Myanmar says it will submit a report due Saturday outlining its claims of compliance with an order from the International Court of Justice to protect members of its Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority.
The Netherlands-based court in January issued an order for Myanmar to implement provisional measures for the protection of the Rohingya.
The court agreed last year to consider a case alleging that Myanmar committed genocide against the group, an accusation vigorously denied by the government. The court's proceedings are likely to continue for years.
Myanmar's military in August 2017 launched what it called a clearance campaign in Rakhine state in response to an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group. The campaign forced about 740,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh and led to accusations that security forces committed mass rapes and killings and burned thousands of homes.
Chan Aye, director general of the International Organizations and Economic Department of Myanmar's Foreign ...

Myanmar prepares response to Int'l Court order on Rohingya

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South Korean health authorities say they're reviewing the possible use of new smartphone technology from Apple and Google that automatically notifies users when they come close to people infected with the coronavirus.
But officials also say it isn't clear whether the Bluetooth-based apps would meaningfully boost the country's technology-driven fight against COVID-19, where health workers have aggressively used cellphone data, credit card records and surveillance footage to trace and isolate potential virus carriers.
Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip said Wednesday that the U.S. tech giants in a message conveyed through South Korean cellphone carrier KT recommended that the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider using their technology.
Lee Kang-ho, another health ministry official, said officials were discussing whether the apps would be useful, but added our methods in anti-virus efforts differ from methods and goals pursued over there.
The software released by ...

S Korea authorities looking at smartphone tech to check coronavirus

Pakistan on Friday said that its debt in the multi-billion dollar CPEC-related projects is just 10 per cent of the total public debts, days after a top US official called on China to release countries like Pakistan from predatory loans.
The US' top diplomat for South and Central Asia Alice Wells on Wednesday said that at a time when the world is reeling from the economic consequences of having shut parts of the economy due to the coronavirus, it is really incumbent upon China to take steps to alleviate the burden this predatory, unsustainable and unfair lending is going to cause to Pakistan.
Responding to the remarks of Wells, who has been critical of the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistan's Foreign Office said that its total public debt relating to the CPEC projects is less than even 10 per cent of the total debt.
Moreover, the public debt obtained from China has a maturity period of 20 years and the interest is 2.34 per cent.
If grants are included, the 

Pak says debt in CPEC-related projects is just 10%, rejects US' concern

A Little Mermaid sequel series, titled Washed Up, is in development at Peacock, the upcoming video on demand streaming service by NBCUniversal.
Writer-producer Gracie Glassmeyer is developing the single-camera comedy series which will serve as a follow-up to both the Disney classic film as well as Hans Christian Andersen's original story, reported Deadline.
Andersen's "The Little Mermaid", which was published in 1837, is a Danish fairy tale on which the much-famous Disney animated classic is loosely based on.
In "Washed Up", fifteen years after giving up her underwater life to marry a prince at age 17, the young princess is now sad, indifferent and in a unhappy marriage. But when her father suddenly dies, she suspects foul play and get on an epic journey to save not only her sea kingdom but the whole humankind.
Disney is also making a live-action version of "The Little Mermaid" based on its 1989 animated movie.

Little Mermaid' follow-up series Washed Up' in the works

Eight-time Grand Slam-winning Australian tennis player Ashley Cooper has died aged 83, the sport's governing body said Friday.
The former Australian, Wimbledon and US singles titleholder, was part of the golden era of Australian men's tennis in the 1950s winning four Grand Slams singles titles and four in doubles.
Tennis Australia announced the news, saying he would be remembered as "a giant of the game both as a brilliant player and an astute administrator." "Ashley was also the most humble of champions and a great family man," said Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley.
"Our hearts go out to his wife Helen and his family, along with his wide and international circle of friends, including so many of our tennis family.

Aussie Grand Slam winner Cooper dies

Russia has reported the highest daily spike in coronavirus deaths on Friday, as health officials registered 150 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the country's toll to 3,249.
Russia's comparatively low mortality rate has raised eyebrows in the West, with some suggesting that the country's government may be underreporting virus-related deaths and manipulating the statistics.
Russian officials vehemently deny the allegations and attribute the low numbers to the effectiveness of the measures taken to curb the spread of the outbreak.
Russia's coronavirus caseload has exceeded 326,000 on Friday, with health officials reporting almost 9,000 new infections.
Earlier this month President Vladimir Putin announced gradually lifting lockdown restrictions, saying that Russia was able to slow down the epidemic and it was time for gradual reopening.
The vast majority of the country's regions have been on lockdown since March 30.

Russia reports highest spike in daily virus death toll

A Danish government agency that maps the spread of the coronavirus in Denmark said between 0.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent of the country's 5.8 million people have had the COVID-19 infection, according to early results.
Statens Serum Institut, or SSI, said the figures, based on 2,600 people that were randomly chosen in Denmark's five cities and who were given the anti-body tests, must be interpreted with great caution.
Furthermore, whether the figures can be transmitted to the entire Danish population can also be influenced by whether groups with different patterns of infection choose or not choose to accept the offer to be tested, said Steen Ethelberg who heads the project group behind the SSI study.
He added that the results were the first part of the gradual roll-out of the study and more results are expected in the coming weeks.
He said to get a full picture, 6,000 people have to be tested to achieve the desired precision across the country.
Danish media, citing an SSI report ...

Denmark study estimates up to 1.8% of its population has had the virus

Hollywood star John Krasinski has struck a deal with ViacomCBS to license his popular digital series "Some Good News".
As per the deal, the series format and short-form content will appear across a number of Viacom andCBSproperties, reported Variety.
The show, which Krasinski hosted on YouTube, is "dedicated entirely to good news".
The actor shot the series from his home where he was locked up with his family due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The series, consisting of eight episodes, debuted on March 29 and has amassed 2.6 million subscribers to the channel till date.
While Krasinski will continue to be involved as an executive producer, he will not host the new episodes. However, he will have some sort of on-air presence.
"Could not be more excited and proud to be partnering with CBS-Viacom to be able to bring 'Some Good News' to so many more people. From the first episode, our goal was to create a news show dedicated entirely to good news.
"Never did I expect to be joining the ranks of .

John Krasinski's 'Some Good News' acquired by ViacomCBS

The latest report from Spain's National Statistics Institute makes grim reading for the country's tourism sector.
The report published Friday said that in April hotel occupancy was nil, as establishments locked down due to the new coronavirus outbreak.
The institute, which is a government body, published columns of zeros for overnight stays, average length of stays and occupancy rates.
Spain is Europe's second most popular tourist destination, after France.

Spain says lockdown put hotel occupancy at 'nil'

The US Geological Survey says a relatively strong earthquake has been recorded in the Pacific Ocean west of Mexico.
The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1, hit at 3:46 a.m. local time Friday at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).
The epicenter was 173 km (108 miles) east southeast of the resort city of San Jose del Cabo, on the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.
No tsunami warning was issued.

Magnitude-6.1 earthquake hits in ocean west of Mexico

The owner of an abattoir in the eastern Netherlands says that health authorities have placed all 600 staff in home quarantine for two weeks after 45 workers tested positive for the coronavirus.
The meatworks is in Groenlo, close to the Dutch border with Germany. Authorities in Germany agreed this week to crack down on labor conditions in slaughterhouses following the discovery of clusters of COVID-19 cases.
Ronald Lotgerink, CEO of Vion Food Group that owns the abattoir said he was surprised by the infections. Vion is an international food company with production locations in the Netherlands and Germany.
As a crucial company, we took all necessary measures to ensure the protection and health of our staff, Lotgerink said in a statement Friday.
He added that the company and meat sector must learn from this quickly and change our behavior and share that with each other.

600 staffers of slaughterhouse in Netherlands quarantined over coronavirus fears

Bangladesh on Friday began assessing the damage caused by Cyclone Amphan that killed at least 22 people and left many displaced in the country's coastal areas.
Cyclone 'Amphan', the strongest to hit the region in nearly two decades, made landfall on Wednesday evening. It was the most powerful storm since cyclone 'Sidr' killed nearly 3,500 people in 2007.
The powerful cyclone has caused Taka 11 billion (USD 129 million) in damage to the housing, infrastructure, fisheries and livestock, water resources and agriculture in Bangladesh, according to initial government estimates, Md Enamur Rahman, state minister for disaster management and relief, revealed the figure in a virtual press conference on Thursday.
At least 26 districts across the country have been affected by the cyclone, the minister said.
The figures of damage include reports submitted by the ministries of fisheries and livestock, water resources, agriculture and local government, Enamur was quoted as saying by ...

Cyclone Amphan toll mounts to 22 in Bangladesh

One thing is clear in the complicated, sometimes contradictory and often chaotic story of Tara Reade: Her life hasn't been easy.
Her earliest memories were of being physically and emotionally abused by her father, she told her ex-husband, a man she would leave after she said he, too, abused her.
After landing a low-level job in 1992 with then-Sen Joe Biden, Reade said, she was again the victim of abuse after he sexually assaulted her in a hallway  an allegation Biden vehemently denies.
That accusation, which Reade made publicly for the first time in March, has revived difficult questions about how to evaluate allegations of assault in the era of #MeToo. It also has drawn intense scrutiny to Reade's life story.
Some who have dealt with her found her duplicitous and deceitful, while others found her a heroic survivor.
It's often not possible to conclusively resolve an allegation like the one Reade has made, where there are no witnesses and no timely police report.
So how her claim is ...

Biden accuser's life marred by abuse and financial hardship

Singapore on Friday reported 614 new coronavirus cases, mostly foreign workers living in packed dormitories, taking the total number of positive cases in the country to 30,426.
Four of the new cases are either Singapore citizens or permanent residents (foreigners), the majority are foreign workers, said the Health Ministry in its preliminary daily update.
The COVID-19 toll stands at 23 in the city-state after a 73-year-old Singaporean man died due to coronavirus complications on Thursday.
The ministry said it continues to pick up new COVID-19 cases among foreign workers residing in dormitories, including in factory-converted dormitories, because of extensive testing in these premises.
Ninety-nine per cent of the new cases are linked to known clusters. A total of 16,771 patients are isolated and cared for at community facilities as they have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.
The ministry said 910 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals 

Singapore reports 614 new coronavirus infections, total cases cross 30,000-mark

A head-on collision between a truck carrying passengers and another vehicle killed at least 43 people and left 32 others injured on a highway in Sudan's Darfur region, police said Friday.
The police statement said the crash took place late Thursday in the town of Shangil Tobayi in North Darfur province.
The statement did nor elaborate on the cause of the crash. It said a fire broke out in the truck before firefighters put it out.
Some of the injured were in critical condition and taken to a hospital in al-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur, it said.
The truck, which was loaded with passengers, was traveling from Shangil Tobayi when it collided with a passenger vehicle heading toward the town, more than 1,100 kilometers (about 620 miles) west of the capital, Khartoum, police said.
Automobile accidents are common in Sudan, often the result of badly maintained roads and poor enforcement of traffic laws. The World Health Organization said road accidents killed more than 10,000 

Sudan police say at least 43 killed in head-on vehicle crash

China on Friday introduced the draft of a controversial national security law in Hong Kong in its parliament to tighten Beijing's control over the former British colony, in what could be the biggest blow to the territory's autonomy and personal freedoms since 1997 when it came under Chinese rule.
Hong Kong, an economic powerhouse, is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. It has observed a "one country, two systems" policy since Britain returned sovereignty to China on July 1, 1997, which has allowed it certain freedoms the rest of China does not have.
The draft bill on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to safeguard national security was submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC) which began its week-long session here.
The new law would proscribe secessionist and subversive activity as well as foreign interference and terrorism in the city - all developments that had been ...

China introduces controversial security bill in parliament to tighten controls over Hong Kong

On just one day this month, 50 Tanzanian truck drivers tested positive for the coronavirus after crossing into neighbouring Kenya.
Back home, their president insists that Tanzania has defeated the disease through prayer.
All the while, President John Magufuli has led a crackdown on anyone who dares raise concerns about the virus's spread in his East African country or the government's response to it.
Critics have been arrested, and opposition politicians and rights activists say their phones are being tapped.
The country's number of confirmed virus cases hasn't changed for three weeks, and the international community is openly worrying that Tanzania's government is hiding the true scale of the pandemic.
Just over 500 cases have been reported in a country of nearly 60 million people.
While many African countries have been praised for their response to the coronavirus, Tanzania is the most dramatic exception, run by a president who questions  or fires  his own health experts and has ...

Tanzania says virus defeated through prayer, but fears grow

Iran's supreme leader on Friday called Israel a cancerous tumor that will undoubtedly be uprooted and destroyed in an annual speech in support of the Palestinians, renewing threats against Iran's Mideast enemy.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's speech marked a subdued Quds Day for Iran, which typically sees government-encouraged mass demonstrations in Tehran and elsewhere in the Islamic Republic, as well as Iranian-allied nations.
Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Iran largely asked demonstrators to stay home.
Khamenei spoke to the nation in a 30-minute speech aired on state television, a rare address by the supreme leader as other officials in the past gave the keynote speech. He repeatedly referred to Israel as a cancer or tumor during the speech, criticizing the U.S. and the West for equipping it with various kinds of military and non-military tools of power, even with atomic weapons.
The Zionist regime is a deadly, cancerous growth ...

Iran leader says Israel a 'cancerous tumor' to be destroyed

Ten Indian nationals, some of them students, were charged on Friday with breaching the COVID-19 restrictions in Singapore by holding gatherings in a rented flat.
Three of the group invited the other seven to their rented flat  to drink tea, talk or study on the morning of May 5,breaching the social distancing measures in place to combat coronavirus, the Channel News Asia reported.
Under the COVID-19 regulations, meeting members of other households for a social purpose is prohibited and punishable by a maximum six-month jail term, a fine of up to SGD 10,000 or both.
The three tenants  consisting of a woman, Avinash Kaur, and two men, Navdeep Singh, and Sajandeep Singh
were charged for permitting others into their residence.
The other seven consist of a woman Bhullar Jasteena and six men  Arpit Kumar, Karmjit Singh, Mohammed Imran Pasha, Sharma Lukesh, Vijay Kumar and Waseem Akram.
All of them are aged between 20 and 33.
Avinash was given one charge of allowing Bhullar to enter the home 

10 Indian nationals in Singapore charged with breaching COVID-19 restrictions

Actor Joey King has announced that the much-anticipated sequel to her romantic-comedy The Kissing Booth will premiere on Netflix on July 24.
King made the revelation during an Instagram live, which also included surprise video calls from the team of The Kissing Booth 2, movie trivia, a fan Q&A and deleted scenes from the first film.
The Kissing Booth', which released on Netflix in May 2018, followed Elle (King), a teenager whose romance with high school senior and bad boy Noah (Jacob Elordi) puts her lifelong friendship with Noah's younger brother, Lee (Joel Courtney), at risk.
The sequel, directed by Vince Marcello from a script he wrote with Jay Arnold, picks up with Noah at Harvard and Elle in her senior year of high school.
Now she will have to take care of a long-distance relationship, enrolling into her dream college with best friend Lee, and a close friendship with a good-looking new classmate Marco (Taylor Zakhar Perez). But as Noah becomes close to a college girl (Maisie ...

'The Kissing Booth 2' to release on Netflix in July

Cricket South Africa on Friday played down its Director Graeme Smith's open backing of BCCI president Sourav Ganguly for the ICC chairman's post and said a protocol would be followed before offering support to any candidate.
Former skipper Smith, who is now CSA's director of cricket, on Thursday supported Ganguly for the ICC top job, saying a "cricket man" like the ex-India captain would be ideal to lead the apex body at this juncture.
However, a day after, the CSA was treading a different path.
"We must respect both the ICC protocol and our own protocol in deciding which candidate to back," said CSA president Chris Nenzani in a statement.
"There have been no candidates nominated as yet and once such nominations have been made the Board of CSA will take its decision in terms of its own protocol and give the chairman the mandate to exercise his vote as an ICC Board Director accordingly."
A day before, Smith had said: "From our perspective, it would be great to see a cricket man like ...

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