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South Korean forward Son Heung-min has signed a new four-year contract with Tottenham Hotspur, the English Premier League club announced on Friday. The 29-year-old, who joined from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015, will now stay at the north London club until 2025 after earning a significant pay rise. "It was already a big honour to play here for six years, the club have showed me massive, massive respect and obviously I'm very happy to be here," Son said in a statement.

Source: france24.com

A giant video screen collapsed Thursday at a South Florida stadium, a day before the Rolling Loud hip-hop music festival was set to begin. There were no injuries. Organizers posted on Twitter that the screen toppled over onto one of the festival’s stages at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, but it was expected to be repaired before doors opened Friday.

Source: apnews.com

Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema has tested positive for Covid-19, the Spanish club announced on Friday without providing further details.

Source: france24.com

Seeking to breathe new life into Madrid's Prado museum after the long months of the pandemic, curators have overhauled the collection to display more works by female artists and better reflect the variety of 19th-century art. After recent acquisitions of paintings and miniatures, the museum now boasts works by 13 female painters out of a total of 130 artists. The miniatures, often intimate family portraits, require great technical skill but could be created in small workshops, making them popular among female artists who lacked large studios in the 19th century.

Source: cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Iranians protesting over water shortages in the southwest cannot be blamed, and called on officials to deal with the water problem, Iran's state media reported. "The people showed their displeasure ... but we cannot really blame the people and their issues must be taken care of," Khamenei was quoted by Iranian news agencies as saying, in reference to the week-long protests.

Source: reuters.com

Mourners were set to offer their final farewell to Haiti's slain president Jovenel Moise under tight security on Friday, just over two weeks after his assassination rattled a country mired in poverty, corruption, and political instability. Moise, who was 53 when he was shot dead in his home in the early hours of July 7, is set to be interred in Cap-Haïtien, the main city in his native northern region. According to the official program, the funeral is due to begin in the morning and last for several hours, with large screens set up for mourners to follow the event.

Source: france24.com

Voters in one-third of Kazakhstan's rural districts will directly elect their mayors for the first time on Sunday, one of the first steps in the oil-rich Central Asian nation's cautious political reform plan. More than 2,000 candidates are competing for 729 mayoral seats across the former Soviet republic in a campaign that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has described as a stepping stone towards electing more senior public officials.

Source: reuters.com

The Henan fire brigade is seen in a video released by news agency AFP helping several people in the region where vast areas have been submerged in floods as a result of heavy downpour. One firefighter is seen in the video carrying the baby while carefully wading through flood waters, as several other firefighters helped people climb on to boats in the background. In the video, a pregnant woman is also seen gingerly climbing down from a bus, helped by another passenger. The firefighters are also seen carrying a person on a stretcher.

 

Netflix reported its worst slowdown in subscriber growth in eight years as people emerge from their pandemic cocoons. So it’s adding a new attraction to its marquee: Video games. On Tuesday, the video streaming giant announced it will offer video games in its existing subscription plans at no extra cost, but didn’t say when that service will launch or what kind of games it will be developing.

Source: apnews.com

British rock icon Eric Clapton has said he will not perform at venues that require concertgoers to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said proof of vaccination must be shown at clubs and venues from September. Clapton said he will not perform anywhere there is a "discriminated audience present". The guitarist said he felt "honour bound" to make the statement, which was posted on Wednesday to the accounts of Italian architect and film producer Robin Monotti. In May, Clapton said he had experienced a "severe" reaction to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Source: bbc.com

The US government has imposed sanctions on Cuban officials who they claim committed human rights abuses during a crackdown on protests earlier in July. The move by President Joe Biden's administration comes amid pressure from Cuban-Americans and politicians to respond to the anti-regime protests. The US is also exploring ways to keep internet access open on the island. The 11 July protest was Cuba's largest in decades. Hundreds were arrested and at least one protester was killed.

Source: bbc.com

Here's someone to make you feel like an underachiever - 12-year-old Hend Zaza is the youngest competitor at the Tokyo Olympics. The Syrian table tennis player talked about her inspiration for getting into the sport at such a young age.

Source: bbc.com

The floods drenching central China and submerging swathes of a major economic and transport hub are threatening supply chains for goods ranging from cars and electronics to pigs, peanuts and coal. Power had been partly restored and some trains and flights were running on Thursday but analysts said disruption could last for several days, pushing up prices and slowing business across densely populated Henan and neighbouring provinces.

Source: reuters.com

Premier League side Everton made their third signing of the summer with the arrival of Demarai Gray from Bayer Leverkusen, the club announced on Thursday. The 25-year-old former Leicester winger has signed a three-year deal with the option of a fourth and joins for an undisclosed fee after just six months in the Bundesliga.

Source: france24.com

The world's most valuable oil producer Saudi Aramco has confirmed to the BBC that company data has leaked from one of its contractors. The files are now reportedly being used in an attempt to extort $50m (£36.5m) from the company. The global oil and gas industry has long been criticised for failing to invest in cyber security. In May, the Colonial Pipeline in the US was hit by a ransomware cyber-attack. The Saudi Arabian energy giant did not say which contractor was affected nor whether the contractor had been hacked or if the files were leaked in some other way.

Source: bbc.com

The supermodel, 50, stunned fans when she announced at the end of May that she'd welcomed a baby girl by sharing a picture on social media however has remained tight-lipped about further details of the birth. Looking typically chic, Naomi sported an oversized white shirt with loose-fitting black bottoms with a thick green stripe extending the length of the leg as she walked through the streets in style while pushing the pram.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

K-pop boy band BTS was appointed special envoy by South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday, a role that will bolster the country's diplomatic efforts and global standing, the presidential Blue House announced. Officially named "presidential special envoy for future generations and culture," BTS will help "lead the global agenda for future generations, such as sustainable growth, and expand diplomatic power in line with South Korea's elevated status in the international community". On the group's agenda as envoy will be appearances at international events, including the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Source: upi.com

The UK has launched an audacious bid to rewrite a key plank of the Brexit deal, saying the Northern Ireland protocol was flawed at conception but served its purpose to get the UK out of the EU as “one country”. The European Commission immediately ruled out a renegotiation of the deal, which was trumpeted by Boris Johnson as a solution to the Irish border impasse two years ago. The commission is understood to be open to some changes on the special arrangements for Northern Ireland, however. EU officials expressed exasperation at the UK’s move, unveiled in a 28-page command paper by the Brexit minister, David Frost, on Wednesday.

Source: theguardian.com