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Geetanjali Shree has become the first Indian writer to win the International Booker Prize. Her novel Tomb of Sand, a family saga set in the shadow of the partition of India, follows an 80-year-old woman after the death of her husband. It was the first Hindi-language book to be shortlisted for the £50,000 prize.

Source: bbc.com

Iranian state media reported Friday that Tehran has demanded the release of a ship seized by Greek authorities in their waters allegedly under pressure by Washington last month. The foreign ministry summoned the Swiss envoy, who represents the United States in Tehran as they have no embassy there, to lodge a diplomatic protest over the incident. Greek media has described the ship as a tanker carrying Iranian crude oil in breach of international sanctions. Iran called the move a “violation of international maritime law and international conventions” in its protest, the IRNA news agency reported.

Source: apnews.com

Iraq’s parliament has passed a law that makes it a crime to normalise ties with Israel, and violations of the law can be punishable with a death sentence or life imprisonment. The law, titled “Criminalising Normalisation and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity”, was approved on Thursday with 275 legislators voting in favour of it in Iraq’s 329-seat assembly.

Source: aljazeera.com

Justin Timberlake has sold the rights to his songs including hits such as "Cry Me A River" and "Rock Your Body" to Hipgnosis Song Management, the latest pop star to cash in on his body of work in the red-hot market for music streaming. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although a report by the Wall Street Journal said the transaction was valued at just above $100 million.

Source: reuters.com

A U.S.-led push to impose more United Nations sanctions on North Korea was vetoed by China and Russia on Thursday. The veto publicly split the U.N. Security Council for the first time since it started punishing Pyongyang in 2006. Eve Johnson reports.

Source: reuters.com

Researchers studying human remains from Pompeii have extracted genetic secrets from the bones of a man and a woman who were buried when the Roman city was engulfed in volcanic ash. This first "Pompeian human genome" is an almost complete set of "genetic instructions" from the victims, encoded in DNA extracted from their bones. Ancient DNA was preserved in bodies that were encased in time-hardened ash. The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Source: bbc.com

A museum dedicated to the glamourous Hungarian-born actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, who died in 2016, was opened in Budapest on Thursday by her widower Frederic Prinz Von Anhalt. The permanent exhibition, located in the Origo film studio on the outskirts of the capital, celebrates Gabor's flamboyant Hollywood lifestyle and personality.

Source: france24.com

The Grammy-nominated South Korean boy band, will join President Joe Biden next week to talk about “Asian inclusion and representation” and to address hate crimes and discrimination against Asians, the White House announced Thursday. The musical group’s White House visit next Tuesday follows Biden’s trip last week to South Korea, a U.S. ally. Biden has been outspoken about being committed to combating a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Last year, the Democratic president signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law.

Source: apnews.com

Aston Villa have agreed to sign Brazilian defender Diego Carlos from Sevilla in a reported £26 million ($32 million) deal. Carlos is set to travel to England for a medical before agreeing personal terms with the Premier League club. The 29-year-old centre-back played 136 matches for Sevilla, helping them win the 2020 Europa League.

Source: france24.com

Ray Liotta, the actor known for his roles in "Field of Dreams" and the Martin Scorsese mob classic "Goodfellas," has died. He was 67. "Ray was working on a project in the Dominican Republic called 'Dangerous Waters' when he passed. He passed in his sleep. He is survived by his daughter, Karsen and his fiancée, Jacy Nittolo," his publicist Jennifer Allen told CNN.
 

Bob Dylan has rerecorded his classic protest song Blowin’ in the Wind for the first time since it was tracked in July 1962. The new version is the debut release for Ionic Original, a new analogue format developed by Dylan’s long-term collaborator T Bone Burnett. It is also highly exclusive: Ionic will produce one-of-a-kind aluminium discs painted with lacquer that features “a spiral etched into it by music”. Only one copy of the Dylan recording will be released, and is set to be auctioned by Christie’s in London on 7 July. It is expected to sell for between £600,000 and £1m.

Source: theguardian.com

A former director of the Louvre Museum in Paris has been charged with conspiring to hide the origin of archaeological treasures that investigators suspect were smuggled out of Egypt in the chaos of the Arab Spring, a French judicial source said Thursday. Jean-Luc Martinez was charged Wednesday after being taken in for questioning along with two French specialists in Egyptian art, who were not charged, another source close to the inquiry told AFP.

Source: france24.com

Paola Badosa has become the first woman seeded in the top 10 to reach the third round at Roland Garros this year. Badosa went down a break to open the third set of her match against 68th-ranked Kaja Juvan before regrouping to grab four games in a row and was on her way to a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory at Court Suzanne Lenglen that took more than two hours. Badosa’s best showing at a Grand Slam tournament was a quarterfinal appearance at the 2021 French Open. She will face No. 29 Veronika Kudermetova next.

Source: apnews.com

Two lawmakers from Britain's governing Conservative Party pulled their support for Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday over a damning report that detailed a series of alcohol-fuelled lockdown-breaking parties at his 10 Downing Street office. Their voices add to a growing list of Conservative lawmakers who have called for Johnson to resign over what has been dubbed 'partygate', despite the prime minister's repeated apologies.

Source: reuters.com

The death toll from the collapse of a tower block in southwestern Iran rose to 18, state media reported on Thursday, making it the country's deadliest such disaster in years. A large section of the 10-storey Metropol building that was under construction in the city of Abadan, Khuzestan province, crashed to the ground on Monday, with initially dozens feared trapped.

Source: france24.com

An unexplained incident struck a major Iranian military and weapons development base east of Tehran, the country’s state TV reported on Thursday, killing an engineer and injuring another employee. Iran’s Defense Ministry said the “accident” occurred on Wednesday afternoon at a research center at the Parchin military complex. It did not elaborate on the cause of the accident or provide any further details, but said that an investigation was underway. It identified the engineer who died as Ehsun Ghadbeigi.

Source: apnews.com

For nearly two decades, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and its host have beamed into homes across America, busting stereotypes and charming daytime TV audiences with a feel-good blend of quirky comedy and celebrity cameos. But after more than 3,000 episodes, a talk show that came to rival even Oprah Winfrey's in terms of its cultural impact departs Thursday under a cloud, after allegations of a toxic workplace at stark odds with its "be kind" mantra.

Source: france24.com

US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that aims to advance “effective, accountable policing” in the United States and strengthen public safety, as the nation marks the second anniversary of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Wednesday’s order directs a revision of use-of-force policies for 100,000 federal law enforcement officers, creates a national registry of police misconduct and limits the resale of US military equipment to state and local police departments, among other measures.

Source: aljazeera.com