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As Andy Murray prepares to rejoin the ATP tour and resume his attempts to ascend towards the top of the sport after hip surgery, the former world No 1 has detailed the frustration of enduring yet another year so far filled with setbacks and despair. Six weeks ago in March, Murray suffered a “freak” groin injury at the Miami Open that he believed he sustained in the middle of the night. He was forced to withdraw and return to the increasingly tedious environment of injury rehab in London.
Source: theguardian.com
Maureen Deboick, 80, is in hospital with severe bruising and swelling to her body. Family members fear her condition may be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine. She received the first dose of the vaccine but her second dose has been delayed.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
A Saudi foreign ministry official said on Friday that talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran aim to reduce regional tensions, but added it was too early to judge the outcome and Riyadh wanted to see “verifiable deeds”. The comments by Ambassador Rayed Krimly, head of policy planning at the ministry, were the first public confirmation from Riyadh that the rivals - who severed ties in 2016 - were holding direct talks.
Source: reuters.com
The World Health Organization (WHO) has granted emergency approval for a Covid vaccine made by Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm. It is the first vaccine developed by a non-Western country to get WHO backing. The vaccine has already been given to millions of people in China and elsewhere. The WHO had previously only approved the vaccines made by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna.
Source: bbc.com
A four-year-old New York boy has left his family with a huge bill after he secretly ordered a staggering $2,618 worth of SpongeBob popsicles from online retailer Amazon. Noah Bryant, from Brooklyn, ordered 51 cases containing a total of 918 popsicles to be shipped to his aunt’s house, the local TV station ABC7 reported. But the story has a happy ending. Amazon now says they are in contact with the Bryant family and will donate the proceeds of the popsicles to a local charity. Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page has raised more than $11,000. Noah is on the autism spectrum.
Source: theguardian.com
Paris Saint-Germain are set to confirm the renewal of Neymar's contract on Saturday. The Brazilian will put pen to paper on a deal that will run until 2026. It hasn't been easy to tie Neymar down, though. Barcelona even sent representatives to Paris last summer in an attempt to force an impossible more, but their finances meant it was never likely to happen.
Source: marca.com
At least 163 Palestinians and six Israeli police officers have been hurt in clashes in Jerusalem, Palestinian medics and Israeli police say. Most were injured at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Israeli police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades as Palestinians threw stones and bottles. Tensions have been rising over the potential eviction of Palestinians from land claimed by Jewish settlers. The Al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem's Old City is one of Islam's most revered locations, but its location is also the holiest site in Judaism, known as the Temple Mount.
Source: bbc.com
Scotland's main pro-independence party captured dozens of seats on Friday in a Scottish parliament election that could determine the future of the United Kingdom, but early results left uncertainty over whether it would win a crucial majority. The Scottish National Party says it will seek to hold a new vote on secession by the end of 2023 if there is a pro-independence majority returned to the devolved 129-seat parliament - setting up a potential legal showdown with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who says he will refuse any such vote.
Source: reuters.com
Lisa Ohrmundt has been living in her home in Decatur for 14 years, and in that time she has had to remove bees from her home four times. Ohrmundt said she discovered the bees after noticing them flying around the outside of her house and disappearing. Bobby Chaisson, operations director at Georgia Bee Removal, told there's no rhyme or reason why the bees are choosing Ohrmundt's house. Chaisson estimated that he removed at least 100,000 bees from the home, but it came in second to the 2017 swarm that he estimates had over 120,000 bees.
Source: cnn.com
The largest diamond ever cut in Russia - a 100.94 carat stone called the Alrosa Spectacle - will be auctioned in Geneva later this month. The diamond could fetch between 12 and 18 million Swiss francs ($19.96 million) when it goes under the hammer at Christie's on May 12.
Source: reuters.com
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he expected to be able to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin soon and the White House said ongoing differences between the United States and Russia would not need to be resolved in advance of a summit. Biden and his advisers would like to add a summit with Putin in a third country while the U.S. president is in Europe in mid-June for a Group of Seven meeting in Britain and talks with NATO allies in Brussels. But negotiations with the Russians on staging the summit are continuing, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.
Source: reuters.com
Germany's anti-Semitism commissioner, Felix Klein, has urged authorities to stop protesters using the Nazis' yellow star forced on Jews in World War Two. Some protesters have replaced the word "Jude" (Jew) with the phrase "ungeimpft" (unvaccinated), equating Covid restrictions with the persecution of Europe's Jewish population. The yellow Star of David has also been seen in protests in London. Mr Klein said he hoped German cities would follow Munich in banning it.
Source: bbc.com
There are few feelings as liberating as swimming in the open air, below blue skies that stretch all the way to horizon -- and now in Dubai you can do it nearly 1,000 feet above sea level. Named in March as the world's tallest infinity pool inside a building, the rooftop bathing spot at the newly opened Address Beach Resort is a vertiginous 293.906 meters high. That's about nine-tenths as tall as the Eiffel Tower.
Source: cnn.com
Australia will resume repatriation flights for some citizens in India after a controversial ban on arrivals from the country ends on 15 May. The ban sparked further anger after the government said Australians seeking to fly home could face jail or fines. Mr Morrison later played down this threat. On Friday, he said they would begin by bringing back "vulnerable" citizens. About 900 Australians are registered with the government in this group. More than 9,000 Australians are in India in total.
Source: bbc.com
Three people have been shot after a young girl brought a gun to her school and opened fire. The girl was in a school hallway on Thursday morning when she pulled a handgun from her backpack and fired multiple rounds at Rigby Middle School in Idaho. Two people were hit inside before she went outside and injured a third. The student - who in sixth-grade and aged 11 or 12 - was disarmed by a teacher who held her until police arrived.
Source: news.sky.com
A magnitude-4.7 earthquake rattled Northern California near Lake Tahoe and Reno, Nevada, Thursday evening, according to the U.S. Geographical Survey. The quake's epicenter was said to be northwest of Truckee, and the temblor was felt as far away as Sacramento. It hit around 9:35 p.m., preceded by a magnitude 3.2 temblor and followed by a 3.1 aftershock a few miles away near Sierraville. There were no immediate reports of major damage
Source: foxnews.com
Colombia has entered its second week of violent unrest as riot police continued a brutal crackdown on nationwide protests against poverty and inequality exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. As many as 37 people have died in the protests so far according to Temblores, a local NGO that monitors police violence, though that number is expected to rise, with at least 89 people reported missing since protests began on 28 April. Fresh clashes broke out on Wednesday night in Bogotá and other cities across the country as heavily armoured police unleashed their arsenal of flash-bangs, teargas and water cannons on protesters.
Source: theguardian.com
At least 25 people including a police officer have been killed in a shootout in Rio de Janeiro, according to local media. The shootout took place during a police operation in a favela in the Jacarezinho area of the city. Police launched the operation after receiving reports that drug traffickers were recruiting children for their gang. Two passengers on a metro train were hit by bullets but survived. Police in the Brazilian city confirmed the death of one of their officers.
Source: bbc.com
Morocco recalled its ambassador to Berlin for consultations on Thursday in protest at what it described as Germany's "destructive attitude" towards Rabat's position on the Western Sahara issue. It accused Germany of engaging in "antagonistic activism" after the United States in December recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the territory, which is also claimed as an independent state by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front movement.
Source: reuters.com
Coldplay has unveiled the first single from its upcoming album, with the premiere of Higher Power taking place on board the International Space Station. Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, and Will Champion teamed up with French astronaut Thomas Pesquet for the stunt, which saw the track played on the ISS and beamed back to Earth by satellite.
Source: news.sky.com
The Biden administration is weighing unfreezing $1 billion in Iranian funds that the country could use for humanitarian relief, amid the negotiations for the US to reenter the 2015 nuclear deal and bring Iran back into compliance with its terms.
Source: cnn.com
Paul McCartney has numerous hits, awards and even a knighthood to his name. Now the former Beatle can add a personalised set of stamps to his long list of accolades. Britain's Royal Mail (RMG.L) said on Thursday it will issue a set of 12 stamps depicting McCartney and his work, saying it was paying tribute to "one of the most iconic and enduring music artists of all time".
Source: reuters.com
Under the cover of darkness in desert habitats about 70 million years ago, in what is today Mongolia and northern China, a gangly looking dinosaur employed excellent night vision and superb hearing to thrive as a menacing pint-sized nocturnal predator. Scientists said on Thursday an examination of a ring of bones surrounding the pupil and a bony tube inside the skull that houses the hearing organ showed that this dinosaur, called Shuvuuia deserti, boasted visual and auditory capabilities akin to a barn owl, indicating it could it hunt in total darkness.
Source: reuters.com
Scientists have discovered a giant sequoia still smoldering in California’s Sequoia national forest, months after wildfires tore through the region last August. Charred tree – which may be thousands of years old – looks like chimney spouting smoke in national forest.
Source: theguardian.com
Finnegan Lee Elder, 21, and Gabriel Natale Hjorth, 20, must serve Italy’s stiffest sentence of at least 21 years behind bars for killing Italian cop Mario Cerciello Rega in 2019. Elder had admitted to stabbing Rega 11 times in the attack on July 26, 2019, but argued he acted in self-defence, believing the cop was a thug. His friend Natale-Hjorth, then 18, was convicted of helping him conceal the weapon after the pair hid the seven-inch Rambo knife in a concealed panel in their hotel room. Under Italian law, accomplices can also be charged with murder.
Source: thesun.co.uk
The international criminal court has sentenced a former militia leader and child soldier from Uganda to 25 years in prison after he was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a landmark judgment. The presiding judge, Bertram Schmitt, said the panel of judges had considered sentencing Dominic Ongwen to life imprisonment, the court’s harshest punishment, but had sided against it due to the defendant’s own personal suffering.
Source: theguardian.com
A glimpse of human grief, at the loss of a child 78,000 years ago, has been revealed in the discovery of the oldest burial site in Africa. The Middle Stone Age grave - of a three-year-old child - was found in a cave in Kenya. The researchers who studied the fragile, ancient remains described how its head appeared to have been laid on a pillow. Scientists have named the child Mtoto, meaning "the kid" in Swahili.
Source: bbc.com
The 25-second clip, posted on their social media channels on Wednesday opens with the couple relaxing on a sofa at home in Norfolk. William quips "Be careful what you say now because these guys are filming everything", and a laughing Kate replies "I know".
Source: news.sky.com
An online petition calling for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled has gained tens of thousands of signatures since being launched in Japan only days ago. The rollout of the petition comes with Tokyo, Osaka and several other areas under a state of emergency with coronavirus infections rising — particularly new variants. The state of emergency is to expire on May 11, but some reports in Japan say it is likely to be extended. The postponed Olympics are to open in just under three months on July 23.
Source: apnews.com
A giant moth with a wingspan measuring up to 25cm has been found at a Queensland school next to a rainforest. Builders found the giant wood moth, the heaviest moth in the world, while constructing new classrooms at Mount Cotton state school. Giant wood moths are found along the Queensland and New South Wales coast, according to the Queensland Museum. Females can weigh up to 30 grams and have a wingspan of up to 25cm. Males are half that size.
Source: theguardian.com
Infections in India hit another grim daily record on Thursday as demand for medical oxygen jumped seven-fold and the government denied reports that it was slow in distributing life-saving supplies from abroad. The number of new confirmed cases breached 400,000 for the second time since the devastating surge began last month. The 412,262 cases pushed India’s tally to more than 21 million. The Health Ministry also reported 3,980 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 230,168. Experts believe both figures are an undercount.
Source: apnews.com
Mourners in traditional dress have paraded through the streets of Johannesburg to honour South Africa's Zulu queen on the eve of her funeral. Queen Shiyiwe Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu, 65, became interim leader of the country's largest ethnic group last month after the death of her husband, King Goodwill Zwelithini. The cause of the queen's death is yet to be announced by the royal family. The family has dismissed rumours that she had been poisoned.
Source: bbc.com
The Romanian NGO Agent Green and the Austrian NGO VGT alleged in a statement that the bear, who was called Arthur, was shot in March in a protected area of the Carpathian Mountains by Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein. According to the NGOs, the prince, who is a resident of Riegersburg in Austria, had been given special approval by the Romanian environment ministry to shoot a female bear that had been causing damage to farms in Ojdula. “But in reality, the prince did not kill the problem bear, but a male that lived deep in the woods and had never come close to localities,” the NGOs claim.
Source: theguardian.com
Israel’s president has tapped opposition leader Yair Lapid to form a new government on Wednesday – a step that could lead to the end of the lengthy rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Reuven Rivlin announced his decision on live television a day after Netanyahu failed to cobble together a governing coalition by a midnight deadline. Rivlin spent the day consulting with all of the parties elected to Israel’s parliament and announced late Wednesday that he believes Lapid has the best chance of forming a coalition.
Source: france24.com
Foreign diplomats in El Salvador have criticised President Nayib Bukele for broadcasting on national television their purportedly private meeting with him, saying the broadcast came as a surprise. Bukele held the talks with a group of envoys on Monday after his party at the weekend ousted the country's top prosecutor and all the key judges who sit on the Supreme Court's constitutional chamber. The removal of the officials had drawn sharp rebukes from Washington, the European Union and rights groups.
Source: reuters.com
Britain criticised France's threat to cut power supplies to the British Channel Island of Jersey after a row over post-Brexit fishing rights and will send two offshore patrol vessels to the area to monitor the situation.
Source: reuters.com
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will send its first crew to space on July 20 and is offering one of the seats to the winner of an online auction, the company said Wednesday. The trip will last a total of ten minutes, four of which passengers will spend above the Karman line that marks the recognized boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space. The reusable suborbital rocket system was named after Alan Shepard, who sixty years ago on Wednesday became the first American in space.
Source: france24.com
Hyundai is recalling more than 390,000 vehicles in the U.S. and Canada for two problems that can cause engine fires. In one recall, owners are being told to park their vehicles outdoors until repairs are made. The largest recall covers more than 203,000 Santa Fe Sport SUVs from 2013 through 2015. Some are being recalled a second time. Brake fluid can leak into the anti-lock brake computer, causing an electrical short that can lead to fires. Owners should park outdoors and away from structures until the problem is fixed, according to documents posted Tuesday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Source: apnews.com
Archaeologists will move thousands of bodies from the site of a medieval church that lies along the route of the HS2 railway. The remains of St Mary's Church in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, built in the 11th century, are being carefully excavated to allow work on the high speed line to continue. All discovered remains will be reburied in a local spot to be determined by HS2, with a specially created monument to mark the location.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
A French couple who uncovered letters sent to an English WW1 soldier have made contact with his great-great-nephew after a social media appeal. The letters to lance corporal William Swift, who signed up underage at 16 in 1914, had been hidden for more than 100 years, when workers renovating the couple's home found them under the floorboards.
Source: news.sky.com
Several employees of a pharmaceutical company have been arrested in Indonesia for allegedly washing and reselling used Covid nasal swab test kits. Up to 9,000 passengers at an airport in Medan may have been tested with the reused swab sticks, say police. State-owned company Kimia Farma is now reportedly facing a potential lawsuit launched on behalf of the travellers.
Source: bbc.com
A small civilian plane struck the home late Tuesday in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, leaving four people dead, police said. Details about what led to the crash weren't immediately available.
Source: cnn.com
U.S. air safety officials have asked Boeing Co (BA.N) to supply fresh analysis and documentation showing numerous 737 MAX subsystems would not be affected by electrical grounding issues first flagged in three areas of the jet in April, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The extra analysis injects new uncertainty over the timing of when Boeing's best-selling jetliner would be cleared to fly by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The electrical problems have suspended nearly a quarter of its 737 MAX fleet.
Source: reuters.com
Christie’s said Tuesday it is selling a bottle of French wine that spent more than a year in orbit aboard the International Space Station. The auction house thinks a wine connoisseur might pay as much as $1 million to own it. The Pétrus 2000 is one of 12 bottles sent into space in November 2019 by researchers exploring the potential for extraterrestrial agriculture. It returned 14 months later subtly altered, according to wine experts who sampled it at a tasting in France.
Source: apnews.com
France is "ready" to cut electricity to the British island of Jersey -- just off the French coast -- should the United Kingdom not abide by clauses of the Brexit agreement regarding fisheries, French Maritime Minister Annick Girardin said Tuesday. "As you know, the agreement provides for retaliatory measures, and we are ready to use them," Girardin told the French parliament. Girardin also claimed the Jersey government -- which issued 41 fishing permits to French vessels on April 30 -- had placed "unilateral" restrictions on the trawlers.
Source: cnn.com
The world's oldest person has pulled out of the torch relay for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics because she does not want to spread COVID-19 in her care home. Kane Tanaka, 118, was due to take part in the prestigious event in Fukuoka in southern Japan, on 11 May, but has withdrawn over safety concerns.
Source: news.sky.com
The Australian Defense Forces will stop using Israeli defense company Elbit’s Battle Management System (BMS) starting in mid-June, Australian Defense Magazine reported last week. The ADF informed Elbit Australia about the decision without giving any explanation, the report said. Tensions had been simmering between Elbit and the Australian Defense Department, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported last week. Elbit was imposing “huge premiums” because it has a monopoly on the system, an officer familiar with the matter was quoted as saying.
Source: jpost.com
Manchester City reached the Champions League final for the first time in their history after Riyad Mahrez's double secured a 2-0 victory (4-1 on aggregate) over 10-man Paris Saint-Germain on a historic night at the Etihad Stadium. Pep Guardiola, who reaches the Champions League final for the first time since he won the competition with Barcelona in 2011, will now lead his side against either Chelsea or Real Madrid in the final in Istanbul on Saturday, May 29.
Source: skysports.com
Afghan forces pushed back a string of insurgent attacks on checkpoints across the southern province, where the US military on Sunday handed over a base to government forces as part of its formal pullout that began on 1 May. About 1,000 families have fled their homes to escape the fighting that erupted on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, and some other parts of the province, said Sayed Mohammad Ramin, the region’s director for refugees.
Source: theguardian.com
Sotheby's said on Tuesday it would accept bitcoin and ethereum as payment for Banksy's iconic artwork "Love is in the Air", a first for a physical art auction and the latest sign of growing mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrencies. Bidding for the work is estimated at $3 million to $5 million, Sotheby's said, with the buyer having the option to pay with cryptocurrency. The auction house has tied up with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc (COIN.O) for the sale. Coinbase said in a blog it would help manage price fluctuations during the auction in New York next week.
Source: reuters.com
The soldiers dug the wooden barracks into a cave on the top of Mount Scorluzzo, a 3,095-metre (10,154ft) peak overlooking the Stelvio pass. For the next three-and-a-half years, the cramped, humid space was home to about 20 men from the Austro-Hungarian army as they fought against Italian troops in what became known as the White War, a battle waged across treacherous and bitterly cold Alpine terrain during the first world war. Fought mainly in the Alps of the Lombardy region of Italy and the Dolomites in Trentino Alto-Adige, the White War was a period of history frozen in time until the 1990s, when global warming started to reveal an assortment of perfectly preserved relics – weapons, sledges, letters, diaries and, as the retreat of glaciers hastened, the bodies of soldiers.
Source: theguardian.com
A farmer in Belgium has caused a stir after inadvertently redrawing the country's border with France. A local history enthusiast was walking in the forest when he noticed the stone marking the boundary between the two countries had moved 2.29m (7.5ft). The Belgian farmer, apparently annoyed by the stone in his tractor's path, had moved it inside French territory. Instead of causing international uproar, the incident has been met with smiles on both sides of the border.
Source: bbc.com
Tayyip Erdogan's nationalist ally said on Tuesday that his party had drafted a new constitution for Turkey that envisages an overhaul of the judiciary, and that it would soon be presented to Erdogan's ruling AK Party (AKP) for discussion. Erdogan has said he hopes a new constitutional text can be ready by 2022 for public debate, as the country prepares to mark the centenary of the creation of the modern Turkish republic in 2023 from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. The Islamist-rooted AKP has spoken of drawing up a road-map to a new constitution but has not yet announced any details.
Source: reuters.com
New Zealand’s parliament will not debate a motion that would label the abuses of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, China, as acts of genocide. Parliament opted instead on Tuesday to water down the language, and discuss concerns about human rights abuses in the region in more general terms. It is expected the new motion will pass unanimously on Wednesday. However, it marks no deviation from the country’s current position.
Source: theguardian.com
Colombian Finance Minister Alberto Carrasquilla resigned on Monday after multiple days of protests over a tax reform proposal that left at least 19 dead. Duque's government introduced the bill on April 15 in the hopes of financing public spending and revamping the economy. The proposed tax plan was met with widespread protests, including riots and violent clashes with police.
Source: dw.com
Yuki Kitazumi, who had been picked up from his home by troops and taken into custody on April 19, is the first foreign journalist to be charged since the military ousted the elected government of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Kitazumi, who was being held at Insein Prison in Yangon, has been charged under section 505A of the penal code, which criminalises comments that could cause fear or spread false news and is punishable by up to three years in jail.
Source: reuters.com
Israeli Prime Minister has one more day to convince potential partners to join him in a new government, or risk seeing the country's President hand the opportunity to a rival. One of the key figures Netanyahu needs to get onboard is former Defense Minister Naftali Bennett of the right-wing Yamina party. Bennett appeared to reject an offer by Netanyahu to rotate the Premiership on Monday, even though the offer included Bennett going first in the rotation. But even if he changes his mind over the course of the day, that still would not be enough for Netanyahu to enjoy a majority in the Knesset, Israel's parliament.
Source: cnn.com
Late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien will host his long-running nightly TBS "Conan" talkshow for the last time on June 24, WarnerMedia said on Monday, ahead of his shift to a new show on HBO Max. The final weeks of the TBS show will feature a line-up of special guests, culminating in an extended hour-long finale recapping his 11-year run.
Source: reuters.com
Drugmakers and government labs are developing doses easier to take and transport to tackle coronavirus variants and avert future pandemics. There are 277 Covid-19 vaccines in development globally, of which 93 have entered human testing, according to the World Health Organization. Most of the vaccines in clinical testing are injected, but there are two oral formulations and seven nasal-spray formulations.
Source: foxbusiness.com
Suspected jihadists have killed around 30 people in eastern Burkina Faso, security sources in the country said. A large group of armed men attacked the village of Kodyel in Komandjari province early on Monday morning, a local official said. If estimates of the number killed are correct it would make the attack one of the deadliest ever in Burkina Faso. Islamist attacks are increasingly common in the country, especially in regions bordering Niger and Mali.
Source: bbc.com
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