International news brief: Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa faces legal troubles; Campaign for UK PM post ends

Colombo, Sep 04: Sri Lanka's ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who returned home after seven weeks in exile following protests over economic hardships, could face legal action over forced disappearances of activists now that he has been stripped of constitutional immunity, a lawyer said Saturday.

Rajapaksa flew to Colombo around midnight Friday from Thailand and was escorted under military guard to his new home in the capital.

He has no pending court cases because he was protected by constitutional immunity as president. A corruption case against him during his time as a top defence official was withdrawn soon after he was elected in 2019.

Rishi Sunak optimistic as campaign for UK PM post ends

Rishi Sunak, who has made history as the first Indian-origin member of Parliament to compete for the post of British Prime Minister, on Saturday signed off his "Ready for Rishi" campaign with a 'thank you' note for his team and supporters.

While most surveys of Conservative Party members with a vote in the leadership election to replace Boris Johnson, and even most UK media reports, have concluded that Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will be the winning candidate when the result is declared on Monday, Sunak struck a note of optimism on Twitter.

Pilot threatening to crash stolen plane into Walmart store in US city charged

A man, who circled a stolen plane over the US city of Tupelo for hours and threatened to crash into a Walmart store, has been charged with grand larceny and making terroristic threats, police said on Saturday. The Tupelo Police Department said it was notified around 5 am on Saturday that a pilot flying a "King Air type" airplane - a small utility plane - was considering crashing into a Walmart located on West Main street.

The Benton County Sheriff's Office later confirmed the plane had landed in a field in Ashland, roughly 60 miles northeast of Tupelo in the US state of Mississippi. The man landed the plane safely after talks with the police. Mississippi Governor Reeves announced on Twitter that the "situation has been resolved and that no one was injured.

Czechia: Thousands take part in Prague anti-government demo

An estimated 70,000 protesters from the far-right and far-left rallied in central Prague against the Czech government on Saturday.

Some of the groups represented at the demonstration were the populist anti-migrant Freedom and Direct Democracy Party and the Communist Party.

Dubbed "Czech Republic First," the protest highlighted rising inflation fueled by a rise in energy prices, Covid-19 vaccinations, and immigrants.

The protesters demanded the resignation of the current coalition government led by conservative Prime Minister Petr Fiala, which had taken office last December.

Forest fire breaks out at northern Germany's highest peak

The Brocken mountain, northern Germany's highest peak, was evacuated on Saturday after being hit by a second forest fire in weeks, local media reported.

Brocken sits in the Harz mountain range in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

with agency inputs