SRI LANKA: Three inmates were killed and more than 20 were injured in two separate prison clashes in Sri Lanka on Thursday and Friday, a government minister said.

Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament yesterday that one inmate died at Colombo Magazine Prison in the capital Colombo late Thursday during a clash between prisoners.

Two inmates died yesterday morning at Kuruwita Prison in Kuruwita town about 50 miles from Colombo, Mr Wijepala said.

UNITED STATES: The trade union representing Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service workers asked a judge on Thursday to block a sweeping tax audit immunity agreement for President Donald Trump, arguing it would force career employees to choose between following a political order and abiding by the law.

The group joined a lawsuit filed in May that sought to block the proposed $1.8 billion (£1.3 billion) “Anti-Weaponisation Fund,” which the Trump administration later scrapped. 

SPAIN: An international operation led by Spanish authorities dismantled a criminal network involved in trafficking migrants, drugs and weapons across the Western Mediterranean, the European Union police agency announced yesterday.

Spanish authorities said it was the “largest criminal organisations specialising in maritime human trafficking in the Mediterranean.”

IRAQ: Thousands of artefacts have been smuggled out of Iraq since the spring of 2003, when the United States-led international coalition invaded the country, deputy culture, tourism and antiquities minister Qasem al-Sudani says.

“Iraq has been subjected to looting in various ways since the coalition’s invasion with more than 5,000 items with registration numbers from Iraqi museums illegally smuggled out of the country,” Mr Sudani said.