Fung Wai-kong is seventh senior figure from publication to be arrested in two weeks
Hong Kong police have arrested a former senior Apple Daily journalist at the airport while he was attempting to leave the city.
The 57-year-old journalist is the seventh staff member of the now-closed pro-democracy newspaper to be detained, after police accused them and the paper of foreign collusion under the national security law.
Continue reading...Xavier Bettel in isolation after self-test result, according to reports; UK’s daily cases figure falls slightly from Saturday
France reported 1,345 coronavirus patients in intensive care today - four less than yesterday - and updated its overall death toll to 84,512, reports Reuters.
UK opposition leader Keir Starmer says there are “huge questions still to answer” following the resignation of health minister Matt Hancock.
Asked if Sajid Javid is a good replacement for Hancock, who resigned after footage emerged of him kissing an aide, PA reports that the Labour leader said:
We need a strong Health Secretary as we come through the pandemic.
But obviously there’s huge questions still to answer. If anybody thinks that the resignation of Matt Hancock is the end of the issue, I think they’re wrong and I think the incoming Health Secretary and the Prime Minister now have serious questions to answer about the CCTV, about the access, the passes, the contracts, etc.
Continue reading...China’s National Space Administration has released footage recorded by the country’s Mars probe. The videos and photos taken by the camera installed on the Zhurong rover of the Tianwen-1 spacecraft show the lander deploying a parachute before touching down on the surface of Mars and the rover driving away from its landing platform. State broadcaster CCTV said Zhurong had been working on the red planet for 42 days and had moved 236 metres so far
Continue reading...Moscow has reported the highest death toll of any Russian city, while the Delta variant is forcing tighter restrictions in the Asia-Pacific region
Moscow has recorded the highest Covid-19 daily death toll of any Russian city so far, as the highly contagious Delta variant forced tougher restrictions on countries across the Asia-Pacific region and fuelled mounting concern over holiday travel in Europe.
Vaccinations have brought infection numbers down in many wealthy countries, and curbs on daily life continue to ease in much of the EU and US, but experts warn the fast-spreading strain means the pandemic – while slowing globally – is far from over.
Continue reading...A lead Republican negotiator has welcomed Joe Biden’s withdrawal of his threat to veto a $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure bill unless a separate Democratic spending plan also passes Congress.
Related: White House seeks to put infrastructure deal back on track after Biden blunder
Continue reading...Crews make progress against flames while questions asked about 2018 report on structural damage
Officials in Florida insisted on Sunday there was still hope of finding survivors in the rubble of a collapsed oceanfront condominium building, as firefighters finally controlled a large blaze inside the wreckage that hampered three days of rescue efforts.
Related: Engineer reportedly warned in 2018 of ‘major damage’ at Miami condo complex
Continue reading...Economic heartland hit by rise in infections driven by Delta variant and faltering vaccination campaign
Authorities in South Africa appeared set to impose new restrictions on Sunday in a belated attempt to stem a rise in Covid-19 that is ravaging the country’s economic heartland.
The wave of infections has been driven by the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant, weak countermeasures and public fatigue with existing restrictions.
Continue reading...Analysis: research suggests ‘scarily fleeting’ contact could infect, and that places with high jab rates are susceptible
The transmission advantage of the Delta variant that is spreading at pace globally is a sign that the race between vaccination and the virus could tip in favour of the latter unless countries ramp up their immunisation campaigns and practise caution, scientists say.
The variant, first detected in India, has been identified in at least 92 countries and is considered the “fittest” variant yet of the virus that causes Covid-19, with its enhanced ability to prey on the vulnerable – particularly in places with low vaccination rates.
Continue reading...Second-round voting begins after record low turnout in first round left the two rivals disappointed
France has begun voting in the second round of regional elections after a first round that resulted in a drubbing for Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party, disappointment for Marine Le Pen’s far right and a record low turnout.
For some observers, the outcome of the 20 June first round raised doubts over whether the 2022 presidential election would come down to a duel between the president and Le Pen in a runoff long seen as the most likely scenario.
Continue reading...As China marks the centenary of its ruling party, we examine key episodes in its tempestuous history, including the Long March, Mao’s purges and Xi Jinping’s rise to the top of an emerging superpower
Anyone visiting First Meeting Hall in Shanghai, the museum recreating the site of the first conclave of the Chinese Communist party (CCP) in 1921, will also find themselves in one of the city’s fanciest districts.
Continue reading...The man who led the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission insists an independent investigation into decades of abuse of Indigenous children is essential
Canada urgently needs an independent investigation into the deaths of thousands of Indigenous children at church-run residential schools if the country ever hopes to finally confront the horrors of its colonial past, the man who led the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has told the Guardian.
Murray Sinclair, a former senator and one of the country’s first Indigenous judges, warned that the “undiscovered truths” of the schools are probably far more devastating than many Canadians realize – including the deliberate killing of children by school staff and the likelihood that such crimes were covered up.
Continue reading...New documentary reveals sex offender used socialite for access to her famous and rich friends years from the 1980s onwards
Ghislaine Maxwell’s association with Jeffrey Epstein began years earlier than previously understood, according to a documentary investigating the socialite who became an alleged procuress for the paedophile financier.
The new information challenges the common assumption that Epstein stepped into a vacuum in her life after the death of her father, the newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, who was found in the sea near the Canary Islands in 1991.
Continue reading...Whether the pharmaceutical giant jumped or was pushed, its New York deal is a significant sign of the way the wind is blowing
Johnson & Johnson said it had already jumped. New York’s attorney general suggested the pharmaceutical giant was pushed.
Either way, the American drug maker is the first to formally agree to get out of the multibillion-dollar business of selling the powerful narcotic painkillers that drove the US opioid epidemic.
Continue reading...As New York legal troubles mount, ex-president hints at 2024 run and targets those who voted for impeachment
Donald Trump was set to return to the campaign trail with a rally in Ohio on Saturday night, campaigning against a Republican who voted for his impeachment and trailing his own candidacy for president in 2024.
Related: Trump Organization could face criminal charges in New York next week
Continue reading...Four dead at the scene and one dies in hospital after balloon blown into power lines by wind catches fire
Five people died after a hot air balloon hit power lines in New Mexico’s largest city on Saturday, police said.
The crash happened around 7am on Albuquerque’s west side, police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said. No identities were immediately released but fire officials said three males, including the pilot, and two females died.
Continue reading...Poll on knife-edge as parties form alliances in a bid to defeat far-right RN party
At the 17th-century town hall in the Provençal city of Arles, a large tricolour flapped vigorously outside the open window of the mayor’s office last week, animated perhaps by what locals call the mistralet, a gentle summer version of the strong wind that blows through the Rhône valley.
The world heritage city – the largest commune in metropolitan France – has been marked by foreign influence throughout its history: the Romans conquered it in 123BC, leaving the magnificent arena, theatre, necropolis and aqueduct; much later came the artists, Dutchman Vincent Van Gogh and Spanish-born Pablo Picasso among them.
Continue reading...Raymond Siu blames protests on ‘fake news’ – but critics fear the label will be used to muzzle dissent
Hong Kong’s new police chief has called for a “fake news” law to tackle “hostility against the police”, in what analysts see as an indication of the next phase of the crackdown on free speech in the former British overseas territory.
“I understand that there are residents who are still hostile against us,” Raymond Siu, 55, said at his first media briefing since taking office on Friday. “In this regard, I told my colleagues that many of these torn relationships and hostility against the police are due to fake news.”
Continue reading...Vice-president faced with colossal task as migrants live with brutal reality of arduous journey and border restrictions
The sun beat down on the 30ft border fence that separates El Paso, Texas from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, as temperatures headed towards 100F on the southern border that stands as a symbol for so much in American politics.
Related: Kamala Harris says US-Mexico border situation is ‘tough’ but claims progress
Continue reading...Iván Duque says ‘cowardly’ attack will not stop him tackling drug trafficking, terrorism and organised crime
Colombia’s president, Iván Duque, said a helicopter carrying him and several senior officials came under fire in the southern Catatumbo region bordering Venezuela, in a rare instance of a direct attack on a presidential aircraft.
Duque said everyone on board the helicopter was safe, including the defense minister, Diego Molano; the interior minister, Daniel Palacios and the governor of Norte de Santander state, Silvano Serrano.
Continue reading...UK health secretary Matt Hancock is facing mounting pressure to quit over a tryst with a colleague
Just 11% of Russia’s 146 million population is fully vaccinated – whether due to vaccine skepticism, doubts about Sputnik or other Russian-made vaccines, or “nihilism”, as a Kremlin spokesperson has suggested.
But with more than 20,000 new cases reported across Russia in the last two days, as well as tough new restrictions on those who have not received their jabs, lines at public vaccination centres are now stretching out the door.
Related: ‘I don’t have a choice’: Russians scramble to get Covid vaccine amid new restrictions
Bangladesh has announced it will impose a tough new lockdown starting on Monday, after a “dangerous and alarming” surge in Delta variant cases of coronavirus.
AFP reports:
All government and private offices will be shut for a week and only medical-related transport will be allowed, the government said late Friday.
“No one can step out of their homes except in emergency cases,” a statement added.
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