GLOBAL COVID-19 TODAY
CORONAVIRUS CASES: 13,462,873
DEATHS: 581,317
RECOVERED: 7,852,445
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UK’s Huawei 5G network ban ‘disappointing and wrong’
BBC News says China’s ambassador to the UK has called Britain’s decision to ban Huawei from its 5G network “disappointing and wrong.”
The UK government has ordered companies to strip equipment from Huawei out of the system by 2027.
It comes after the US imposed sanctions after claims the Chinese firm poses a national security threat – something Huawei denies. President Trump welcomed the UK’s decision, calling Huawei “unsafe.”
Read the full story on BBC News
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British airlines to sell art collection to ease Covid-19 pressures
The Guardian says British Airways is selling its multimillion-pound art collection, including pieces by Bridget Riley and Damien Hirst, as it attempts to raise funds while the Covid-19 crisis continues to devastate the aviation sector.
The Sotheby’s sale will include several artworks that could reach six-figure sums and have previously decorated BA’s executive lounges and company headquarters.
Read the full story on The Guardian
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Ghislaine Maxwell denied bail after pleading not guilty to sex trafficking for Epstein
France24 says a US judge on Tuesday denied bail for Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffery Epstein’s longtime associate charged with luring young girls so the late financier could sexually abuse them, after pleading not guilty at a hearing.
US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan, rejecting Maxwell’s bid for bail after she was said to be a flight risk, set a trial date for July 12, 2021. Prosecutors have accused Maxwell of helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse girls as young as 14 from 1994 to 1997 and lying about her role in depositions in 2016.
Read the full story on France24
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‘We raise hope’ Young nurse fighting on Covid-19 frontlines in Iraq’s war-ravaged Mosul
RT News says Mosul was once a bustling city now devastated during its liberation from Islamic State militant, and now engaged in another life-and-death struggle- against Covid-19. Speaking to Nurse Soror al-Husseini about life on the new frontline.
Her job is to focus on the patient’s “positive psychological state,” to give them the proper medication and to meet the needs where possible, Soror, 23, said.
She works in eastern Mosul’s al-Shifa hospital. The place was once IS’s headquarters during the terrorist occupation of the city.
Read the full story on RT News
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‘Hunger crimes’ on the rise in crisis-hit Lebanon
Arab News speaks to Zakaria Al-Omar, who tells how he was robbed at knifepoint, a desperate crime of a kind that has become increasingly common in crisis-torn Lebanon.
The small Mediterranean country is mired in an economic crisis marked by a steep currency fall and runaway inflation that has plunged nearly half of the population into poverty.
“He told me that he didn’t want to hurt me. He asked me to give him money or take him to a grocery store to buy some food,” Omar recounted. “He said his children back home were crying from hunger.”
Read the full story on Arab News
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China vows retaliation against the US over Hong Kong sanctions
Aljazeera says China has said it would retaliate after US President Donald Trump ordered an end to preferential trade treatment for Hong Kong and signed into law an act allowing sanctions on banks over Beijing’s clampdown on the semi-autonomous city.
In a statement on Wednesday, China said the Hong Kong Autonomy Act “maliciously slanders” new national security legislation Beijing imposed on the city and warned Washington against interference in its internal affairs.
Read the full story on Aljazeera
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ARTS & ENT
Johnny Depp’s Housekeeper ‘horrified’ after finding ‘faeces in bed,’ court hears
Sky News says Johnny Depp’s housekeeper was “horrified and disgusted” after finding “human faeces” in a bed at the star’s penthouse in LA, the High Court has been told.
Hilda Vargas appeared as a witness at the actor’s libel action trial against The Sun and its publishers via vide-link on Tuesday.
She followed other members of his staff – security guard Malcolm Connolly, stylist Samatha McMillen and Tara Roberts, the estate manager on his island in the Bahamas – who gave evidence earlier in the day.
Read the full story on Sky News
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SPORT
‘I’m so, so sorry’ – Hull stunned as Wigan score club-record eight in thumping win
BBC Sport says Wigan Athletic scored seven first-half goals to stun relegation-threatened Hull City before equalling the biggest victory in Championship history.
The result matched Bournemouth’s 8-0 thrashing of Birmingham City in 2014 and set a new record league win for the Latics.
Read the full story on BBC Sport
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