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Iranian authorities have arrested a Chinese man for allegedly posting pictures of women he met in Iran on social media without their consent, a prosecutor in the central city of Kashan told semi-official local news agencies on Tuesday. Police and intelligence forces detained the man at a road toll booth in the city, prosecutor Ruhollah Dehqani told the ILNA news agency. The man had allegedly boasted on social media that it was easy to meet Iranian women, but he was seen apologising, saying he had deleted all images, in subsequent posts.

Source: reuters.com

A decade of war in Syria has left nearly half a million people dead, a war monitor said Tuesday, in a new toll that includes 100,000 recently confirmed deaths. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the conflict has claimed 494,438 lives since it erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. The previous tally, issued by the Observatory in March this year, stood at more than 388,000 dead. The war monitor has since confirmed an additional 105,015 deaths following months of documentation efforts supported by its network of sources on the ground.

Source: france24.com

South Korea unveiled Tuesday a fully assembled model of its homegrown space rocket for the first time since the country started its development in 2010 as it conducts final testing procedures before its launch later this year. South Korea has earmarked 2 trillion won (US$1.8 billion) to develop its first homegrown space launch vehicle, named Nuri, and aims for a launch in October this year. In 2013, South Korea successfully launched its first-ever Naro space rocket, though its first stage rocket was built in Russia.

Source: en.yna.co.kr

Australia's softball team on Tuesday became the first athletes to land in Japan for the Tokyo Olympics, in a major step forward for the pandemic-postponed event which remains plagued by coronavirus fears. The "Aussie Spirit" team, wearing face masks and green and gold uniforms, were ushered straight from the plane for coronavirus testing, part of the strict biosecurity measures designed to stop infections at the Games.

Source: france24.com

Belgium is recalling its ambassador to South Korea following an incident in which his wife was recorded striking a woman in Seoul. In a statement Friday, Belgium's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had "become clear" that Ambassador Peter Lescouhier could not "further carry out his role in a serene way." Lescouhier's wife, Xiang Xueqiu, got into a confrontation with two shop assistants in April. Police in Seoul originally said she could not be prosecuted due to diplomatic immunity, but in its statement, Brussels said this had been waived.

Source: cnn.com

Inter Milan's Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal is receiving hospital treatment after testing positive for coronavirus, his national team said Monday. The diagnosis means the 34-year-old will miss Thursday's World Cup qualifier between Chile and Argentina.

Source: france24.com

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a new naming system for variants of Covid-19. From now on the WHO will use Greek letters to refer to variants first detected in countries like the UK, South Africa and India. The UK variant for instance is labelled as Alpha, the South African Beta, and the Indian as Delta. The WHO said this was to simplify discussions but also to help remove some stigma from the names.

Source: bbc.com

Leading figures in tennis and sport have rallied to support Naomi Osaka after the women’s world number two withdrew from the French Open in a row about post-match media duties, saying she had been suffering from “depression” and “anxiety”. One of the biggest names in sport, Osaka stunned the tennis world when she pulled out of the Grand Slam after being fined and threatened with expulsion for refusing to show up at an obligatory news conference on Sunday.

Source: reuters.com

South America's Football Confederation, CONMEBOL, announced on Sunday that the Copa América would no longer be held in Argentina, just 13 days before the tournament was due to begin. The 2020 edition of the tournament was postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and was set to be held in both Argentina and Colombia between June 13 and July 10, the first time in tournament history it was to be jointly hosted.

Source: cnn.com

A Chinese climber who became the first blind Asian to scale Mount Everest says he aims to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents and then travel to the North and South Poles. Zhang Hong, 44, is also the third blind climber internationally to reach the world’s highest peak. Following his guides and Sherpas, he reached the summit on May 24 and returned safely to Kathmandu.

Source: apnews.com

Chad's government on Monday accused the Central African Republic of killing six of its soldiers in an attack on an outpost in the south of the country, branding it a "warCrime" that would "not go unpunished".

Source: france24.com

US actor and country musician Joe Lara, best known for playing Tarzan, is presumed dead after a plane crash in Tennessee. The 58-year-old is among seven people believed killed when a light aircraft crashed into a lake near the town of Smyrna on Saturday. His dietician wife, Gwen Shamblin Lara, who founded a weight-loss church, is also among the victims. Rescue workers say they found wreckage and human remains at the crash site.

Source: bbc.com

Dupasquier died following a crash during a qualifying round for the Italian Grand Prix.

Source: nbcnews.com

"I'm going, but I'm not jumping overboard, nor am I tired of coaching," said the 48-year-old. In an open letter to fans he added: "I'm leaving because I feel the club no longer has the faith in me I need, nor the support to build something in the medium or long term. "I understand football and I know the demands of a club like Real Madrid. I know when you don't win, you have to leave."

Source: bbc.com

Several World Cup football qualifiers scheduled to be played in China were moved to Dubai on Monday over coronavirus infections in the Syria and Maldives teams, the Chinese Football Association said. Seven Group A fixtures involving China, Syria, Maldives, the Philippines and Guam are affected, playing further havoc with the already heavily disrupted Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers.

Source: france24.com

North Korea's state media on Monday criticised the recent termination of a pact between the United States and South Korea that capped the development of South Korea's ballistic missiles, calling it a sign of Washington's "shameful double-dealing."

Source: reuters.com

Egypt's foreign minister stressed during a meeting with his Israeli counterpart on Sunday the need to build on a truce between Israel and Hamas by stopping all practices that lead to escalation, the Foreign Ministry said.

Source: reuters.com

Naomi Osaka was fined $15,000 by Grand Slam organisers for skipping a news conference following her first-round win at the French Open on Sunday, and was also warned of possible expulsion from Roland Garros and future majors if she fails to meet her media commitments. In the run up to the claycourt major, the world number two announced she would boycott news conferences while in Paris to raise awareness of players' mental well-being, saying the nature of questions from journalists is like "kicking a person when they are down".

Source: reuters.com