‘Hong Kong 47’ trial: first verdicts due after national security crackdown

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Sixteen of the 47 pro-democracy campaigners have denied charges of subversion for organising pre-election primaries in landmark case

Judges in Hong Kong are set to start delivering verdicts on Thursday in the territory’s largest national security prosecution yet, with 16 of the “Hong Kong 47” pro-democracy campaigners awaiting their fate in a landmark case.

The 16 have pleaded not guilty to charges of subversion for organising pre-election primaries, and are among the cohort who were detained in mass dawn raids by national security police in January 2021.

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South Africa election results: Counting under way after pivotal poll – BBC.com

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  1. South Africa election results: Counting under way after pivotal poll  BBC.com
  2. First results in South Africa’s election suggest it is heading for biggest political shift since apartheid  CNN
  3. South Africa Election Results With 20% Voting Districts In (Table)  Bloomberg
  4. South Africa elections live results 2024: By the numbers  Al Jazeera English
  5. South Africans Vote, Many Hoping for Change as Seismic as Mandela's Rise  The New York Times
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Samantha Murphy: police end targeted search as they examine phone found in dam near Ballarat

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Forensic assessments being carried out on ‘items of interest’ found in search for missing woman

Victoria police have ended their search of farmland south of Ballarat amid forensic testing of “items of interest”, after finding a phone at a dam during their investigation into missing woman Samantha Murphy.

Murphy, 51, was last seen nearly four months ago, when she left her Ballarat East home to go for a run on 4 February.

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China lifts most remaining trade bans on Australian beef exports

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Murray Watt says Beijing has removed sanctions for five abattoirs that lost export licences in 2020 amid diplomatic spat

China has lifted suspensions from Australian beef exporters, removing almost all of the $20bn worth of trade sanctions it imposed.

The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, said Beijing on Wednesday night lifted the bans, with immediate effect, for five different abattoirs.

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Scientists Measure Heat Added by Climate Change in Days – Newser

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  1. Scientists Measure Heat Added by Climate Change in Days  Newser
  2. Climate Change Added a Month's Worth of Extra-Hot Days in Past Year  The New York Times
  3. Global Heat Action Day  Climate Central
  4. Is climate change behind all extreme weather events? – DW – 05/27/2024  DW (English)
  5. Humans Were Hit With 26 Extra Hot Days in the Last Year, Says Alarming Study  Popular Mechanics
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Beloved surfboard-stealing otter seen in California after disappearing for months

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Photos of otter 841, who gave birth to a pup last year, show her floating over holiday weekend in popular Santa Cruz surfing spot

Otter 841, who shot to international fame last year for her surfboard-stealing interactions with northern California surfers and kayakers, has been spotted recently after disappearing for several months. Over Memorial day weekend, photos of the now six-year-old otter posted to social media showed her floating on her back at Steamer Lane, a popular surfing spot in Santa Cruz. She was identified by her signature blue tag attached to one of her flippers.

Otter 841 began making waves last summer after Mark Woodward, a local photographer, began posting images and videos to social media of her biting and commandeering surfboards. People were captivated by her fearlessness when interacting with humans and quickly projected human motivations to her behavior.

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Netanyahu ‘surprised, disappointed’ by US refusal to sanction ICC over warrants – The Times of Israel

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  1. Netanyahu ‘surprised, disappointed’ by US refusal to sanction ICC over warrants  The Times of Israel
  2. Biden opposition leaves House bill hitting ICC in limbo  The Hill
  3. How Hannah Arendt Would Respond to Israel Being Accused of Crimes Against Humanity - Opinion  Haaretz
  4. Netanyahu Is Now Begging Biden to Work With Republicans to Save Him  Yahoo! Voices
  5. Netanyahu blasts Biden admin for rejecting GOP effort to sanction ICC  POLITICO
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Nigeria’s rushed reversion to old national anthem met with incredulity

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Post-colonial anthem dropped in 1978 reinstituted with little debate amid escalating economic crisis

Nigeria has reverted to a national anthem it dropped nearly 50 years ago after lawmakers replaced the current one, prompting widespread criticism over the lack of public consultation on the change.

The country’s president, Bola Tinubu, confirmed the law on Wednesday, a day after it was approved by both chambers of Nigeria’s national assembly, which is dominated by the governing party. The federal lawmakers introduced and passed the bill in less than a week – an unusually fast process for important bills that usually take weeks or months to be considered.

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‘I need you’: Biden-Harris campaign launches initiative to court Black voters

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President and vice-president gear up for 2024 election with ‘Black Voters for Biden-Harris’ rally at majority Black Philadelphia school

Gearing up for the 2024 election, the Biden-Harris campaign launched its Black voters initiative on Wednesday at Philadelphia’s Girard College, a majority Black boarding school.

Around 2pm in an auditorium filled with hundreds of Black Philly residents, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris approached the podium to applause and an audience shouting “four more years”.

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Deadly ‘heat dome’ weather event scorches parts of the US with up to 111F temperatures this WEEK – here are th – Daily Mail

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  1. Deadly 'heat dome' weather event scorches parts of the US with up to 111F temperatures this WEEK - here are th  Daily Mail
  2. Mexico's Deadly Heat Wave Bringing Temps Above 110 Degrees - Videos from The Weather Channel  The Weather Channel
  3. US Warned Of Record Temperature As Heat Dome Shifts From Mexico  NDTV
  4. Extreme weather is having a dire effect on animals. Here's what's being done to protect them.  Yahoo! Voices
  5. Heat-related monkey deaths are now reported in several Mexican states  The Associated Press
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North Korea sends fleet of balloons carrying excrement to South Korea – The Hill

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  1. North Korea sends fleet of balloons carrying excrement to South Korea  The Hill
  2. South Korea grapples with the North's 'unruly behaviour' as it raises a stink over garbage balloons from Pyongyang  South China Morning Post
  3. Kim Jong Un's Balloon Barrage: Bags of Excrement Fly Into the South  The Wall Street Journal
  4. North Korea flies hundreds of balloons full of trash over South Korea  CBS News
  5. North Korea flies trash balloons over the South as leader Kim doubles down on satellite ambitions  The Associated Press
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France’s Macron urges a green light for Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with Western weapons – PBS NewsHour

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  1. France’s Macron urges a green light for Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia with Western weapons  PBS NewsHour
  2. Will Biden let Ukraine strike inside Russia using U.S. weapons?  NBC News
  3. Biden approaching ban lift on Ukraine strikes on Russia with American weapons – NYT  Ukrainska Pravda
  4. France and Germany say Ukraine should be able to use their weapons to strike inside Russia  CNN
  5. Blinken Hints U.S. May Accept Ukrainian Strikes in Russia With American Arms  The New York Times
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