Cracks in the Trump-Europe relationship are turning into a chasm
Updated 0931 GMT (1731 HKT) July 4, 2020
For more than 70 years, the transatlantic alliance has served as the unshakable foundation of European stability and underpinned the values of the US-led Western order. In 2020, it appears that relationship is being rethought on both sides of the Atlantic.
Earlier this week, the European Union declined to include US in its list of "safe countries," meaning that American travelers will be unwelcome inside the bloc for the foreseeable future, due to the eyewatering US coronavirus infection numbers. Controversially, the list does includes China -- the country where the virus originated -- on the condition of reciprocal arrangements.
'Hidden language': Hongkongers get creative against security law
Residents use wordplay including repurposed Chinese Communist party dogma to express frustration
Hongkongers are finding creative ways to voice dissent after Beijing blanketed the city in a new security law and police began arresting people displaying now forbidden political slogans.
Faced with the sudden threat of prosecution for anything that might promote greater autonomy or independence for the restless city, residents are using wordplay and even subverting Chinese Communist party dogma to express their frustration.
On a bridge in the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay, a popular spot for pro-democracy protests over the past year, traffic thunders past fresh graffiti that says: “Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves.”
Coronavirus: Catalonian regional government orders ‘indefinite’ lockdown of Spain’s Segrià region due to Covid-19
Number of people entering hospital in capital of region has tripled in 10 days
Harry Cockburn
The government of Catalonia has ordered an indefinite new lockdown for the Segrià region of Spain due to outbreaks of Covid-19.
The confinement will be effective from midday on Saturday and has no end date, regional president Quim Torra said.
“We take a step back to protect ourselves and we will take all the decisions to stop the contagion,” he said.
Around 209,000 people live in 38 municipalities across the Segrià region in the west of Catalonia, whose capital is Léida.
2 women hit by car on Seattle highway closed amid protests
Car was driven around vehicles blocking the highway
The Associated Press ·
Two women were struck by a car whose driver sped through a protest-related closure on a highway in Seattle, authorities said early Saturday.
One suffered life-threatening injuries and the other had serious injuries, Washington State Patrol spokesperson Trooper Rick Johnson tweeted. The Seattle Fire Department tweeted that the injured women appeared to be in their 20s.
"A vehicle drove through the closure and struck multiple pedestrians on the freeway," Johnson tweeted shortly after 2 a.m. ET. Just before midnight, he had tweeted that portions of Interstate 5 were closed because of protests.
Iran's Rouhani calls for mask order to be enforced
Tehran (AFP)
People not wearing masks against the novel coronavirus should be refused service in enclosed public spaces, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday, as his government moves to make it obligatory.
The new measure goes into effect from midnight as part of the authorities' efforts to bring down a daily death toll that has remained stubbornly in triple figures.
But face masks are already mandatory on public transport in Iran and the Tehran city council acknowledges that the rule is still widely flouted on the bus and metro services it runs.
Japan flooding: Fears for nursing home amid torrential rain
At least 14 people are feared dead at a nursing home on Japan's southern island of Kyushu as unprecedented rainfall caused landslides and massive floods.
Tens of thousands of people have been told to evacuate homes. The Kuma river in Kumamoto prefecture burst its banks.
PM Shinzo Abe ordered 10,000 troops to be deployed, after rescue services were overwhelmed with calls for help.
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