While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 22
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A photo on Biden's Twitter account showed him smiling, wearing a blazer and sitting at a desk with papers.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Biden ‘doing well’, working after testing positive for Covid-19
Joe Biden, the oldest person ever to serve as president of the United States, has tested positive for Covid-19, is experiencing mild symptoms and will continue working but in isolation, the White House said on Thursday.
Biden, 79, has a runny nose, fatigue and an occasional dry cough, symptoms which he began to experience late on Wednesday, White House physician Kevin O’Connor said in a note released on Thursday.
Biden has begun taking the antiviral treatment Paxlovid, O’Connor said.
Fully vaccinated and twice boosted, Biden said he was “doing well” in a video posted on his Twitter account.
Russia about to run out of steam in Ukraine, spy chief says
Russia’s military is likely to start an operational pause of some kind in Ukraine in the coming weeks, giving Kyiv a key opportunity to strike back, Britain’s spy chief said on Thursday.
Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service known as MI6, also estimated that about 15,000 Russian troops had been killed so far in its war in Ukraine, adding that was “probably a conservative estimate.”
“I think they’re about to run out of steam,” Moore said, addressing the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, adding that the Russian military would increasingly find it difficult to supply manpower and materiel over the next few weeks.
Zelensky says report he is ill is fake news by Russian hackers
President Volodymyr Zelensky posted a video on Instagram from his office on Thursday to reassure Ukrainians that he is well after what he said was a fake news report about his health by Russian hackers.
Zelensky, 44, made his remarks on the same day that the Kremlin dismissed what it said were false reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin was unwell.
His Instagram post appeared after a Ukrainian media company said hackers had broadcast a false report about Zelensky's health on one of its radio stations following a cyberattack.
String theory: Nasa Mars rover discovers mystery object
Is it tumbleweed? A piece of fishing line? Spaghetti?
A tangled object discovered by Nasa's Mars Perseverance rover has intrigued space watchers, leaving some musing tongue-in-cheek about the quality of Italian dining on the Red Planet.
But the most plausible explanation is more prosaic: it's likely remnants of a component used to lower the robotic explorer to the Martian surface in February 2021.
Ricky Martin restraining order scrapped by Puerto Rico judge
A Puerto Rico judge has lifted a restraining order on actor and singer Ricky Martin at the request of the man who earlier this month had said the pop icon had harassed him, lawyers representing Martin said on Thursday.
The man had said in a domestic violence complaint that he feared for his safety because Martin had refused to accept his decision to end a romantic relationship, had continued calling him and had loitered outside his home.
"This was never anything more than a troubled individual making false allegations with nothing to substantiate them," Martin's lawyers wrote in a statement that the singer posted on his Twitter account along with the words "Truth prevails."
