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The strain first identified in India has two mutations, prompting fears it may be more infectious or less susceptible to vaccines. A total of 600 people in the UK have now contracted the South African coronavirus variant, new figures show.

Source: news.sky.com

Fidel Castro's brother Raul, 89, prepares to hand power to President Miguel Diaz-Canel ending family's grip on Communist country's leadership. Cuba's leadership is passing to a younger generation, with the last Castro leaving office and ending a 60-year family monopoly, but there is little other change as power remains firmly with the Communist Party.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

A Singaporean activist said on Friday he had raised S$144,389 ($108,200) through social media to cover defamation damages he had to pay Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the second such crowdfunding case involving a blogger this month. The prime minister sued Roy Ngerng for a blog post in 2014 in which Ngerng allegedly implicated Lee in impropriety in connection with how funds in Singapore’s mandatory retirement savings scheme, the Central Provident Fund(CPF), are managed.

Source: reuters.com

New Zealand has announced a suite of proposals aimed at outlawing smoking for the next generation and moving the country closer to its goal of being smoke-free by 2025. The plans include the gradual increase of the legal smoking age, which could extend to a ban on the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to anyone born after 2004, making smoking effectively illegal for that generation. Also under consideration was a significant reduction in the level of nicotine allowed in tobacco products, prohibiting filters, setting a minimum price for tobacco, and restricting the locations where tobacco and cigarettes can be sold.

Source: theguardian.com

China's economy grew a record 18.3% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter last year. It's the biggest jump in gross domestic product (GDP) since China started keeping quarterly records in 1992.

Source: bbc.com

Pakistan blocked access to all social media on Friday, after days of anti-French protests across the country by radical Islamists opposed to cartoons they consider blasphemous. Sites temporarily blocked on orders from the country’s interior ministry included Twitter and Facebook, said Khurram Mehran, a spokesman for Pakistan’s media regulatory agency. He gave no further details.

Source: apnews.com

Her Majesty, 94, will also sit alone throughout the ceremony at Windsor Castle, where she has been isolating for months — most of them with the Duke of Edinburgh.

Source: thesun.co.uk

The third major sandstorm in five weeks turned Beijing’s skies sepia on Thursday, and sent air quality plummeting in the Chinese capital. The storms, caused by winds from drought-hit Mongolia and north-western China, sent levels of the pollutant PM10, which can penetrate the lung, to 999 micrograms per cubic metre – a level almost double the “hazardous” stage indicated by the Beijing air pollution real time quality index.

Source: theguardian.com

Turkey’s central bank banned the use of cryptocurrencies and crypto assets to purchase goods and services, citing “irrepairable” possible damages and significant risks in such transactions.

Source: reuters.com

Monkey embryos containing human cells have been produced in a laboratory, a study has confirmed, spurring fresh debate into the ethics of such experiments. The embryos are known as chimeras, organisms whose cells come from two or more “individuals”, and in this case, different species: a long-tailed macaque and a human.

Source: theguardian.com

U.S. writer-producer Jacqueline Hoyt (“The Good Wife”) is set to pen drama series “Audrey” about Hollywood icon Audrey Hepburn, which is being produced by Italy’s Wildside, the Fremantle company behind “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend.”

Source: variety.com

The French president has used the reconstruction of the fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral as a metaphor for the country pulling together after Covid-19 as France reached the symbolic mark of 100,000 deaths from the virus. Macron told journalists from Le Parisien that the damaged cathedral, which is expected to partially reopen in 2024, was “like a metaphor for what a lot of people are feeling and what we’re living”. He said: “Our medical staff have been extraordinarily heroic, like the firefighters were during the fire.”

Source: theguardian.com

Couple finally confirm they're ending four-year romance saying they're 'better as friends' after weeks of brushing off 'inaccurate' rumours and infidelity claims. Despite their lengthy protestations, the couple finally released a statement announcing the news.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

France has urged all its citizens in Pakistan to leave the country temporarily amid violent anti-French protests across the country. In an email obtained by French news agency AFP, the country's embassy in Pakistan warned of "serious threats to French interests in Pakistan". Two police officers died this week in renewed clashes with protesters. Protests were sparked months ago after a French magazine republished cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Source: bbc.com

Denmark is examining options for sharing AstraZeneca’s vaccines with poorer nations after it halted use of the shots over concerns over rare blood clots, the World Health Organization Europe head said on Thursday.

Source: reuters.com

The remains of a high-status Roman villa and bath house, which may be the first of its kind ever discovered in the world, have been unearthed on a building site near Scarborough in North Yorkshire. The astonishing find was made during archaeological excavations ahead of the construction of a housing development in the small town of Eastfield. Archaeologists say the villa’s sheer size and complexity – it features a circular central room with other rooms leading off it – almost certainly indicate a stately home or some kind of religious sanctuary.

Source: independent.co.uk

When animal welfare officers received a report of an unusual animal lurking in a tree in the Polish city of Krakow, they were not sure what to expect. "People aren't opening their windows because they're afraid it will go into their house," the woman reportedly said. But a visit to the area showed the creature in question was not a bird, or even an reptile - but a croissant. The Krakow Animal Welfare Society said the incident was genuine.

Source: bbc.com

The greatest hurdle of the Pep Guardiola era has finally been cleared. Manchester City progress past the Champions League quarter-finals, successful at the fifth attempt under the manager who was headhunted specifically to take further still. Dortmund 1-2 Man City (2-4): A Mahrez penalty and Foden strike saw Guardiola’s side come from behind to advance after Bellingham’s opener.

Source: independent.co.uk