theworldmail.co.uk – Page 97 – International News

Lebanese government resigns after Beirut blast, public anger

JUSTIN MARK August 11, 2020 No Comments

**AUG 11, 2020 @ 1700 GMT | BERUIT, Labanon |** An Anti-government protesters use fireworks against Lebanese riot police, during a protest in the aftermath of last Tuesday’s massive explosion which devastated Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Aug. 10, 2020. (AP Photo)

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s prime minister stepped down from his job Monday in the wake of the catastrophic explosion in Beirut that has triggered public outrage, saying he has come to the conclusion that corruption in the country is “bigger than the state.”

The move risks opening the way to dragged-out negotiations over a new Cabinet amid urgent calls for reform. It follows a weekend of anti-government protests after the Aug. 4 explosion in Beirut’s port that decimated the facility and caused widespread destruction, killing at least 160 people and injuring about 6,000 others.

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Brazil makes grim milestone — 100,000 deaths from COVID-19

JUSTIN MARK August 9, 2020 No Comments

**AUG 9, 2020 @ 1700 GMT | RIO-DE-JANEIRO, Brazil |** Crosses, red balloons and Brazilian nation flags are placed in the sand on Copacabana beach in a demonstration organized by Rio de Paz to honor the victims of COVID-19, as the country heads to a milestone of 100,000 new coronavirus related deaths, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020. **(AP Photo)**

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil surpassed a grim milestone of 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday night, and five months after the first reported case the country has not shown signs of crushing the disease.

The nation of 210 million people has been reporting an average of more than 1,000 daily deaths from the pandemic since late May and reported 905 for the latest 24-hour period.

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Plane skids off runway in India; 17 killed, including pilots

JUSTIN MARK August 8, 2020 No Comments

**AUG 8, 2020 @ 1400 GMT | NEW DELHI, India |** The Air India Express flight that skidded off a runway while landing at the airport in Kozhikode, Kerala state, India, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020. The special evacuation flight bringing people home to India who had been trapped abroad because of the coronavirus skidded off the runway and split in two while landing in heavy rain killing more than a dozen people and injuring dozens more. (AP Photo)

NEW DELHI (AP) — At least 17 people were killed and 123 injured when a special return flight for Indians stranded abroad because of the coronavirus skidded off a hilltop runway and cracked in two while landing Friday in heavy rain in the southern state of Kerala, police said.

Among the injured, at least 15 were in critical condition, said Abdul Karim, a senior Kerala state police officer. Rescue operations were over, he said.

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Uber lost $1.8B in 2Q as riders stayed home and ordered in

JUSTIN MARK August 7, 2020 No Comments

**AUG 7, 2020 @ 1500 GMT | FILE** – This Aug. 9, 2019 file photo, the logo for Uber appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Uber lost $1.78 billion in the second quarter of 2020 as the pandemic carved a gaping hole in its ride-hailing business, with millions of people staying home to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Its food delivery business grew as more people ordered in, but that growing part of its business didn’t turn a profit. (AP File Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) — Uber lost $1.78 billion in the second quarter as the pandemic carved a gaping hole in its ride-hailing business, with millions of people staying home to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

It’s pinning its hopes in part on its booming food-delivery business, but that bustling corner of the company didn’t turn a profit.

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Facebook launches its new TikTok clone, Instagram Reels

JUSTIN MARK August 6, 2020 No Comments

**AUG 6, 2020 @ 1230 GMT |** Instagram Reels is displayed on a mobile phone on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020 in New York. Facebook’s Instagram is officially launching its answer to the hit short video app TikTok — Instagram Reels. The new Instagram feature will let users record and edit 15-second videos with audio, and will let users add visual effects. Users will be able to share Reels with followers in Instagram in a dedicated section called Reels in Explore, or in the Story feature where posts disappear after 24 hours. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK, United States (AP) — Facebook’s Instagram is officially launching its answer to the hit short video app TikTok — Instagram Reels.

The new Instagram feature will let users record and edit 15-second videos with audio, and will let users add visual effects. Users will be able to share Reels with followers in Instagram in a dedicated section called Reels in Explore, or in the Story feature where posts disappear after 24 hours.

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SpaceX capsule and NASA crew make 1st splashdown in 45 years

JUSTIN MARK August 3, 2020 No Comments

**AUG 3, 2020 @ 1700 GMT |** NASA astronauts Robert Behnken, left, and Douglas Hurley are seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020. The Demo-2 test flight for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program was the first to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station and return them safely to Earth onboard a commercially built and operated spacecraft. Behnken and Hurley returned after spending 64 days in space. (**NASA via AP)**

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Two NASA astronauts returned to Earth on Sunday in a dramatic, retro-style splashdown, their capsule parachuting into the Gulf of Mexico to close out an unprecedented test flight by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.

It was the first splashdown by U.S. astronauts in 45 years, with the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit. The return clears the way for another SpaceX crew launch as early as next month and possible tourist flights next year.

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Final days of hajj and Eid festival impacted by coronavirus

JUSTIN MARK August 1, 2020 No Comments

**AUG 1, 2020 @ 1100 GMT |** Muslim worshippers offer Eid al-Adha prayer at a park as mosques are limited for ten people following the government’s measures to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, in the mixed Arab Jewish city of Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Friday, July 31, 2020. This is the first Feast of Sacrifice since the onset of the global coronavirus pandemic. The major Muslim holiday, at the end of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, is observed around the world by believers and commemorates prophet Abraham’s pledge to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. (AP Photo)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Small groups of people performed one of the final rites of the Islamic hajj on Friday as Muslims worldwide marked the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday amid a global pandemic that has impacted nearly every aspect of this year’s pilgrimage and celebrations.

The last days of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia coincide with the four-day Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” in which Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.

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Australia to make Google and Facebook pay for news content

JUSTIN MARK July 31, 2020 No Comments

**JULY 31, 2020 @ 1500 GMT | FILE** – This April 26, 2017, file photo shows the Google mobile phone icon, in Philadelphia. The Australian government said on Friday, July 31, 2020 it plans to give Google and Facebook three months to negotiate with Australian media businesses fair pay for news content. (AP File Photo)

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government said on Friday it plans to give Google and Facebook three months to negotiate with Australian media businesses fair pay for news content.

In releasing a draft of a mandatory code of conduct, the government aims to succeed where other countries have failed in making the global digital giants pay for news siphoned from commercial media companies.

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Asia Today: China, SKorea, Japan see upticks in virus cases

JUSTIN MARK July 29, 2020 No Comments

**JULY 29, 2020 @ 1400 GMT |** Vietnamese COVID-19 patients in protective gear, holding Vietnamese flags and carrying a portrait of the national leader Ho Chi Minh, arrive at the Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. The 129 patients who were working in Equatorial Guinea are brought home in a repatriation flight for treatment of the coronavirus. **(VNA via AP)**

BEIJING (AP) — China reported more than 100 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday as the country continues to battle an outbreak in Xinjiang.

The 101 new cases was China’s highest daily increase in weeks. The northwestern region of Xinjiang accounted for 89, with another eight in the northeastern province of Liaoning and one in Beijing. Another three cases were brought from outside the country by returning Chinese citizens.

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US-China spats rattle world, prompting calls for unity

JUSTIN MARK July 28, 2020 No Comments

**JULY 28, 2020 @ 1500 GMT | FILE** – U.S. President Donald Trump, center, walks by French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, prior to a group photo of NATO leaders during a NATO leaders meeting at The Grove hotel and resort in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019. France has avoided echoing Trump’s criticism of Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus, but legislators applauded Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian last week when he condemned abuses of minority Uighurs in China’s northwest. (AP File Photo)

BEIJING (AP) — Antagonisms between the U.S. and China are rattling governments around the world, prompting a German official to warn of “Cold War 2.0” and Kenya’s president to appeal for unity to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Global trade already was depressed by two years of tariff warring between the world’s two biggest economies. That rancor has spread to include Hong Kong, Chinese Muslims, spying accusations and control of the South China Sea.

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