of 0.25 percentage points in July, according to BBC.

Nepal reported 435 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 1, 667 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 317 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 092 people underwent antigen tests, of which 18 were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. 

As of today, there are 2, 537 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 5. 87 points to close at 2,044.72 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 0. 86 points to close at 391. 64 points.

A total of 3,908,395 units of the shares of 225 companies were traded for Rs 1. 64 billion.

Meanwhile, Central Finance Co. Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 3. 16 percent. Likewise, ICFC Finance Limited Debenture was the top loser with its price dropped by 6. 71 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalisation stood at Rs 2. 91 trillion.

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota directed the government to inform about the State Partnership Program (SPP).

Saying that his attention had been drawn, Sapkota, during a meeting of the House of Representatives on Thursday, directed the government to inform about the status of the SPP.

“My attention has been drawn towards the SPP agreement raised by honorable lawmakers. In this regard, I direct the Government of Nepal to inform about the decision of the Government of Nepal and its implementation,” he said.

The government is yet to write to the US saying that Nepal would not participate in the US’s State Partnership Program.

The House of Representatives extended the deadline of the probe committee formed to investigate charges against former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma by seven days.

Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota tabled a proposal to extend the deadline by seven days as per the demand of the committee in the Parliament on Thursday. The proposal was endorsed by the Parliament.

The 10-day deadline ends today.

The House of Representatives formed the committee on July 6 to investigate the issue that Sharma invited two unauthorized persons to tweak the tax rates a day before he presented the budget in the Parliament.

The committee, which was given 10 days’ time to carry out an investigation and submit the report, started its work on July 12.

The committee questioned Sharma on Thursday.

Sharma said that he answered all the questions asked by the committee. The committee will make the final decision, he said.

The committee has already grilled 10 officials of the Finance Ministry involved in formulating the budget.

The parliamentary special committee formed to investigate the issue about allowing the unauthorized persons to enter the Finance Ministry while making the budget, recorded the statement of former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma on Thursday.

The parliamentary special probe committee questioned former minister Sharma at its office this morning.

Talking to journalists after recording the statement, Sharma said the he answered all the questions asked by the committee.

Likewise, probe committee secretary Surendra Aryal said that Sharma repeated the same thing he had said in the Parliament earlier.

Sharma said that no one had entered the Ministry without the permission of the authorized persons.

Aryal said that the committee has not been able to get the CCTV footage of the two unauthorized persons entering the Ministry on the eve of the budget presentation.

He further said that the hard disk of the CCTV has been sent to the forensic lab of the Nepal Police to retrieve the missing CCTV footage.

Aryal was of the opinion that they will move ahead on the basis of the report of Nepal Police.

Former Minister Sharma is accused of inviting two outsiders in this chamber to tweak tax rates a day before he presented the budget in the Parliament.

The committee has already questioned 10 officials of the ministry involved in making the budget.

The deadline of the committee is expiring today. The committee has urged Speaker Agni Sapkota to extend the time.