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Panorama.am photographer Lilian Galtsyan has now free access to the building of the National Assembly of Armenia with restored accreditation to...
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North Korea has reported another large jump in illnesses believed to be COVID-19 as the government mobilised a “powerful force” of soldiers to distribute drugs and deployed thousands of health workers to help trace new infections. The North’s anti-virus headquarters said on Tuesday that another 269,510 people were found with fevers and six people died, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Source: aljazeera.com
For the first time, the Queen asked her grandson to represent her following the death of a foreign ruler. Prince William, 39, who is second in line to the throne behind his father Prince Charles, traveled to the United Arab Emirates to pay condolences following the death of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Abu Dhabi. The Duke of Cambridge met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who has been appointed as President of the United Arab Emirates.
Source: people.com
At least eight people have died in floods and mudslides triggered by heavy rains in India’s remote northeast region, officials said Tuesday. Several railway stations were not working because of floods, said Nazreen Ahmed, a senior administrative official in Assam’s Dima Hasao district. He said that nearly 200,000 people in the district were cut from the rest of the state, as roads and bridges leading to it were either blocked by landslides or washed away. The army deployed helicopters to help with rescue efforts.
Source: apnews.com
Prince Harry and Meghan have earned a staggering £12 million in the past two years - by doing nothing more than staying at home. Their luxury Montecito mansion, which they bought for $14.6 million in June 2020, has more than doubled in value in only 23 months. The 18,671 sq ft home in oceanside Montecito, which boasts nine bedrooms and 19 bathrooms, is now valued at $29,350,320 million by property website Redfin - meaning Meghan and Harry would make £12 million if they sold today.
Source: thesun.co.uk
Salvadoran police said on Twitter on Monday that 30,506 arrests had been carried out “since the start of the war against the gangs”, including “536 terrorists” who were arrested on Sunday alone. El Salvador’s Congress approved a “state of exception” in late March after a weekend of gang-related violence left more than 80 people dead, spurring widespread fears among residents in the Central American nation.
Source: aljazeera.com
Around 40 people, many of them civilian volunteers with the army, have been killed in suspected jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso, local sources and security officials said on Monday. In the northern region of Sahel, around 25 people were killed in two assaults on Saturday, including 13 members of the VDP volunteers. In Kompienga, near Burkina's southeastern border with Togo and Benin, about 15 civilians were killed on Saturday when their convoy was attacked while under VDP escort.
Source: france24.com
he driver of a suburban passenger train died and dozens were lightly injured after two trains crashed outside Barcelona on Monday evening, Catalan regional authorities said. Some 85 people were injured according to regional emergency services, who said 77 were released on the spot and eight were taken to hospital. The collision happened when a freight train derailed and crashed into a passenger train at the station in Sant Boi de Llobregat, around 14 km (8.7 miles) from Barcelona, at around 6 p.m.
Source: reuters.com
One of the biggest-ever Nato exercises in the Baltics is now under way. Named "Hedgehog", the drills involve 10 countries, including Finland and Sweden, which are expected to formally apply to join the alliance within days. The exercises in Estonia, which will last until 3 June, were arranged before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Vladimir Putin has said Russia has no issue with Finland or Sweden, but a military expansion near its border would demand a reaction.
Source: bbc.com
Man Ray's famed "Le Violon d'Ingres" made history Saturday when it became the most expensive photograph ever to sell at auction. The black and white image, taken in 1924 by the American surrealist artist, transforms a woman's naked body into a violin by overlaying the picture of her back with f-holes. Prior to the sale, it was expected to fetch between $5-7 million, the highest estimate for a single photograph in auction history, according to Christie's, which sold the work.
Source: cnn.com
Plane ticket prices will rise this summer due to high demand for European beach holidays, Ryanair has said. Airline boss Michael O'Leary said he expects prices for flights to rise by a "high single-digit per cent". The firm reported annual losses of €355m (£302m) on Monday, saying its recovery from Covid restrictions being lifted had been impacted by the Omicron variant and the war in Ukraine.
Source: bbc.com
The latest heavy sandstorm to hit Iraq has forced some schools and offices to close, while flights at Baghdad Airport have also been suspended. The education ministry and other offices declared Monday a day off for local government institutions, with the exception of health services. According to medical officials, hundreds of people across Baghdad and southern cities went to hospitals with breathing difficulties.
Source: aljazeera.com
JK Rowling on Sunday mocked male trans activists who dressed in balaclavas and black outfits to block women from speaking about women's rights in front of a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst. She was responding to video from Manchester which showed the black-clad men from the group Manchester Trans Rise Up dressed in masks to surround the statue of the suffragette leader. Campaign group Standing For Women had been planning to speak in front of the statue as part of an event which said it aimed to reclaim a part of Manchester for women's voices.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
"Aquaman" star took to Instagram to apologize for taking photos in the Sistine Chapel -- by posting a sweaty, shirtless workout video. Momoa, 42, is currently in Rome shooting "Fast X", the 10th installment in the "Fast & Furious" film saga. The actor posted snaps of himself below the famous Michelangelo paintings on May 9. In the caption, he wrote, "I LOVE YOU ITALY what a beautiful start to our day off enjoying ROMA." But disgruntled fans quickly pointed out in the comments that visitors are typically forbidden from taking photos or videos in the chapel, which is located in Vatican City.
Source: cnn.com
Iran said on Monday it awaited the US response to "solutions" discussed with the EU envoy for breaking a stalemate in talks aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal. The European Union's coordinator for nuclear talks with Iran, Enrique Mora, held two days of discussions with the Islamic republic's chief negotiator Ali Bagheri in Tehran last week, leading the EU to say talks had been unblocked. The negotiations, aimed at bringing the US back into the deal and Iran to full compliance with it, had stalled for about two months.
Source: france24.com
A gunman has opened fire in a southern California church, killing one person and wounding five others before churchgoers detained the suspect and hog-tied him in what officials called an act of “exceptional heroism”. The mass shooting was reported shortly before 1:30pm on Sunday (20:30 GMT) at the Geneva Presbyterian Church located in the town of Laguna Woods.
Source: aljazeera.com
David Tennant and Catherine Tate will return to Doctor Who for the show’s 60th anniversary celebrations, the BBC has announced. The duo have reunited after 12 years to film scenes that are due to air next year. Tennant, 51, first stepped into the Tardis in 2005 to play the 10th Time Lord, with his final episode airing on New Year’s Day in 2010. Comedic actor Tate, 52, starred as his companion Donna Noble.
Source: theguardian.com
Kylian Mbappe says he has "almost" made up his mind about whether to stay at Paris Saint-Germain or leave the French champions for Real Madrid. "Yes, yes almost" he replied when quizzed about whether he had made a choice yet after picking up his third straight best player of the season award in Paris on Sunday. The 23-year-old plans to "announce" his decision before France play Denmark in the Nations League on June 3.
Source: france24.com
His name is "Hector," he's over 100 million years old, and his fossils sold for more than $12 million in auction at Christie's. Hector is the most complete skeleton of Deinonychus antirrhopus ever found, according to Christie's. The specimen, excavated in Montana in 2013, dates back to the early Cretaceous period: 115 to 108 million years ago. It's in a "remarkable state of preservation," the auction house says of the specimen, consisting of 126 original fossils on a custom-built frame.
Source: cnn.com
Novak Djokovic had extra joy following his sixth Italian Open title on Sunday after finding out that his son had won his first ever tournament on the same day. Beaming with pride, the world number one revealed that his seven-year-old boy Stefan had claimed the honours at a small club competition back home in Serbia just as Djokovic senior saw off Stefano Tsitsipas in straight sets in Rome.
Source: france24.com
An 18-year-old white man has shot dead 10 people in a black neighbourhood of New York state in what authorities are calling a racially motivated attack. The man, named as Payton Gendron in court papers, was arrested after a stand-off at the scene - a supermarket in the city of Buffalo. He began firing in the store's car park before entering and continuing his rampage, streaming the attack online.
Source: bbc.com
Sevilla finally confirmed their place in La Liga's top four on Sunday as a late equaliser by Youssef En-Nesyri snatched a 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid to secure their qualification for the Champions League. Jose Gimenez's first-half header looked set to give Atletico victory at the Wanda Metropolitano and with Real Betis beating Granada, Sevilla's fight with their city rivals for fourth would have gone down to a nail-biting final day.
Source: france24.com
Sevilla will secure Champions League qualification with a point against Atletico Madrid on Sunday while the winner would be in pole position to finish third in La Liga.
Source: france24.com
Veteran film and television actor Fred Ward, 79, best known for playing gruff, tough-guy roles in movies such as "Tremors," "Escape from Alcatraz," and "The Right Stuff," died on Sunday, his publicist said on Friday. No cause or place of death was released, as per his family's wishes, publicist Ron Hofmann said.
Source: reuters.com
The shocking incident came towards the end of a training session at their base on Thursday. The duo went at it and had to be pulled apart. It brought the session to a premature end as all the team’s stars were ordered back to the changing rooms. Even players used to bust-ups between team-mates were stunned. Ralf Rangnick gave his squad four days off following their 4-0 defeat at Brighton last Saturday.
Source: thesun.co.uk
A 21-year-old Palestinian man died Saturday from a head wound sustained last month after Israeli police fired rubber bullets at stone-throwing Palestinian demonstrators during violence at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site. Israel’s Hadassah hospital announced the death early Saturday, saying only that Waleed Shareef had died weeks after being hospitalized with severe head injuries. His family confirmed the death. Shareef was injured on April 22 in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound.
Source: apnews.com
The UAE's long-time de facto ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was elected as president on Saturday, official media said, a day after the death of former leader Sheikh Khalifa. Sheikh Mohamed was elected by the Federal Supreme Council, WAM news agency said, becoming the ruler of the oil-rich country founded by his father in 1971.
Source: france24.com
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tested positive for COVID-19 with moderate symptoms, her office said in a statement on Saturday. She will not be in parliament for the government's emissions reduction plan on Monday and the budget on Thursday, but "travel arrangements for her trade mission to the United States are unaffected at this stage," the statement said.
Source: reuters.com
The majority of migrants traveling in a boat that capsized off the coast of Puerto Rico were Haitians, authorities said Friday, adding that of the 11 dead, all were women. A total of 38 survivors have been found and rescuers continue to search where the accident occurred, about 19 kilometers north of Desecheo Island, an uninhabited US territory between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Source: france24.com
A SpaceX rocket carried 53 satellites for the Starlink internet constellation into orbit Friday after blasting off from California. The Falcon 9 booster lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 3:07 p.m., and minutes later the first stage landed on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean while the second stage continued toward low Earth orbit. SpaceX later tweeted that the satellites were successfully deployed.
Source: apnews.com
Nearly 150 people have been killed and scores wounded during gunfights between warring gangs in Haiti, as the latest surge of violence has paralysed much of the sprawling capital, Port-au-Prince. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said on Thursday that it had treated more than 96 people with gunshot wounds in its medical facilities in Port-au-Prince since 24 April.
Source: theguardian.com
The fire broke out at a four-storey commercial building in west New Delhi in the late afternoon on Friday. Sunil Choudhary, deputy chief fire officer from the Delhi fire service, said people had jumped from the burning building to save their lives. “More than 25 people are injured, including those who jumped from the building,” Choudhary said.
Source: aljazeera.com
On Thursday, the city of Jacobabad in Sindh province hit 49.5C (121F), the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said, with temperatures forecast to remain the same until the end of the week. Parts of the nation already scorched by temperatures of nearly 50Cs as officials warn of acute water shortages and a threat to health.
Source: aljazeera.com
President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday it was not possible for NATO-member Turkey to support plans by Sweden and Finland to join the pact, saying the Nordic countries were "home to many terrorist organisations". Finland's plan to apply for NATO membership, announced Thursday, and the expectation that Sweden will follow, would bring about the expansion of the Western military alliance that Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to prevent by launching the Ukraine invasion.
Source: reuters.com
Robert Lewandowski has opened the door to a high-profile transfer after telling Bayern Munich that he will not be extending his contract beyond June 2023 when it expires, German media reported on Friday. The 33-year-old Poland international forward has scored 343 goals for Bayern and twice picked up FIFA's Player of the Year Award since joining from Dortmund in 2014.
Source: france24.com
Jurgen Klopp was speaking at his FA Cup final pre-match press conference. The Liverpool manager revealed he has exchanged texts with the UEFA president. Asked about the new Champions League reforms, Klopp said: 'More games are always a bad idea'. The German then gave his damning assessment of the UEFA Nations League.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Israel advanced plans for the construction of more than 4,000 homes in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a rights group has said, a day after the Israeli army demolished homes in an area where hundreds of Palestinians face the threat of expulsion. Peace Now, an anti-settlement group, provided the figure after a meeting of Israel’s Higher Planning Council, which convened to ratify the construction. At the meeting, 2,791 homes received final approval and 1,636 received an initial nod, the watchdog said.
Source: aljazeera.com
Experts worry North Korea’s health system will be unable to cope with spread of COVID in an unvaccinated population.
Source: aljazeera.com
An Istanbul appeals court on Thursday confirmed three charges against Canan Kaftancıoğlu, the head of the Istanbul branch of the main opposition Republican People’s party (CHP), upholding her convictions for insulting a public official, publicly insulting the republic of Turkey, and insulting the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in tweets accusing him of theft. She faces a ban on political activity and a prison sentence of four years, 11 months and 20 days.
Source: theguardian.com
Rafael Nadal crashed out of the Italian Open in the third round on Thursday after falling to a shock 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Denis Shapovalov. Defeat in Rome for 'King of Clay' Nadal casts doubt over his prospects at the upcoming French Open, where he has been crowned champion 13 times but faces a threat from teenage phenomenon Carlos Alcaraz. The 35-year-old had been out for six weeks with a rib injury before returning for last week's tournament in Madrid, and he began limping in the third set.
Source: france24.com
Scientists on Thursday provided the first look at the "gentle giant" lurking at the center of our Milky Way galaxy - an image of a supermassive black hole that devours any matter within its huge gravitational pull but is currently on a bit of a diet. The black hole - called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* - is the second one ever to be imaged.
Source: france24.com
France's foreign ministry has confirmed two of its citizens are being detained in Iran and demanded their release. "The French government condemns these baseless arrests," a statement said. It did not identify the pair, but the head of a French education union said an employee and her husband had gone missing while on holiday in Iran. On Wednesday, the Iranian intelligence ministry said two Europeans had been arrested for planning to cause "chaos, social disorder and instability".
Source: bbc.com
Severe storms brought damaging winds, heavy rain and a few reports of tornadoes to Minnesota, where a storm-chasing meteorologist died in a crash that authorities said was caused by downed power lines. The wreck on Interstate 90 in southwest Minnesota Wednesday evening killed a woman, of Mexico City, Mexico, when a car in which she was riding attempted to avoid the power lines on the roadway and was struck by a semi. Three others in the vehicle, were injured.
Source: apnews.com
Novak Djokovic strolled into the Italian Open quarter-finals on Sunday with a routine 6-2, 6-2 win over Stan Wawrinka, while Iga Swiatek continued her bid for a fifth straight tournament victory by beating Victoria Azarenka.
Source: france24.com
North Korea fired three ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea said, in the latest such move by the isolated country racing to advance its weapons programmes on the day it first reported a COVID-19 outbreak. Japan's coastguard confirmed the launch of a ballistic missile by North Korea, citing its military. The projectile appeared to fall outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, public broadcaster NHK said. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said three short-range ballistic missiles were fired from the Sunan.
Source: reuters.com
Ukraine winger Andriy Yarmolenko is set to leave West Ham when his contract runs out at the end of June. The 32-year-old is one of West Ham's highest earners and manager David Moyes has made the decision to let him leave at the end of his deal. Yarmolenko was part of the big spending under former boss Manuel Pellegrini and cost £17.5m when he arrived from Borussia Dortmund in 2018. He has made 30 appearances for West Ham this season, scoring three goals.
Source: bbc.com
Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo has been named Player of the Month for April - making it two monthly awards this season. The 37-year-old has won player of the month for a sixth time, now the most of any United player in the competition, overtaking Wayne Rooney's five. Ronaldo was in impressive form throughout the month of April, scoring five times in just four matches for the Red Devils, even though it was a tough time for Ralf Rangnick's side who took just four points from five matches.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
A 48-year-old Nepali woman scaled Mount Everest for the 10th time on Thursday, breaking her own record for the most summits of the world’s highest mountain by a female climber, her hiking company said. Lhakpa Sherpa last climbed the 8,848.86-metre mountain in 2018. A fellow Nepali, Kami Rita Sherpa, holds the men's record of 26 climbs. A Nepali tourism official, Bhishma Kumar Bhattarai, confirmed that she had reached the summit.
Source: reuters.com
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has set about major reforms in the country’s subsidies system amid continued efforts to give new momentum to stalled talks aimed at restoring the country’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The president announced, during a televised late-night interview on Monday, that he is gradually transforming a subsidies system introduced by his predecessor to stabilise prices in the face of sanctions, but that mostly ended up breeding corruption.
Source: aljazeera.com
The United States has crossed the threshold of one million deaths from Covid-19, the White House said on Thursday, as cities like New York try to turn the page on the pandemic despite threats of another surge.
Source: france24.com
Apple has lost its position as the world's most valuable company amid a broad sell-off of technology stocks. Saudi Arabian oil and gas producer Aramco has reclaimed the top spot from the iPhone maker for the first time in almost two years. Investors have been selling shares in technology firms as they move into what they see as less risky assets. Bitcoin, other major cryptocurrencies and digital assets have also continued to fall sharply.
Source: bbc.com
China's Zhurong rover has found evidence suggesting that water persisted on Mars for much longer than expected. Zhurong landed in a large plain in Mars' northern hemisphere called Utopia Planitia on May 15, 2021 -- where NASA's Viking 2 lander touched down in 1976. The rover's primary mission, which lasted for three months, was to search for signs of ancient life. It has investigated the minerals, environment and distribution of water and ice in the plain, which is all part of the largest impact basin in the Martian northern lowlands.
Source: cnn.com
One of the Catholic Church's most senior members has been arrested in Hong Kong for breaking China's national security law, police have confirmed. Cardinal Joseph Zen, 90, is one of four people detained for being associated with a now-defunct organisation that helped protesters in financial need. The others are a Cantopop singer and actor Denise Ho, ex-legislator Margaret Ng, and academic Dr Hui Po Keung. They are accused of colluding with foreign forces.
Source: bbc.com
For years Greece has been accused of illegally pushing asylum-seekers back to Turkey, a practice it strenuously denies. But according to witnesses and rights groups, the summary deportations are also hitting vulnerable opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kurdish writer Meral Simsek, 42, is one of several people who told AFP they were sent back to Turkey to face imprisonment and possible torture after already making a perilous crossing of the border on the River Evros.
Christie’s says “The Rock,” an egg-sized white diamond billed as the largest of its kind to go up for auction, sold Wednesday for more than 21.6 million Swiss francs ($21.75 million), including fees — though at the low end of the expected range. The 228-carat pear-shaped G-Color stone, with its platinum pendant mounting, has a gross weight of 61.3 grams and dimensions of 5.4 centimeters by 3.1 centimeters (2.1 inches by 1.2 inches) — making it about the size of a medium hen’s egg.
Source: apnews.com
Rescuers in India's western Gujarat state are picking up dozens of exhausted and dehydrated birds dropping everyday as a scorching heatwave dries out water sources in the state's biggest city, veterinary doctors and animal rescuers say. Large swathes of South Asia are drying up in the hottest pre-summer months in recent years, prompting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to warn of rising fire risks.
Source: reuters.com
Halsey has said she is dealing with a number of health issues, in a revealing update on Instagram. Wearing a heart monitor, the singer posted on her Instagram Story saying she'd recently been "hospitalised for anaphylaxis a few times". "My health has changed a lot since I got pregnant and gave birth. I started getting really sick, I've been kind of sick most of my adult life." But the 27-year-old is still "excited and confident" for her next tour.
Source: bbc.com
Barcelona defender Ronald Araújo has been discharged after a night in the hospital following a head injury sustained in a Spanish league game against Celta Vigo, the club said Wednesday. Barcelona said tests conducted on the player following his concussion on Tuesday came back with satisfactory results and doctors allowed him to return home.
Source: apnews.com
Tunisian coast guards retrieved the bodies of three migrants whose boat sank off Tunisia and rescued about 250 others in a number of separate incidents, security official told Reuters on Wednesday. "Coastguard rescued 240 African migrants and eight Tunisians in 10 illegal migration trips, and also recovered the bodies of three Africans whose boat sank off the coast of El Awabed in Sfax Governorate," Lieutenant-Colonel Ali Ayari said.
Source: reuters.com
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has shelled an area in Erbil in neighbouring Iraq, targeting positions it said were held by “terrorist groups”. The IRGC ground forces launched artillery fire on Iraq’s northern Kurdish regional capital early on Wednesday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news website. The attack comes two months after the IRGC launched ballistic missiles at what it said was an Israeli base in Erbil.
Source: aljazeera.com
A high-profile Paraguayan prosecutor who fought against organised crime in his home country has been shot dead during his honeymoon in Colombia. Marcelo Pecci was on a beach on the idyllic tourist island of Baru when he was killed by two gunmen. Hours before the shooting, Mr Pecci's wife had announced on Instagram that she was pregnant. Mr Pecci's wife, journalist Claudia Aguilera, said that they were approached by two men on a private beach before her husband was shot. She said he had not received any threats.
Source: bbc.com
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