Your trusted source

Boris Johnson is under renewed pressure after Downing Street admitted staff gathered inside No 10 during the first Covid lockdown to mark his birthday. ITV News reported that up to 30 people attended the June 2020 event, sang Happy Birthday and were served cake. No 10 said staff had "gathered briefly" to "wish the prime minister a happy birthday", adding that he had been there "for less than 10 minutes". Rules at the time - 19 June 2020 - banned most indoor gatherings involving more than two people.

Source: bbc.com

At least 19 people have died after a karaoke bar in Indonesia's West Papua was set ablaze following a brawl between rival gangs of youths in the area, police in the provincial capital of Sorong said on Tuesday. One person was fatally stabbed in the fight early on Tuesday before the venue was set on fire with 18 people trapped inside, a police official said.

Source: cnn.com

North Korea fired what appeared to be two cruise missiles into the sea off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, days after a flurry of ballistic missile tests. South Korea's military is assessing the launches to determine the nature of the projectiles, it said. Such a launch would be its fifth missile test of the year.

Source: reuters.com

At least eight people are reported to have been killed and dozens hurt in a crush outside an Africa Cup of Nations match in Cameroon. Video footage showed football fans struggling to get access to the Paul Biya stadium in a neighbourhood of the capital Yaounde. One child is among the dead, according to a health ministry report obtained by the AFP news agency.

Source: bbc.com

Over the weekend, Sony's comic book adventure became the sixth-highest grossing movie in history with $1.69 billion at the global box office (not adjusted for inflation). It passed "Jurassic World" ($1.67 billion) and "The Lion King" ($1.66 billion) to secure that spot. Now in its sixth weekend of release, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" returned to the No. 1 slot in North America, adding $14.1 million between Friday and Sunday, along with $27.7 million overseas.

Source: reuters.com

Dutch police say they have found a stowaway alive in the wheel section of a plane that landed at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport from South Africa. Flights from Johannesburg to Amsterdam take about 11 hours, with the cargo plane believed to have made one stop, in Nairobi, Kenya. It is very unusual for stowaways on long flights to survive, due to the cold and low oxygen at high altitudes.

Source: bbc.com

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has lost control of his account on the Chinese-owned social media platform WeChat and a lawmaker on Monday accused China’s leaders of political interference. Morrison’s 76,000 WeChat followers were notified his page had been renamed “Australian Chinese new life” earlier this month and his photograph had been removed, Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. The changes were made without the government’s knowledge, the report said.

Source: apnews.com

Pope Benedict XVI admitted Monday that he was at a meeting in 1980 at which an abusive priest was discussed, blaming his earlier denial at having been there on "an error in the editing of his statement." An independent investigation into abuse by Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Munich, where Benedict was archbishop from 1977 to 1982, last week showed minutes of the meeting saying he was present and rejected his denial as "barely credible."

Source: cnn.com

NATO said on Monday it was putting forces on standby and reinforcing eastern Europe with more ships and fighter jets in response to Russia's military build-up at Ukraine's borders.

Source: reuters.com

French designer Thierry Mugler, who reigned over fashion in the 1980s and died on Sunday, was as famous for his fantastical couture as for his blockbuster fashion shows. He was 73. Mugler's daring collections came to define the decade's power dressing, with his clothes noted for their structured and sophisticated silhouettes, showcased by his extravagant shows. His agent Jean-Baptiste Rougeot, who said the designer had died of "natural causes", added he had been due to announce new collaborations early this week.

Source: france24.com

Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore is being held by mutinous soldiers, two of the soldiers told The Associated Press by phone early Monday. They did not say where Kabore is being held, but said he is in a safe place. Gunshots were heard late Sunday night near the president’s residence and in the early hours of Monday a battle took place at the presidential palace while a helicopter flew overhead.

Source: apnews.com

The United States has ordered the families of all American staff at the US Embassy in Ukraine to leave the country amid heightened concern that Russia, which has massed troops on the border, is about to invade. In a statement on Sunday, the State Department also said that non-essential embassy staff could leave Ukraine at government expense and that all Americans should consider departing immediately.

Source: aljazeera.com

Police fired water cannon and tear gas Sunday at stone-throwing protesters after tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through Brussels against Covid-19 rules. Authorities estimated that around 50,000 people paraded through the Belgian capital -- the largest in a spate of protests in the city over the past months. 

Source: france24.com

Members of the Taliban are meeting with western officials in Norway for the first talks in Europe since the group took control of Afghanistan. The talks, set to last three days, will cover human rights and the humanitarian crisis in the country. The UN says 95% of Afghans do not have enough to eat.

Source: bbc.com

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-cha will this week make the first visit by a Thai leader to Saudi Arabia in more than 30 years following decades of diplomatic tension sparked by a jewel theft from a Saudi palace. Thai-born janitor Kriangkrai Techamong stole $20 million worth of precious gems in 1989 from the home of a Saudi prince, triggering a feud between the countries dubbed the "Blue Diamond Affair" that has yet to be resolved.

Source: france24.com

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is in a Milan hospital for routine checks, his personal doctor said on Sunday, a day after the 85-year-old decided not to run for president. Berlusconi, a four-times prime minister of Italy, had major heart surgery in 2016 and has also had prostate cancer. He has been repeatedly admitted to hospital over the past year after contracting COVID-19 in 2020.

Source: reuters.com

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has cancelled her wedding ceremony with fiancé Clarke Gayford due to new Covid-19 restrictions in the country. The prime minister announced on Sunday that the country will face new restrictions after nine cases of the Omicron variant were detected in a single family that flew to Auckland for a wedding earlier this month.

Source: independent.co.uk

China’s state broadcaster has implicated Jack Ma’s Ant Group in a corruption scandal, ratcheting up pressure on the billionaire following a crackdown that has wiped billions of dollars from his internet empire. A documentary on state-run China Central Television alleged that private companies made “unreasonably high payments” to the brother of the former Chinese Communist party head of Hangzhou, an eastern city that is home to Ant Group’s headquarters, in return for government policy incentives and support with buying real estate.

Source: ft.com