world
- BusinessReuters Videos
Hong Kong's Apple Daily paper to shut within days
Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut its doors in mere days, after the company’s assets were frozen under the city's national security law.That's according to an advisor to former Apple Daily head Jimmy Lai.Mark Simon, a spokesman for publisher Next Digital, exclusively told Reuters that while they thought the paper could run through June, money will now run dry in days.Simon spoke by phone from the U.S., saying, “Vendors tried to put money into our accounts and were rejected. We can't bank.”Lai is a staunch critic of Beijing and was jailed under the national security law earlier this year and has since had assets frozen.The news comes days after five Apple Daily executives were arrested as part of a police raid, which was later condemned by the UN and global rights groups.Three have been released on bail, while the paper’s chief editor and executive were denied the chance.Simon, the spokesman, told Reuters that Next Digital was set to hold a board meeting on Monday to discuss steps moving forward.
- NewsAFPTV
US Navy tests warship's metal with megablast
The US Navy has started a series of tests on its newest and most advanced aircraft carrier by detonating powerful explosions to determine whether the ship is ready for war.
- PoliticsAFPTV
Ethiopians to vote in poll overshadowed by Tigray
The election was twice delayed -- once for the coronavirus pandemic, and then to allow more time to organise the ballot across a huge nation
NewsHuffPostMark McCloskey, Ordered To Surrender Gun He Aimed At Protesters, Poses With New AR-15
Mark McCloskey, the right-wing St. Louis attorney ordered in court just days ago to surrender the semi-automatic rifle he brandished at Black Lives Matter protesters last year, has posted on Twitter with his brand new AR-15. The attorney, who is now running for Missouri senator, posted a photo Saturday gleefully showing off his latest weapon on Twitter with his wife, Patricia McCloskey. The McCloskeys sparked national outrage — and praise from Donald Trump — after pointing their weapons at racial justice protesters walking past their house on their way to the home of the St. Louis mayor a year ago.
NewsAFP NewsUS star Angelina Jolie visits refugee camp in Burkina Faso
Oscar-winning actor Angelina Jolie on Sunday visited a refugee camp in Burkina Faso sheltering thousands of Malians who have fled jihadist violence in the region.
NewsReutersAustralian PM promises more COVID-19 shots to states amid rollout delays
Australian states and territories will get more doses of COVID-19 vaccines soon, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, as authorities look to avoid further delays in an immunisation drive that has hit several roadblocks. Australian states have been asking for increased supplies of vaccines after Australia last week announced a policy shift that recommended AstraZeneca shots for people only above 60 years due to clot concerns, throwing the rollout into disarray. "They are all getting additional doses ... it scales up again in July when the additional Pfizer doses go out," Morrison told radio station 2GB on Monday.
NewsReutersNew U.S. envoy for North Korea looks forward to 'positive response' on dialogue
SEOUL (Reuters) -The United States' new top envoy for North Korea said on Monday in Seoul that he looks forward to a "positive response soon" on dialogue from North Korea. U.S. special representative for North Korea Sung Kim is in South Korea for a five-day visit, amid an impasse in denuclearisation talks with Pyongyang, with no word of any planned efforts to contact the North. "We continue to hope that the DPRK will response positively for our outreach and our offer to meet anywhere, anytime without preconditions," Kim said, using the initials of North Korea's official name.
NewsReutersGerman liberal FDP rules out coalition with Greens after election -Bild
Germany's liberal Free Democrats (FDP) will not join a coalition led by the ecologist Greens after an election in September, mass-selling Bild daily reported on Monday, citing party sources. The decision would make it more difficult for the Greens, who are expected to come second in the election behind Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, to try to form a government after the vote. The Greens are running about 8 points behind the conservatives and polling at about 20%.
NewsReutersEXPLAINER-Why do France's regional elections matter? Look ahead
Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National party hoped France's regional elections in June would bolster her credentials as a leader fit for power and provide a platform for her 2022 presidential bid. Voters, as expected, also punished President Emmanuel Macron and his ruling party. The next presidential vote is less than a year away.
CelebrityHuffPostPaul Walker's Daughter Meadow Honors Late Father At 'Fast And Furious' Movie Premiere
Nearly eight years after the death of Paul Walker, who was one of the blockbuster action franchise’s original stars, his daughter, Meadow Walker, attended the premiere of the latest sequel on Friday night. Ahead of the event, Walker shared a photo of herself all dressed up, while leaning against a wall, simply captioning the post, “let’s go.” Since Walker died in a tragic car accident in 2013 at the age of 40, the “Fast and Furious” cast and crew have embraced his daughter as one of their own and made it their mission to keep the late actor’s memory alive.
EntertainmentAFP News'Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard' hits top of NAmerican box office
North American moviegoers again showed their love of action comedies this weekend as new release "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" shot to the top of the box office, taking in an estimated $11.7 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported.
- NewsReuters Videos
Red roses mark Brazil's 500,000 COVID-19 deaths
Volunteers from Rio de Paz, a non-governmental organization, placed 500 red roses on pegs and unfurled victim's names embroidered on cloths."At the head of the republic, there is a president who violated all sanitary norms from the beginning of the pandemic. He underestimated the lethal power of the virus, participated in anti-democratic public demonstrations, stimulating the agglomeration," said Rio de Paz president Antonio Carlos Costa, who helped tie roses to stakes hammered into the beach.Brazil's death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 500,000 on Saturday (June 19) as experts warn that the world's second-deadliest outbreak may worsen due to delayed vaccinations and the government's refusal to back social distancing measures.
NewsReutersChile says assembly to draft new constitution will start work July 4
Chilean President Sebastian Pinera said on Sunday the assembly to draft a new constitution for the copper-producing country, replacing the one inherited from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, will hold its first session on July 4. The re-writing of the constitution is the result of a broad political consensus agreed to after the violent social protests that broke out at the end of 2019 over inequality in a nation known for its decades-long embrace of free market policies. "This convention undoubtedly represents a great opportunity to achieve a new constitution that will be recognized and respected by all Chileans under a framework of unity and stability toward the future for our democracy," Pinera said.
EntertainmentHuffPostWill Smith To Go Full Wordsmith With New Memoir
While the Smith family typically leaves most things for the Red Table, Will Smith has apparently saved a few juicy stories for himself over the years. The two-time Academy Award nominee announced the release of his new memoir, “Will,” on Instagram Saturday, revealing that his first book is due to hit shelves Nov. 9. “I know this is weird but this is my book,” the actor, using a Pixar-style Instagram filter, shared in a video over the weekend, as he showed off the memoir’s vibrant cover.
ScienceAFP NewsUS, French astronauts make ISS spacewalk
A French and an American astronaut completed a six-hour spacewalk Sunday as they installed new solar panels to boost power supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), NASA said.
- EntertainmentReuters
Box Office: 'The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard' Takes Top Spot From 'A Quiet Place 2'
LOS ANGELES, (Variety.com) -"The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" nabbed the top spot on box office charts, debuting with $11.6 million from 3,331 U.S. venues over the weekend. Starring Salma Hayek, Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" is one of the rare post-vaccine era movies to play exclusively in theaters. Opening weekend crowds were mostly older men, with 55% of ticket buyers identifying as male and 66% over the age of 25.
- ScienceAFPTV
Violent storm wreaks havoc in France
Images of damage and flooding as a violent storm hits the south of Paris, with heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 137 km/h.
- NewsReuters Videos
Children among migrants rescued off Gran Canaria
The migrants were spotted in a boat by a passing ship around 38 miles south of Gran Canaria, local media reported.They were brought ashore on Sunday afternoon. Small children, some wrapped in blankets were handed to rescue workers, while some adults, looking visibly exhausted, had to be helped off the boat, Reuters footage showed.So far this year more than 5,700 migrants have made the dangerous crossing from Africa to the Canaries archipelago, over twice as many as in the same period in 2020, which itself saw an eightfold increase from 2019.
- PoliticsReuters Videos
Ethiopia gets prepared for landmark elections
Ethiopia's election workers took to the streets of Addis Ababa on Sunday (June 20) to explain the voting process.Monday's (June 21) national polls have been touted by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as the country's first attempt at free and fair elections.Tirsit Emanuel, who works for the National Election Board of Ethiopia, wants to make sure people don't make a mistake.And she's enthusiastic about taking part herself."It's my first time to elect, so I am really excited, I can't wait."But not everyone will be voting on Monday.The election has been delayed in 110 out of 547 constituencies because of logistical problems and violent conflicts, such as in the northern Tigray region.No date has been set for voting in Tigray, where Ethiopia's military has been fighting the region's former governing party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front.Some opposition parties are also boycotting the elections over what they describe as harassment of their members.On Saturday police officers in the capital dressed in riot gear as they took part in a parade to display their new uniforms.Abiy has said Ethiopia will show the world that it can hold a peaceful election.in what is his first test of voter support since coming to power in 2018.Since then he's brought in sweeping democratic reformsbut he has also faced international pressure over the Tigray conflict and allegations from rights groups that his government has rolled back on the country's new freedoms.His spokesperson declined to comment.
NewsAFP NewsAfghan leader Ghani to visit White House as withdrawal nears
Afghan leader Ashraf Ghani and the head of the country's peace process will meet President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday, as the planned American military withdrawal accelerates.
- NewsReuters Videos
Regional poll tests appeal of France's far-right
Casting his vote in northern France on Sunday (June 20), Emmanuel Macron is facing a major test. As voters take to the polls in regional elections set to gauge the appeal of rival far-right leader Marine Le Pen's softened image. Sunday's first round is likely to prove dire for Macron, whose La Republique en Marche party is projected to win none of mainland France's 13 regions.Le Pen is hoping to capitalise on a rebrand that has seen her ditch promises of a so called "Frexit" and inflammatory rhetoric.The best chance for her party is in the south of France, in the region around Marseille and Nice, where one of Le Pen's lieutenants, is projected by one opinion poll as winning the race even if all parties rally against him.Gaining one region, for the first time ever, would give Le Pen a major boost less than a year before presidential elections.Participation at midday, however, was one of the lowest for a French election in history at just 12.2%, down from 16.3% in 2015.Brice Teinturier, director of polling firm IPSOS ,says for many French people, the elections are not a high priority."We are in a context of recovering from a pandemic, where French people are being more optimistic about the future, with the idea that the economic situation will improve. So they're thinking of everything else but the regional elections. And secondly, a more serious reason for abstention is that more and more voters think these intermediary elections, like the European elections, do not change anything in their daily life. And as opposed to the municipal or presidential elections, they don't see the point of getting up to vote."Second round voting will continue on June 27.
- NewsReuters
String of shootings in Mexico border city kill 18 people
Attacks by armed gunmen firing from cars in several neighborhoods of the northern Mexico city of Reynosa killed 18 people, state security forces said on Sunday. The multiple shooting incidents on Saturday were committed by "individuals who were aboard several vehicles," a group comprising the security forces of Tamaulipas state said in a statement. Members of the army, state police and National Guard militarized police were deployed to monitor the area after the killings.
NewsReutersLebanon's crisis caused by feud over power, says EU envoy
The European Union's foreign policy chief said on Sunday a fight among Lebanese leaders to secure power is at the heart of its government crisis and he urged them to set their feud aside and form a cabinet or risk a total financial crash and sanctions. Speaking after talks with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri and House Speaker Nabih Berri, Josep Borrell said he delivered a frank message that some leaders could face sanctions if they continued to block steps to form a new government and implement badly needed reforms. "The country is in big financial trouble and in order to solve the economic crisis they need a government," he said.
NewsReutersDozens of migrants rescued off Spain's Gran Canaria
Spain's coast guard rescued 45 migrants off the coast of Gran Canaria on Sunday including 24 women and eight children. The migrants, from sub-Saharan Africa, were spotted in a boat by a passing ship around 38 miles south of Gran Canaria, local media reported. They were brought ashore in a rescue vessel on Sunday afternoon.
NewsReutersU.S. says disagreements on key issues remain in Iran nuclear talks
There are still disagreements on key issues between Iran and the world powers in talks to revive their 2015 nuclear deal, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday, adding that the final decision on the issue was up to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic instead of the newly elected president. Negotiations have been going on in Vienna since April to work out the nature and sequencing of steps Iran and the United States must take on nuclear activities and sanctions to return to full compliance with the nuclear pact.
