Kazakhstan to tighten COVID-19 restrictions as outbreak worsens
Kazakhstan will close shopping malls, markets and parks in major cities on June 20-21 and make additional hospital beds available for COVID-19 patients, the Central Asian nation’s government said on Thursday.
Top China parliament body to review Hong Kong security legislation
The top decision-making body of China’s parliament will review a draft of national security legislation for Hong Kong during a session in Beijing that began on Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
France’s Macron to talk Brexit in London and mark de Gaulle’s ‘Appel’
President Emmanuel Macron visits the United Kingdom on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of General de Gaulle’s appeal to the French resistance and to talk Brexit with Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Former Japanese justice minister, lawmaker wife arrested for suspected vote-buying: NHK
A former Japanese justice minister and his lawmaker wife were arrested on Thursday on suspicion of vote-buying, public broadcaster NHK reported, in a harsh blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he struggles with falling voter support.
Lloyd’s of London apologises for ‘shameful’ role in Atlantic slave trade
The Lloyd’s of London insurance market has apologised for its role in the 18th and 19th Century Atlantic slave trade and has agreed to fund charities and organisations promoting opportunities for black and ethnic minority groups.
Kurdish militant attack kills four in southeast Turkey: governor’s office
Four workers were killed when Kurdish militants detonated a roadside bomb that struck the labourers’ pick-up truck as it passed by in southeast Turkey on Wednesday, the local governor’s office said.
New Zealand tightens gun laws further in response to mass shooting
New Zealand tightened its gun laws on Thursday with a registry that it had promised after a gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers last year in the country’s worst peace-time mass shooting.
India holds funerals for soldiers killed in China border clash as tensions stay high
India prepared to hold funerals on Thursday for some of the 20 soldiers killed in brutal hand-to-hand fighting with Chinese troops in a disputed mountainous border region, as the nuclear-armed rivals sought to defuse tensions.
Australia begins probe into Rio’s destruction of Aboriginal site
Australia called for submissions on Thursday to an inquiry into how mining giant Rio Tinto legally blew up two sacred Aboriginal caves that showed human history stretching back at least 46,000 years.
New coronavirus cases in New Zealand rattle public confidence
New Zealand recorded on Thursday its third new case of the coronavirus this week as quarantine breaches and other failures undermined public confidence days after it declared itself among the first countries in the world to be free of the virus.
