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AWorld War II Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot's uniform is set to be sold at auction after it was discovered wrapped in newspaper dating back to 1951. The "mystery" parcel containing the jacket and pants was found in a house in a village in East Staffordshire, England. It had been unopened for 70 years, Hansons Auctioneers said in a press release.

Source: cnn.com

China’s military and state media have warned the UK against provocation as it sent a carrier strike group, led by a Royal Navy aircraft carrier, through the contested South China Sea. A spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defence, Wu Qian, said it respected freedom of navigation but firmly opposed any naval activities that aimed to provoke controversy.

Source: theguardian.com

A security guard has been jailed for more than five years for stabbing 16 cats in a series of night-time attacks. Steven Bouquet killed nine cats around Brighton between October 2018 and June 2019. Seven more were injured. The 54-year-old had denied 16 counts of criminal damage and possession of a knife but was found guilty in June. Bouquet, who has been dubbed the "Brighton cat killer", was sentenced to five years and three months in prison at Hove Crown Court.

Source: bbc.com

Monsoon floods and landslides have cut off more than 300,000 people in villages across southeast Bangladesh and killed at least 20 people including six Rohingya refugees, officials said Friday. The region along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border where nearly one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are in camps has been battered by torrential rain since Monday.

Source: france24.com

Novak Djokovic's hopes of winning a 'Golden Slam' are over after he lost to Alexander Zverev in the Olympic tennis semi-finals. Serb Djokovic, the world number one, was bidding to become the first man to win all four Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal in the same year. But German Zverev, 24, came from a set down to win 1-6 6-3 6-1 at the Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo. The fourth seed will meet Russian Karen Khachanov in Sunday's final.

Source: bbc.com

The National Gallery of Australia announced Thursday that it will return more than a dozen "culturally significant" artworks to India due to the items' alleged links to looting and trafficking networks. Thirteen of the works, which include bronze and stone sculptures, historical photographs and a painted scroll, had been purchased directly from the disgraced New York art dealer Subhash Kapoor, who stands accused of smuggling thousands of antiquities from across Asia. A 14th item, acquired from the late dealer William Wolff, will also be repatriated.

Source: cnn.com

The first flight evacuating Afghan interpreters and others who worked alongside the United States forces in Afghanistan has landed at Washington Dulles International Airport, the US government has announced. An airliner carrying 221 Afghans, including 57 children and 15 babies, according to the internal document obtained by The Associated Press, touched down at the airport early on Friday morning.

Source: aljazeera.com

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said on Tuesday that a global chip shortage that has bit into its ability to sell Macs and iPads will start to affect iPhone production and forecasted slowing revenue growth, sending its shares lower. Apple executives said revenue for the current fiscal fourth quarter will grow by double-digits but be below the 36.4% growth rate in the just-ended third quarter. Growth will also slow in Apple's closely watched services business, they said. Executives also said that while the impact of the chip shortage was less severe than feared in the third quarter, it will get worse in the fourth, extending to iPhone production.

Source: reuters.com

A rare first edition of JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in "exceptional condition" has sold for a magic £80,000 at auction. The book was one of 500 hardback copies printed in its first run in 1997 and bought from a Nottingham bookshop. On the book's copyright page, the world famous author is credited simply as "Joanne Rowling". Auctioneers Tennants, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, had estimated the volume would sell for about £20,000-£30,000.

Source: bbc.com

US President Joe Biden has called for states to offer $100 (£71) to the newly vaccinated in an effort to address flagging jab rates amid virus surges. The president also issued a strict new vaccine requirement for US federal workers, the nation's largest workforce with some two million people. The order requires employees to show proof of vaccination or be subjected to mandatory testing and masking. Just under half of the US is fully vaccinated, according to official data.

Source: bbc.com

Peru's President Pedro Castillo on Thursday named a prime minister from within his Marxist-Leninist Free Peru party -- 41-year-old Guido Bellido who first became a lawmaker six days ago and has never held public office. Inaugurated in Lima himself just Wednesday, Castillo presided over Bellido's swearing-in at the Pampa de la Quinua, site of the 1824 battle that ended Spanish domination of Peru and South America at large. Bellido, an electronic engineer, vowed he would represent the interests of all Peruvians and advance "the fight against corruption."

Source: france24.com

Scarlett Johansson is suing Disney over its decision to release superhero movie "Black Widow" on streaming at the same time as in theaters, alleging a breach of contract which cost the star millions of dollars. Johansson, one of Hollywood's biggest and top-paid stars, was entitled to a percentage of box office receipts from the much-anticipated Marvel film, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday at Los Angeles Superior Court.

Source: france24.com

Japanese officials are sounding the alarm as Tokyo reports record-breaking coronavirus cases for the third straight day with the Olympics well under way. Tokyo reported 3,865 new cases in the past 24 hours, up from 3,177 on Wednesday and double the numbers a week ago.

Source: aljazeera.com

PBS Kids plans to end the long-running children’s series after 25 seasons, said an original developer of the show during a podcast released Wednesday. The final season will air in 2022. Kathy Waugh, who was a guest on the Finding DW podcast, said the animated series is no longer in production. She said the show’s wrap party was two years ago. The series, which first aired in 1996, is based on the popular book series by Marc Brown, who created the Arthur character in 1976. It stars the aardvark character along with his family and friends.

Source: apnews.com

French President Emmanuel Macron is suing a billboard owner who depicted him as Adolf Hitler to protest COVID-19 restrictions. Michel-Ange Flori, who owns about 400 billboards in the southern département of the Var, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: "I have just learnt that I will be heard at the Toulon police station tomorrow following a complaint by the president of the Republic." "So in Macronia you can make fun of the prophet's ass, that's satire, but to make the president look like a dictator is blasphemy," he added.

Source: euronews.com

The UK is already undergoing disruptive climate change with increased rainfall, sunshine and temperatures, according to scientists. The year 2020 was the third warmest, fifth wettest and eighth sunniest on record, scientists said in the latest UK State of the Climate report. No other year is in the top 10 on all three criteria. The experts said that, in the space of 30 years, the UK has become 0.9C warmer and 6% wetter.

Source: bbc.com

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met his Vietnamese counterpart on Thursday to deepen cooperation in security and pandemic recovery, after Washington vowed support for Southeast Asian nations embroiled in territorial rifts with China. Vietnam and the Philippines, Austin’s next stop, are among China’s fiercest opponents in the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where Beijing has ignored neighbors’ protests and has constructed several islands equipped with airstrips and military installations.

Source: apnews.com

Malaysia's embattled leader was accused of treason and urged to quit Thursday after the king denounced his crisis-hit government for misleading parliament, a rare public rebuke from the revered monarch. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin leads a scandal-plagued coalition that seized power last year without an election, but his government is on the verge of collapse after allies withdrew support.

Source: france24.com