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COLOMBO (News 1st)  1. Ceylon Bank Employees Union presented a written inquiry to the People's Bank in order to clarify the procedure followed in granting a loan of Rs. 10bn to the MTD Walkers PLC. Executive Deputy Chairman of the MTD Walkers Jehan Amaratunge, for whom the loan was approved also serves as a Board member of the Peoples' Bank. 2.NZ immigration office located at Mumbai uncovered a scam carried out by a Sri Lankan based finance company that had forged visa documents for Sri Lankan college students aspiring to study in New Zealand. 88 such cases have been identified. 3. Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne re-issued a warrant against Sri Lanka's ambassador to the United States Jaliya Wickremasuriya that had previously been convicted of a criminal misappropriation of US $ 132,000. 4. The residents near the Gohagoda garbage dump is at risk of being prone to contaminated water. 5.Carcasses of two Sri Lankan leopards have been recovered by the Wild Life officials dumped at the Nilgala Forest Reserve in Bibila yesterday. (July 31) The Zonal veterinarian For Uva and Central provinces suspect of the animals being poisoned to death. INTERNATIONAL 1. NASA stated that Mars reached its closest approach to Earth yesterday  (July 31) with a distance of 35.8 million miles (57.6 million kilometers); a phenomenon witnessed after a period of 15 years. 2.  As many as 85 people were injured on Tuesday (July 31), two critically, when an Aeromexico-operated Embraer passenger jet crashed soon after takeoff in Mexico's state of Durango.   SPORTS 1. Indian captain Virat Kohli brushed off talk of having to prove his batting ability on English soil ahead of the five-match test series against the hosts starting at Edgbaston today (August 1).