The US State Department has approved the $2.3 billion sale of 43 refurbished Apache helicopters to Egypt’s military.

Would you go on the run with your ex?

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Friday urged anti-narcotics authorities to target "big fish" and focus their investigations more on assets and money-laundering activities.

Vendors and shoppers are bustling about again at Bangkok’s most famous weekend market after a 48-day closure, with strict rules in place for everyone to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

China’s officials must stay “sober-minded” to handle the variety of coronavirus-related challenges that lie ahead, as mistakes could undermine relations with major developed nations and harm the country’s economic outlook, according to outspoken former Chongqing mayor Huang Qifan.Issues over the origin of the virus, compensation claims by the United States and decoupling worries have all appeared in the wake of the outbreak, but for Huang, the government should focus on domestic recovery after…

Criminal investigators in the United States have stepped up their pursuit of Covid-19 fraudsters selling unproven treatments and equipment online.The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has partnered with major health care and e-commerce companies to fight back against a deluge of fake goods being sold during the pandemic.There has been a rise in opportunists seeking to “capitalise and profit from the fear and anxiety” surrounding the Covid-19 disease, increasing sales of counterfeit…

China’s will face an increasingly hostile world over the next five years, meaning its policy plan should be focused on its vast domestic market, home-grown technological innovation and improving its citizens’ welfare, according to recommendations in a new paper.The report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a think tank affiliated with the State Council, foresees the next five years presenting “major changes unseen in a century” for China, as “the strategic game between…

Covid-19 cases in France can be dated back to as early as November 16, nearly 10 weeks before the country’s first confirmed cases of the disease were thought to have occurred, according to a French hospital.The November case was identified by the hospital’s medical imaging department after carrying out a retrospective study on about 2,500 chest scans performed between November 1 and April 30.The findings came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) called on countries to investigate pneumonia…

A city in China’s northeastern province of Jilin has upgraded its Covid-19 risk level from low to medium following a new case of the disease, the provincial authorities announced on Saturday morning.It came just two days after China’s government declared the whole country was low-risk after the number of new cases dropped to almost zero and no deaths were recorded for more than three weeks.On Friday the State Council issued a notice allowing shopping malls, supermarkets, hotels and restaurants…

WeChat, the Chinese messaging app, is systematically monitoring the content sent by international users to build up its censorship algorithms applied against accounts registered in China, a new study has found.Researchers at Citizen Lab, an academic research lab at the University of Toronto, determined that WeChat screens images and documents shared by accounts registered outside China after they are sent, then adds the digital signature – or “hash” – of any files deemed sensitive to a…

There is a long way to go before the Covid-19 crisis ends. Hong Kong and a few other places seem to have suppressed community transmission. But in much of the world, the virus still claims new victims every day.Some experts believe the global pandemic could continue for another two years before it is brought under control with testing, contact tracing, therapy and perhaps a vaccine.It is hard to see international travel and trade returning to normal anytime this year. Worldwide, unemployment…

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday said the coronavirus pandemic keeps unleashing “a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scaremongering” and appealed for “an all-out effort to end hate speech globally”.The UN chief said “anti-foreigner sentiment has surged online and in the streets, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have spread, and Covid-19-related anti-Muslim attacks have occurred”. Migrants and refugees “have been vilified as a source of the virus – and then denied…

South African Fredie Blom celebrated his 116th birthday on Friday unfazed by the coronavirus crisis, over 100 years since the Spanish flu pandemic killed his sister.“I have lived this long because of God’s grace,” said Blom, possibly one of the oldest men in the world.Lighting a cigarette, he recalled the 1918 pandemic that left tens of millions dead worldwide including his sister.Blom was born in 1904 in the rural town of Adelaide, tucked near the Great Winterberg mountain range of South…

US Vice-President Mike Pence’s press secretary has the coronavirus, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week.President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide on Friday, said he was “not worried” about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex.US reversal scuppers UN vote on global coronavirus ceasefirePence spokeswoman…

The Philippines’ top broadcaster ABS-CBN on Tuesday was ordered off the air over a stalled operating licence renewal, drawing fresh charges that authorities were cracking down on press freedom.Since running afoul of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, the media powerhouse has seen bills to extend its franchise languish in Congress as the leader repeatedly attacked ABS-CBN in speeches.Duterte is notorious for tangling with media outlets critical of his policies, sparking concern that press…

The Philippines’ decision to allow gaming firms to resume their operations ahead of other local businesses has been met with fierce criticism, but officials insist the move is necessary as the government needs the revenue to fund its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) – which cater to gamblers in China, where the activity is illegal – were ordered to close in March as part of lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19. They employ tens of thousands of…

Indian police are investigating an online chat group that made light of gang-rape and caused a backlash on social media over trivialising sexual assault, with one teenage boy questioned on Tuesday.An Instagram chat group called “bois locker room” was the top trending hashtag on Twitter in India, with many tweets using screenshots from the group to highlight derogatory comments made about women, sexism or victim blaming.Sexual violence against women has become a major issue in India since the…

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s response to the coronavirus crisis has been in line with his “macho populism” similar to that of Donald Trump’s in the US and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.Like these illiberal leaders, a lockdown of Metro Manila since mid-March, and soon thereafter the entire Luzon area and beyond, came only after Duterte’s initial denial of the growing threat from the rapidly spreading pandemic.Once Duterte did finally act, it was in a haphazard and highly militarised fashion…

The Singapore government is reviewing the sale and slaughter of live animals at wet markets, Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resources, said on Tuesday. The relevant agencies are doing so while taking into consideration international benchmarking and scientific evidence, she added.Her comments were in response to a parliamentary question from MP for Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency Louis Ng. He asked whether her ministry would consider banning the…

A delayed rotation of US Marines to a defence base in Australia’s northern city of Darwin will go ahead based on strict adherence to Covid-19 measures, Australia’s defence minister said after speaking with her US counterpart.Up to 2,500 US Marines had been scheduled to arrive in April, in a major defence alliance cooperation exercise, but this was postponed in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.The remote Northern Territory, which has recorded just 30 Covid-19 cases, closed its borders…

The Philippines’ largest broadcaster ABS-CBN was forced off the air on Tuesday, the same day Conchita Lopez Taylor turned 90.“We’re used to it,” she said in a phone interview from her home in California.“We” referred to the large Lopez clan who owns the company, which had been forced to shut once before.Taylor was a 42-year-old mother of seven when ABS-CBN’s facilities were seized in 1972 by the clan’s former political ally, then-President Ferdinand Marcos. Her husband, former ABS-CBN chairman…

A gas leaked from an LG chemical plant in southern India early on Thursday, leaving people struggling to breathe and collapsing in the streets as they tried to flee. At least 11 people died and about 1,000 suffered breathing difficulties and other problems.The synthetic chemical styrene leaked from the LG Polymers plant in a city on India’s eastern coast while workers were preparing to restart the facility after a coronavirus lockdown was eased, state official Vinay Chand said.A fire that broke…

Indian officials evacuated more people on Friday from the area around a chemical plant in the south of the country that leaked toxic gas, killing at least 12 people and left about 1,000 struggling to breathe.There was confusion about whether the wider evacuation orders were sparked by a renewed leak at the LG Chem factory in Andhra Pradesh, or by the fear that rising temperatures at the plant could lead to another leak.“No, there was not another leakage,’’ National Disaster Response Force…

South Korea confirmed 12 new coronavirus cases on Friday, its first increase above 10 in five days, as authorities warned numbers would increase as it had identified a new cluster of infections linked to a 29-year-old man.The IT company employee had spread the virus to at least 14 others as he wandered around the capital Seoul and four neighbouring cities over a long weekend period at the start of the month, said the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.While the 12 cases were those…

A group of 150 Chinese workers believe the world’s largest maker of trainers used the coronavirus as an excuse to fire them, having helped Taiwanese firm Pou Chen successfully expand its production into Vietnam for more than a decade.Pou Chen, which makes footwear for the likes of Nike and Adidas, informed the group in late April that they would no longer be needed as they were unable to return to Vietnam from their hometowns in China due to the coronavirus lockdowns.“We believe we contributed…

Picka.treatsg, an online business operating out of a Singapore public flat, saw an increase in orders of its cakes late last month, after the authorities announced commercial snack and drinks outlets would have to temporarily stop operating.This came amid tighter restrictions during Singapore’s circuit breaker or partial lockdown period, and just before the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.Singapore moves nursing-home employees into hotels to protect elderlyWith orders growing from…

Prague Daily Monitor

According to data released by the Ministry of Interior, the number of British citizens living in the Czech Republic has increased about 35% since the Brexit referendum, and Brits with their permanent residence in the Czech Republic have risen almost 55% since 2016.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Strong winds felled trees on to cars and flung loose materials across the city on Tuesday afternoon. The spokesperson for the Prague Firefighter Brigade said that "so far we have responded to 23 incidents related to wind up to 15:00. The most common calls were related to fallen trees, scattered branches and debris."

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Prague Daily Monitor

Tuesday saw a small return of winter to the Czech Republic. Temperatures dropped during the morning as clouds cleared. Soon heavy winds followed and reaped destruction on infrastructure. At the height of the destruction there were almost 18,000 households across the country with electricity outages during the day. The worst outages were felt in Southern Moravia according to E.ON. Meteorologists are also warning people to be safe in the mountains as wet snow can break branches and fell trees.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Border Police patrolling an area close to Slovakia intercepted four refugees who were walking in the area. Not far from the town of Lanžhot, squeezed between Slovakia and Austria, police noticed four young males walking in a field. The refugees are thought to come from Afghanistan but had no identity documents in their possession.

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Prague Daily Monitor

A serial con-artist, defrauding women into thinking he was a CIA agent or a director of a shopping mall, has been captured by police in Kladno. The 47 year old man, wanted for another fraud he was convicted for, has a five year prison term outstanding. The man has several prior convictions, which in the past were also fraud related; an example: conning women out of money in Tábor area or around Prague, posing as a medical doctor.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Prague City Council has approved four rules which are to be used as a basis for upcoming negotiations with the Ministry of Regional Development concerning short-term rental platforms. Counselor Hana Marvanova said that the largest change would be for Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms to provide municipalities with information about rentals. The four rules include limiting rentals, neighbors permission before going live on the platform, and fulfilling the same safety and building standards as hotels.

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Prague Daily Monitor

The city of Chur, Switzerland had some excitement on Thursday when a 55 year-old Czech walked into a bank with a pistol, shooting into the ceiling twice, terrifying patrons. The man managed to walk away from the bank with several tens of thousands of Swiss Francs. The suspect was found soon after, sitting in a pub calmly, drinking a beer reported a Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger.

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Prague Daily Monitor

In an article written by Jakub Plíhal for news server Aktualne.cz, about Prague's coming war with short-term rentals, he covered a symbolic protest in a building where out of seventeen flats only three are occupied by families permanently. Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib joined the protest organized by the Stop Airbnb group.

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Prague Daily Monitor

In Brno yesterday, a thirty-six year old man tried to enter a local supermarket without proper face protection. The fifty-nine year old security officer on duty was not willing to yield the rule and demanded the man not enter. A scuffle broke out and it ended with the customer being driven off in an ambulance.

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Prague Daily Monitor

The Liberec Technical University has created a replaceable filter which can be used in the homemade masks people are sewing. The masks are worn to comply with laws designed in preventing the spread of Covid-19. The Nano-material is 70-90% effective in stopping the coronavirus cells. The university with the help from the Liberec region and the private sector is now producing 100,000 filters a day. The price per one should not exceed CZK 10.

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Julie and Moses saw the disease shut down their events’ planning business, but this did not put them down. They now run a grocery store

The positions are for a non-renewable term of six years.

Ataro is also an assistant coach for multiple Kenyan champions Blazers.

A series of deadly unrests in the last two weeks that have claimed nearly two dozen lives.

The US women clinched back-to-back World Cup wins with victory at last year's finals in France.

Doctors believe this will revolutionalise medicine, but there are ethical and safety concerns

Ahmedabad, a city of 5.5 million, has become a major concern for authorities.

The is until a case by activist Okiya Omtatah is heard and determined.

Cathay Pacific is looking at “structural change” as it investigates how to downscale its business in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Post has learned.Hong Kong’s flag carrier is mulling scenarios that could reduce staff headcount, routes served and planes flown, as well as the possible consolidation of its airline brands, in drastic steps that would mirror those taken by rivals in recent weeks.“We are currently working with colleagues from across the airline to model varying degrees…

Bars will reopen across Hong Kong on Friday after a month-long coronavirus shutdown, as Lan Kwai Fong venues prepare to slash prices and the nightlife hub’s founder predicts takings as low as half normal levels.More than 100 frontline workers have been tested for the virus as part of the Central party zone’s relaunch, which comes as the government eases social-distancing restrictions in response to the improving Covid-19 situation in the city.Pubs and bars will only be allowed to operate half…

Exam authorities will carry out citywide research to develop an alternative student grading system in the event university entrance tests are cancelled because of future pandemics, Hong Kong’s education minister told the Post on Thursday.In an exclusive interview, Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung Yun-hung also said his bureau would review with schools how to better prepare for class suspensions, including teacher training and resources for non-traditional instruction methods.Hong Kong…

Bars and other entertainment venues were finally allowed to reopen their doors on Friday after more than a month of coronavirus measures, but Hong Kong’s famed nightlife scene was far from buzzing as people remained wary over the potential risk of infection.But along with the caution there was a sense of optimism from customers and business operators alike.A day after the city detected four imported cases in Hong Kong residents returning from Pakistan, the number of new infections dropped to…

Hong Kong police arrested 10 people following a fight between two groups with different political views at the so-called Lennon Wall in Wong Tai Sin district in the early hours of Friday.Five victims aged between 20 and 44 suffered injuries to their heads, backs and limbs in the incident that happened at a public housing estate in Lok Fu shortly before 12.30am.The dispute first erupted when a group of about 20 people carrying handy tools and paint were seen removing messages at the Lok Fu…

Police dispersed lunchtime protesters with pepper spray in an upscale Hong Kong shopping centre just 12 hours after the government relaxed some coronavirus social-distancing measures and allowed people to gather in groups of eight on Friday.Shortly after dozens of anti-government demonstrators began yelling slogans and belting out their anthem, officers entered the IFC Mall in Central to cordon off their protest site, forcing the Apple store to lower its shutters.Later, police used pepper spray…