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Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning earlier this month after a meeting in Kyiv, the Wall Street Journal and the investigative outlet Bellingcat reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Abramovich, who accepted a Ukrainian request to help negotiate an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and at least two senior members of the Ukrainian team, were affected, the WSJ report said.

Source: france24.com

Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela has been sworn in after a landslide victory in elections that delivered his Labour party a third term in government. Labour won 55.11 percent of the vote, final results showed on Sunday – a bigger win than in 2017 or 2013 despite low turnout and the legacy of scandal over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Source: aljazeera.com

Apple TV+ made history on Sunday as the first streaming service to win a best picture Oscar for "CODA,” a heartwarming drama about the daughter of deaf parents who pursues her passion for music. The streaming service purchased "CODA" for a record $25 million following its debut in 2021 at the Sundance Film Festival, and it has gathered momentum throughout the awards season, winning top honors from the Producers Guild, Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild awards.

Source: reuters.com

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen won the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday after a thrilling battle with Charles LeClerc. The Red Bull driver, second for most of the race, took the lead with just a few laps to go and never relinquished it. Just like in Bahrain last week, the pair were locked together in an enthralling battle, with the final 10 laps of the race in Jeddah making for gripping watching. The victory is Verstappen's first of the 2022 season, having not finished in Bahrain last week.

Source: cnn.com

At least 19 people have been killed and several others wounded in a shooting attack in central Mexico, according to authorities. Authorities did not immediately release a motive for the attack on Sunday evening that targeted a gathering in the town of Las Tinajas in Michoacan state. Local media reports said gunmen stormed a cockfighting pit and shot at the attendees.

Source: aljazeera.com

Millions of workers began a nationwide two-day strike across India on Monday to express their anger at the government’s economic policies and to back demands for improved rights for industrial workers, employees and farmers. About a dozen of the country’s labor unions that have organized the strike want the government to provide universal social security cover for workers in the vast unorganized sector, hike the minimum wage under its flagship employment guarantee program and stop the privatization of public sector banks.

Source: apnews.com

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack in which two Israeli police were killed in the northern city of Hadera on Sunday. The claim was made in a statement posted on its Telegram account. Police said that “two terrorists arrived at Herbert Samuel Street in Hadera, and began shooting at a police force there,” resulting in two deaths.

Source: theguardian.com

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei on Monday reported record profit for 2021, defying the US sanctions aimed at it as executive Meng Wanzhou made her first public appearance since returning to China from Canadian custody.

Source: france24.com

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Monday that he had "supposedly" tested positive for COVID-19, with no major symptoms. Musk questioned the accuracy of COVID-19 tests in November last year after claiming that results showed he tested positive twice and then negative twice all on the same day.

Source: reuters.com

China has announced its biggest city-wide lockdown since the Covid outbreak began more than two years ago. The city of Shanghai will be locked down in two stages over nine days while authorities carry out Covid-19 testing. The important financial hub has battled a new wave of infections for nearly a month, although case numbers are not high by some international standards.

Source: bbc.com

Christian Eriksen said his goal on his return to the Denmark national side was "just a warmup" for the game at the same Copenhagen stadium where he suffered a cardiac arrest last year. Eriksen's appearance as a second-half substitute in the 4-2 defeat to the Netherlands in Amsterdam on Saturday was roundly applauded, including by Dutch coach Louis van Gaal. Two minutes after coming on, the 30-year-old scored Denmark's second goal of the game with a powerful drive into the top corner.

Source: france24.com

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has sought to reassure Israel and its Gulf allies that Iran will never acquire atomic weapons, ahead of the possible renewal of the nuclear deal with Tehran. “When it comes to the most important element, we see eye to eye,” Blinken said at a news conference on Sunday with Israel’s foreign minister, Yair Lapid. “We are both committed, both determined, that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon.”

Source: theguardian.com

El Salvador's parliament has approved a state of emergency after the Central American country recorded dozens of gang-related murders in a single day. Police said there had been 62 murders on Saturday, making it the most violent 24-hour period since the end of the civil war in 1992. New laws restrict the right to gather, allow arrests without a warrant and the monitoring of communications.

Source: bbc.com

Jannina Campos walks up a sandy hillside in Arica, a port city on the edge of the Atacama desert, the driest place on the planet. The desert graveyard where the ancient Chinchorro decorated and buried their dead is now a Unesco World Heritage site. Each indicates skeletal remains recently uncovered by unusually strong winds and increased rainfall. “Every time a body appears we place a flag, and we bury it again,” said Campos, an archaeologist. “They’ve been preserved there for 7,000 years.”

Source: theguardian.com

Poland's Iga Swiatek clinched becoming the new world number one in women's tennis on Friday by defeating swiss Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 6-0 at the WTA Miami Open. The 20-year-old Warsaw-born star had to win her second-round match at the South Florida hardcourt tournament to ensure she would replace Barty.

Source: france24.com

The Czech Republic is considering buying more military helicopters from U.S. maker Bell, Defence Minister Jana Cernochova was quoted as saying on Saturday, part of plans to modernise its army following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The NATO country agreed in 2019 to buy 12 helicopters, including the utility Venom aircraft and the attack Viper aircraft. Cernochova told daily Mlada Fronta Dnes in an interview she had indicated to the U.S. defence secretary during informal meetings that the country wanted to buy more.

Source: reuters.com

Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate from their homes near a Philippine volcano Saturday after an eruption sent ash and steam hundreds of metres into the sky. Taal volcano, which sits in a lake south of Manila, exploded with a "short-lived" burst at 7:22 am, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement. It warned further eruptions were possible, which it said could trigger dangerous, fast-moving volcanic flows of gas, ash and debris, as well as a tsunami.

Source: france24.com

The drummer with US rock group Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins, has died aged 50, the band have announced. The band said they were "devastated by the tragic and untimely loss" in a statement on social media. No cause of death has been given. Hawkins played with Foo Fighters for more than two decades, joining shortly after they finished making their 1997 album The Colour and the Shape. The band are currently on tour in South America.

Source: bbc.com