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Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldoand his partner, Georgina Rodriguez, announced on social media Monday their baby son has died, CNN reported.

Ronaldo and Rodriguez said, "It is with our deepest sadness we have to announce that our baby boy has passed away. It is the greatest pain that any parents can feel."

The Manchester United and Portugal star had announced in October he and Rodriguez were expecting twins. In December, they announced they were expecting a boy and a girl.

Ronaldo and Rodriguez wrote Monday on social media, "Only the birth of our baby girl gives us the strength to live this moment with some hope and happiness. We would like to thank the doctors and nurses for all their expert care and support. We are all devastated at this loss and we kindly ask for privacy at this very difficult time, according to CNN.

"Our baby boy, you are our angel. We will always love you."

Manchester United tweeted their support for the grieving football player: "Your pain is our pain, @Cristiano Sending love and strength to you and the family at this time."

A tweet from the English Premier League reads: "The thoughts and condolences of everyone at the Premier League are with you and your family, Cristiano."

Ronaldo's first child with Rodriguez, Alana Martina, was born in November 2017. He is also father to fraternal twins Eva and Mateo, whom he welcomed via a surrogate in June 2017. The doting dad also shares his son, Cristiano Jr., 11, with a former partner who has never been publicly named, CNN reported.

Sri Lanka's president acknowledged Monday that he made mistakes that led to the country's worst economic crisis in decades and pledged to correct them, India today reported.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the admission while speaking to 17 new Cabinet ministers he appointed Monday as he and his powerful family seek to resolve a political crisis resulting from the country's dire economic state.

Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy, with nearly USD 7 billion of its total USD 25 billion in foreign debt due for repayment this year. A severe shortage of foreign exchange means the country lacks money to buy imported goods.

People have endured months of shortages of essentials like food, cooking gas, fuel and medicine, lining up for hours to buy the very limited stocks available.

“During the last two and a half years we have had vast challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the debt burden, and some mistakes on our part,” Rajapaksa said, according to India today.

“They need to be rectified. We have to correct them and move forward. We need to regain the trust of the people.”

He said the government should have approached the International Monetary Fund early on for help in facing the impending debt crisis and should not have banned chemical fertilizer in an attempt to make Sri Lankan agriculture fully organic. Critics say the ban on imported fertilizer was aimed at conserving the country's declining foreign exchange holdings and badly hurt farmers.

The government is also blamed for taking out large loans for infrastructure projects which have not brought in any money.

“Today, people are under immense pressure due to this economic crisis. I deeply regret this situation," Rajapaksa said, adding that the pain, discomfort and anger displayed by people forced to wait in long lines to get essential items at high prices is justified.

The Cabinet appointments follow weeks of protests over shortages of fuel and food and demands that Rajapaksa, his politically powerful family and his government resign.

Much public anger has been directed at Rajapaksa and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. They head an influential clan that has held power for most of the past two decades, India today reported.

Thousands of protesters occupied the entrance to the president's office for a 10th day on Monday.

The president and prime minister remain in office, but some other relatives lost their Cabinet seats in what was seen as an attempt to pacify the protesters without giving up the family's hold on power.

Many senior politicians and those facing corruption allegations were excluded from the new Cabinet in line with calls for a younger administration, though the finance and foreign affairs ministers retained their positions to assist with an economic recovery.

Most of the Cabinet resigned on April 3 after protests erupted across the country and demonstrators stormed and vandalized the homes of some Cabinet ministers.

Opposition parties rejected an offer by President Rajapaksa to form a unity government with him and his brother remaining in power. Opposition parties have failed, meanwhile, to gain a parliamentary majority.

Last week, the government said it was suspending repayment of foreign loans pending talks with the International Monetary Fund. Finance Minister Ali Sabry and officials left for talks with the IMF on Sunday. The IMF and World Bank are holding annual meetings in Washington this week.

Sri Lanka has also turned to China and India for emergency loans to buy food and fuel, according to India Today.

Six men have been sentenced to death over the mob killing of a Sri Lankan man accused of blasphemy in Pakistan, BBC reported.

Priyantha Diyawadanage, 48, a factory manager in the city of Sialkot, was beaten to death and his body set alight last December.

Of 88 people convicted, nine were given life sentences and the others jail terms of two to five years.

The case shocked the country and was described as "a day of shame" by the then Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Videos of the lynching on social media showed scenes of the incensed crowd dragging Mr Diyawadanage from his workplace and beating him to death.

They then burnt his body, with several people seen in the crowd taking selfies with his corpse, according to BBC.

The victim's wife, Nilushi Dissanayaka, described how she had seen him "being attacked on the internet... it was so inhumane".

What led to the mob violence?

The violence had begun after rumours spread that Mr Diyawadanage had allegedly committed a blasphemous action, in tearing down posters with the name of the Prophet Muhammad.

But a colleague, who rushed to the site in a bid to save him, told local media at the time that Mr Diyawadanage had only removed the posters as the building was about to be cleaned.

The scale of the vicious killing - involving hundreds of people - shocked the nation and sparked vigils.

Blasphemy is defined as speaking insultingly about a particular religion or god. In Pakistan, it can carry a potential death sentence for anyone who insults Islam.

The country's blasphemy law prohibits disturbing a religious assembly, trespassing on burial grounds, insulting religious beliefs or intentionally destroying or defiling a place or an object of worship, BBC reported.

Making derogatory remarks against Islamic personages is an offence - and in 1982, a clause prescribing life imprisonment for "wilful" desecration of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, was added. 

In 1986, a separate clause was inserted to punish blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad and the penalty recommended was "death, or imprisonment for life".

In Pakistan, even unfounded accusations can incite protests and mob violence against alleged perpetrators. Human rights critics have long argued that minorities are often the target of accusations, according to BBC.

A federal judge in Florida has struck down the Biden administration's mask mandate for airplanes and other forms of public transit, calling it unlawful, BBC reported.

US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle said the national public health agency had exceeded its legal powers in issuing the mandate. 

The US transit authority said it would now no longer enforce mask wearing. 

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just last week extended the mandate until 3 May.

Judge Mizelle is based in Florida, but federal judges can issue rulings that block nationwide government policies.

Her order on Monday effectively removes the masking requirement in all airports, trains, taxis and transit hubs.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the decision "disappointing" and noted that the CDC still recommends travellers cover their mouths and noses, according to BBC.

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment to Monday's ruling. 

Last week US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said the mandate had been extended into May because of rising Covid-19 cases. 

The lawsuit was first brought in July 2021 by the conservative group Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF) and two Florida residents who said wearing masks increased their anxiety and panic attacks. 

The plaintiffs argued that the CDC mandate was "arbitrary and capricious" because it gave exemptions to certain groups - like children under two years of age - but not to others. 

In her ruling, Judge Mizelle, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, found that the CDC had improperly invoked what is known as the "good cause exception", allowing the agency to skip public notice and comment on the mandate.

"Because 'our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends,'" Judge Mizelle wrote, invoking another case, "the Court declares unlawful and vacates the Mask Mandate."

Shortly after the legal decision was issued, the Transportation Security Administration - which runs US airport security - confirmed it would no longer enforce the mask mandate, BBC reported.

United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines said face coverings would no longer be required on domestic flights and certain international flights.

Since the CDC first issued a public health order in February 2021 requiring masks for travellers, more than 7,000 unruly passenger incidents have been reported - 70% of them involving masking rules, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Biden administration's Covid-19 mandates have had mixed success in the court system.

The Supreme Court in January blocked the White House from enforcing its sweeping vaccine-or-test rule for employees at large private companies.

But the Biden administration's requirement that all federal employees be vaccinated against Covid-19 was upheld on appeal earlier this month, according to BBC.

After days of regrouping and reinforcing, the Russian military began a new and potentially climactic phase of the war in Ukraine by launching its long-feared, full-scale ground offensive to take control of the country’s industrial heartland, the Donbas, Ukrainian officials said, Associated Press reported.

The stepped-up assaults began Monday along a broad front of over 300 miles (480 kilometers), Ukrainian officials said.

“The Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in a video address. He said a “significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive.”

Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years in the mostly Russian-speaking Donbas and have declared two independent republics that have been recognized by Russia. Russia has declared the capture of the Donbas to be its main goal in the war since its attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv, failed.

“No matter how many Russian troops are driven there, we will fight,” Zelenskyy vowed. “We will defend ourselves.”

Before the offensive got underway, Russia bombarded the western city of Lviv and other targets in what appeared to be an intensified bid to grind down the country’s defenses, according to the Associated Press.

The Ukraine military’s general staff said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces had intensified assaults in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions — both part of the Donbas — and in the area of Zaporizhzhia.

On Monday morning, “almost along the whole front line of the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions, the occupiers attempted to break through our defenses,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, told Ukrainian media. “Fortunately, our military is holding out. They passed through only two cities. This is Kreminna and another small town.”

There were street battles in Kreminna, and Russian forces took control of the city, according to Luhansk regional military administrator Serhiy Haidai. He told Ukrainian TV that heavy artillery fire set seven residential buildings on fire and targeted a sports complex where the nation’s Olympic team trains.

Haidai said that before advancing, Russian forces “just started leveling everything to the ground.” He said his forces retreated to regroup and keep fighting.

Meanwhile, in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Denys Prokopenko, commander of the Azov Regiment of the Ukrainian National Guard that was holding out against Russian forces, said in a video message that Russia had begun dropping bunker-buster bombs on the Azovstal steel plant where the regiment was holed up, Associated Press reported.

The sprawling plant contains a warren of tunnels where both fighters and civilians are sheltering. It is believed to be the last major pocket of resistance in the shattered city.

In Lviv, a city close to the Polish border that has seen only sporadic attacks during almost two months of war, at least seven people were reported killed in missile strikes. Lviv has been a haven for civilians fleeing the fighting elsewhere. And to the Kremlin’s increasing anger, it has also become a major gateway for NATO-supplied weapons.

The attack on Lviv hit three military infrastructure facilities and an auto shop, according to the region’s governor, Maksym Kozytskyy. He said the wounded included a child.

A hotel sheltering Ukrainians who had fled the fighting in other parts of the country was also badly damaged, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said.

“The nightmare of war has caught up with us even in Lviv,” said Lyudmila Turchak, who fled with two children from the eastern city of Kharkiv.

The biggest city in western Ukraine and a major transportation hub, Lviv is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Poland, a NATO member.

Russia has complained about the increasing flow of Western weapons to Ukraine and warned that such aid could have consequences. On Russian state media, some anchors have charged that the supplies amount to direct Western engagement in the fight against Russia, according to the Associated Press.

Ambassador of Bangladesh to Nepal Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury has said that there is a tremendous eagerness in Bangladesh to import hydropower from Nepal.

Speaking at a program organized by the Institute of Foreign Affairs to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the envoy said both countries are actively engaged in the discussions to facilitate the export of hydroelectricity from Nepal to Bangladesh.

The Ambassador said that the two countries are working on expanding the road, rail, and air connectivity. The recently signed BBIN agreement is expected to remove all impediments to seamless road connectivity between the two countries, the envoy said.

We are also in the process of upgrading the existing air service agreement to connect more airports which will facilitate more trade and tourism in both countries, he added.

The envoy stated that both sides are expecting high-level engagements including foreign secretary and commerce level talks in order to strengthen the institutional linkages and streamline the trade-related issues.

The envoy informed that the two countries are negotiating a Preferential Trade Agreement(PTA) and a bilateral investment protection treaty is under consideration. 

An elderly man died after he was crushed by the chariot of Bisket Jatra in Bhaktapur on Monday.

The deceased has been identified as Durgaman Kasapal (71) of Katunje, Suryabinayak Municipality-5, Bhaktapur.

Critically injured in the incident, he breathed his last during the course of treatment at the Bhaktapur Hospital.

Nepal reported 10 new Covid-19 cases on Monday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 600 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which nine returned positive. Likewise, 1,091 people underwent antigen tests, of which one was tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 34 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 350 active cases in the country.