Man charged for threats on judge who nixed repeal of 377A
COVID-19: Singapore confirms 83 new cases, none in the community
With Huawei facing hurdles in Europe, Chinese smartphone brand Oppo eyes expansion
As coronavirus makes work from home the new normal, Hong Kong homebuyers favour New Territories, study shows
The Latest: Bhutan imposes 1st nationwide virus lockdown
NewsAFP NewsManhood must wait: virus delays South African circumcision rituals
South African 17-year-old Sinoyolo was looking forward to becoming a "man" this year.
PoliticsAFP NewsTrump fans false birther theory about Kamala Harris
US President Donald Trump has stoked false claims that Democratic vice-presidential contender Kamala Harris is ineligible to hold that office because her parents were foreign born.
HealthReutersCanada says new waves of coronavirus could swamp healthcare system, send death toll soaring
Canada is planning for a "reasonable worst case scenario" in which new waves of the coronavirus would intermittently swamp the public health system and send the death toll soaring, officials said on Friday. Under the scenario, there would be a large peak later this year followed by a number of smaller peaks and valleys stretching to January 2022. Each peak would exceed the health system's capacity.
NewsAFP NewsDiplomatic flurry in blast-hit Lebanon as aid effort expands
Top diplomats criss-crossed Beirut on Friday to supervise growing aid efforts and weigh in on Lebanon's political future, following a deadly port explosion blamed on state corruption.
PoliticsReutersTrump says ready to send out coronavirus aid, but Democrats holding it up
President Donald Trump in a series of Friday tweets announced the White House is preparing to provide relief for the economic pain of the coronavirus as legislation stalls in Congress, saying his administration is ramping up to send money to families, state and local governments, and businesses.
NewsReutersDrying Brandenburg lake is symbol of climate change, say scientists
Seddiner lake, in the state of Brandenburg, south-west of Berlin, has sunk 60 cm annually on average over the past few years, with local geographer Knut Kaiser calling it the beginning of the end for the region's lakes. "You could say that Seddiner is a symbol of a situation, or to put it more dramatically, it has become a portent for climate change here in Brandenburg," Kaiser, from the German Research Centre for Geosciences, told Reuters TV. After the drought years of 2018 and 2019, Kaiser said the lake will likely lose a massive amount of water in 2020 for the third year running.
NewsReutersBusinessman accused of Malta journalist’s murder on hunger strike
A businessman suspected of masterminding the murder of Maltese anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has gone on hunger strike, complaining about overcrowding in the prison where he is being held, his family said on Friday. Yorgen Fenech has been behind bars since late November 2019 when he was arrested and accused of being an accomplice in the 2017 car bomb murder. The middleman in the plot turned state evidence and has been giving testimony against Fenech.
NewsAFP NewsHard-hit countries step up virus measures as cases mount
Countries among the hardest hit by the coronavirus unveiled further control measures Friday to battle rising cases, hitting summer tourism and aspects of everyday life around the globe.
BusinessAFP NewsEuropean stocks hit as UK reimposes virus quarantine
European stocks slumped on Friday at the end of a largely positive week for global equities
BusinessReutersVaccine makers including Moderna must hit U.S. timing goals for full payments
The United States is tying payments for COVID-19 vaccines to timing milestones for production and approval, according to public documents and a Trump administration official, putting pressure on drugmakers including Moderna Inc <MRNA.O> to meet ambitious targets. In a deal with Moderna announced this week, federal agencies negotiated a sliding scale of payments. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, biotech's $1.5-billion deal pays out in full if its vaccine receives regulatory clearance by January 31, 2021, according to filings.
NewsReuters'We lost everything:' Grieving Beirut neighbourhood struggles to rebuild
Claudette Halabi cried out from beneath the rubble of her house for an hour before she died. Four died in that building alone, among them Claudette, a widow in her 70s he knew since he was a kid. In one of Beirut's poorest neighbourhoods, Karantina near the port, people are still reeling from the explosion that flattened homes and killed many neighbours who felt like family.
LifestyleAFP NewsUS, Canada, Mexico COVID-19 travel ban extended
The US Department of Homeland Security said Friday that a COVID-19 ban on non-essential travel through border crossings with Canada and Mexico was being extended until September 21.
NewsAFP NewsUS confirms seizure of Iranian fuel on Venezuela-bound ships
The US Justice Department on Friday confirmed it had seized the fuel cargo aboard four tankers sent by Iran to crisis-wracked Venezuela, tying the shipments to Tehran's Revolutionary Guards and stepping up the pressure on its foe.
NewsReutersGermany declares most of Spain a virus risk region
Germany declared nearly all of Spain, including the tourist island of Mallorca, a coronavirus risk region following a spike in cases there. The Bild daily had reported earlier that Mallorca had been added to the list of high-risk regions published by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's public health agency. The latest version of the RKI's list on its website said the whole of mainland Spain and the Balearic islands were risk regions.
NewsReutersPutin proposes world powers summit to avoid U.N. 'confrontation' over Iran
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday proposed a video summit with the United States, Britain, France, China, Germany and Iran in a bid to avoid "confrontation and escalation" at the United Nations, where Washington is trying to extend an arms embargo on Tehran. "The issue is urgent," Putin said in a statement, adding that the alternative was "only further escalation of tensions, increasing risk of conflict - such a scenario must be avoided." Diplomats say it is bound to fail and put the fate of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers further at risk.
PoliticsAFP NewsBolsonaro's popularity surges to high despite pandemic
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro received the best approval rating of his term Friday, boosted by his popularity among recipients of coronavirus stimulus payments despite the carnage the pandemic has caused in Brazil.
NewsReutersJapan to mark 75th WW2 anniversary in scaled-back ceremony amid COVID-19
Japan will mark the 75th anniversary of its World War Two surrender on Saturday in a memorial ceremony scaled back because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as ties with neighbours China and South Korea remain haunted by the conflict's legacy. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who with Emperor Naruhito was set to attend an official ceremony at an indoor arena, was expected separately to send a ritual offering to Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine but avoid a personal visit that would anger Seoul and Beijing. Abe's December 2013 visit to Yasukuni, which honours 14 Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal as well as war dead, outraged the neighbours, which view the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past military aggression.
NewsAFP NewsShip leaks more oil off Mauritius as calls for answers grow
A fresh streak of oil spilled Friday from a ship stranded on a reef in pristine waters off Mauritius, threatening further ecological devastation as demands mount for answers as to why the vessel had come so close to shore.
NewsAFP NewsTaliban prisoner release re-opens wounds for victims' families
The decision to release hundreds of the Taliban's most dangerous prisoners has stirred painful memories for the loved ones of those killed in Afghanistan's war, with many questioning whether the move will help bring peace.
NewsAFP NewsWorld leaders praise Israel-UAE deal as Palestinians cry foul
World leaders voiced hope Friday that a historic deal between the UAE and Israel could kickstart moribund Middle East peace talks, even as the Palestinians and their supporters denounced the move to normalise ties as a betrayal of their cause.
NewsAFP NewsBoar that stole German nudist's laptop may be culled
A wild boar that went viral after stealing a nudist's laptop by a lake in German capital Berlin last week could be targeted in a local cull, an official said Friday.
PoliticsReutersTrump says ready to push out coronavirus aid, blames Democrats for holdup
President Donald Trump on Friday once again said he was ready to act to pump stimulus money into a U.S. economy hard hit by the coronavirus crisis, a week after his negotiating team failed to reach a deal with congressional Democrats. The Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic-controlled House of Representatives have gone into an informal recess after last week's talks ended with the parties $2 trillion apart. In a series of posts on Twitter, Trump said he was prepared to take unilateral action, this time to provide Americans with direct payments as well as money for small businesses and state and local governments.
NewsReutersThai king commutes death sentence for Myanmar men in British tourist murder case
Two migrant workers from Myanmar on death row in Thailand for the 2014 murder of two British backpackers had their sentences commuted to life in prison on Friday thanks to a royal decree, their lawyer said. The two workers, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, were sentenced to death for the murder of David Miller and the murder and rape of Hannah Witheridge, whose bodies were discovered on a beach on the popular tourist island of Koh Tao in September 2014. The two men were convicted and sentenced in 2015 and the verdict was upheld by an appeals court in 2017 and the Supreme Court in August 2019.
NewsReutersCroatia pays price in COVID-19 cases for lax approach to nightlife
The number of daily COVID-19 cases peaked in Croatia on Friday as some neighbouring countries tighten measures for travel to Croatia potentially affecting summer tourism which has so far performed better than expected amid the pandemic. Earlier this week Italy introduced mandatory coronavirus testing for everyone who enters Italy from Croatia.
BusinessReutersAnt Group makes pre-listing filing in China for blockbuster IPO
Ant Group, the fintech arm of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding <BABA.N>, has made a preparatory filing with China's securities regulator for its planned blockbuster initial public offering. The group, China's biggest mobile payments company, said in July it had started the process for a dual listing in Hong Kong and on Shanghai's Nasdaq-like STAR market, kicking off one of the world's most hotly anticipated IPOs. Ant Group did not disclose the size, timetable or other details of the offering at the time.
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