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Sri Lanka's former president Ranil Wickremesinghe has been arrested in connection with the alleged misuse of funds, police have said, BBC reported.

The charge relates to trips he took abroad while serving as president.

He is due to appear in a magistrates court in the capital Colombo on Friday, having already given a statement to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) earlier in the day.

Wickremesinghe served as president from 2022 to 2024, stepping into the role after the country's worst ever economic crisis triggered a popular uprising caused his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee, according to BBC.

The Nepal Teachers’ Federation has announced the first phase of the protest program, objecting to the School Education Bill endorsed by the Education Committee of the House of the House of Representatives.

The federation announced the protest program by organizing a press conference in Kathmandu on Friday, saying that the government has not fully implemented the agreement reached with them.

Federation Chairman Laxmi Kishor Subedi said that though  many of the issues mentioned in the Bill are positive, the main concerns of teachers and employees and many issues included in previous agreements have not been addressed yet.

Under the first phase of the protest program, attention letters will be submitted to the Prime Minister, the Minister for Education, and the chief whips of political parties on August 25.

Similarly, a two-hour sit-in will be held by submitting attention letters to all the party offices at the centre from August 27 to September 5.

Likewise, attention letters will be submitted to all the municipalities on August 29 and to the coordination units of all the districts on August 31.

Chairman Subedi said that the second phase of protest will be announced on September 6.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire has said that positive aspects of federalism should be amplified and made known to the common people. 

"Research on Nepal's federalism and its findings should be internalized and promoted for correction and best practices rather than making baseless comments on the system," he reminded while addressing a program organized by the Nepal Administrative Staff College today. He further said that misleading analyses create problems in strengthening federalism.

Speaker Ghimire released the second series of a book 'Federal System in Nepal: Dimension and Practice' published by the College. He welcomed the research initiative carried out by the College. 

"We are on a historic journey towards transformation through state restructuring and introduction of a new Constitution. Three tiers of government are in place with rights ranging from legislative to administrative matters. Our constitution has reinforced the concept of cooperation, coordination and coexistence," Ghimire reminded. The book must be worth reading text at present. 

There are 14 articles and two interviews in the book.

Russia launched a rare drone and missile attack on western Ukraine overnight, officials said Thursday, striking targets including an American-owned electronics plant and injecting further uncertainty into the U.S.-led efforts to end the 3-year-old war, Associated Press reported.

The aerial assault on a part of Ukraine that has largely not experienced such focused attacks was one of Russia’s biggest this year and came as Moscow objects to key aspects of proposals that could end the fighting.

U.S. President Donald Trump discussed the war with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaskalast week before hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House on Monday, according to Associated Press.

Nottingham Forest have signed Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz from Juventus on an initial season-long loan with a conditional obligation to make it a permanent deal next summer, the Premier League club said, Reuters reported.

The 27-year-old, who won Olympic gold with Brazil in Tokyo, spent one season at Juventus after leaving Aston Villa for a fee of around 50 million euros ($57.94 million) on a five-year contract.

However, he made only 27 appearances for the Turin side.

"I am really happy to be here, it's a big club and I decided to come here because I can see the ambition the club has," Douglas Luiz said in a statement late on Thursday, according to Reuters.

India's Supreme Court has modified its previous order asking authorities in Delhi and its suburbs to move all stray dogs into shelters amid widespread protests by animal welfare groups, BBC reported.

The three-judge bench said that strays should be released after being vaccinated and sterilised but added that dogs with rabies or aggressive behaviour should be immunised and kept in shelters.

The court also banned feeding of stray dogs in public spaces and ordered dedicated areas to be set up for the purpose.

On 11 August, a two-judge bench had expressed concern over the rising "menace of dog bites leading to rabies" in Delhi and its suburbs, according to BBC.

Israel's defence minister says Gaza City will be destroyed if Hamas does not agree to disarm and release all hostages, BBC reported.

Israel Katz's comments came after the Israeli cabinet approved plans for a massive assault on Gaza City, despite widespread international and domestic opposition. 

On Monday, Hamas agreed to a proposal by Qatari and Egyptian mediators for a 60-day ceasefire, which according to Qatar would see the release of half of the remaining hostages in Gaza, according to BBC.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apparently rejected this, saying he had instructed negotiations to begin for the release of all remaining hostages and an end to the war in Gaza on terms "acceptable to Israel".

Former Nasa engineer Mark Rober has become the latest YouTube star to get his own Netflix deal, BBC reported.

The 45-year-old has more than 70 million subscribers on YouTube and is known for his videos about science and technology.

Rober has created a new competition series for the streamer, which he is making with US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel's production company.

Rober is following in the footsteps of some other popular YouTubers - Netflix signed up children's entertainer Ms Rachel earlier this year and struck a deal with British YouTubers The Sidemen in 2024, according to BBC.