While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 31
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President Joe Biden makes his first public appearance after testing negative for Covid-19, on July 27, 2022.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
Biden again tests positive for Covid-19, says he feels fine
US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 again on Saturday in what the White House doctor described as a “rebound” case seen in a small percentage of patients who take the antiviral drug Paxlovid.
Biden, 79, who emerged from Covid-19 isolation on Wednesday after testing positive on July 21, said he was feeling fine.
He will now return to strict isolation and will cancel planned trips to his home in Wilmington and work trip in Michigan, the White House said.
Biden held public events on Wednesday and Thursday, but none on Friday.
Iraqi cleric's supporters storm Baghdad's Green Zone again
Thousands of supporters of Shi'ite populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stormed Baghdad's fortified government zone and broke into Parliament on Saturday for the second time in a week, leaving at least 125 people injured and escalating a political stand-off.
Protesters rallied by Sadr and his Sadrist Movement tore down concrete barriers and entered the Green Zone, which houses government departments and foreign missions, before breaking into Parliament.
"We are calling for a government free from corruption... and those are the demands of the people," one protester, Abu Foad, said among crowds of protesters carrying placards with Sadr's photograph and national flags.
Zelensky announces mandatory evacuation of Donetsk region
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday his government was ordering the mandatory evacuation of people in the eastern Donetsk region, scene of fierce fighting with Russia.
In a late-night television address, Zelensky also said the hundreds of thousands of people still in combat zones in the larger Donbas region, which contains Donetsk as well as the neighbouring Luhansk region, needed to leave.
"The more people leave (the) Donetsk region now, the fewer people the Russian army will have time to kill," he said, adding that residents who left would be given compensation.
US lottery player wins jackpot topping $1.8 billion
A lucky United States lottery player has won a Mega Millions jackpot worth more than US$1.3 billion (S$1.8 billion), one of the highest prizes ever, a US lottery official confirmed on Saturday.
The official Mega Millions website said a single ticket holder in the Midwestern state of Illinois - who has yet to be identified - had the six magic numbers and won a jackpot estimated at US$1.337 billion.
The grand prize had been steadily growing, fuelling the dreams of would-be winners across the country, for more than three months. The prize had gone unclaimed in 29 previous drawings.
S'pore's Teong Tzen Wei wins Commonwealth silver in 50m fly
National swimmer Teong Tzen Wei clinched Singapore's first medal at the on-going Commonwealth Games on Saturday, after finishing second in the men's 50m butterfly.
He touched the wall at the Sandwell Aquatic Centre in Smethwick, England, in 23.21 seconds to clinch the silver medal. England's Ben Proud claimed the gold in a Games record of 22.81sec, while New Zealand's Cameron Gray (23.27) took the bronze.
Teong, 24, said: "Everyone’s here to win. I’m happy with silver but I think I can go faster and better next time, so I want to go and see and look back and learn how I can improve on my racing.