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| - Duty Editor: Frankie Taggart Email: frankie.taggart@afp.com -- TOP STORIES -- + Germany scraps strict Easter shutdown plan + Myanmar junta frees 600 detainees + Giant ship blocks Suez Canal + Israel deadlocked again after elections + Postcard from the edge of a black hole Health-virus,WRAP BERLIN Germany backtracks on its plan to impose a strict Easter weekend shutdown after a public outcry, as the European Union tightens vaccine export controls in a bid to ramp up its stuttering inoculation campaign. 800 words 2100 GMT by AFP Bureaus. Picture. Video. Graphic Myanmar-politics-military,WRAP YANGON Myanmar frees more than 600 coup detainees, including an Associated Press photographer arrested while covering rallies, following fresh outrage over brutal crackdowns on protesters. 700 words moved. Picture. File picture Egypt-shipping-Suez,WRAP CAIRO Tug boats work to free a giant container ship stuck in the Suez Canal after it veered off course in a sandstorm, creating huge tailbacks on one of the world's busiest trade routes. 750 words moved. Picture. Video. Graphic Also moved: Egypt-Suez-Canal,FACTS Israel-vote,WRAP JERUSALEM Israelis face further political gridlock after their fourth general election inside two years offers no clear indication on whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his rivals will be able to form a government. 750 words moved by Stephen Weizman. Picture. Video. Graphic Astronomy-science-telescope-blackhole PARIS The astronomers who gave the world its first true glimpse of a black hole have produced another landmark image, this time capturing the polarised light swirling around the same star-eating monster's magnetic fields. 600 words moved by Marlowe Hood. Picture. Video -- SPOTLIGHT -- Poland-history-WWII-Jews-Holocaust,FOCUS WARSAW Ewa Bazan, an archivist at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, compares her work on newly-accessible records to piecing together a "puzzle" that is revealing new names and stories of the Nazi death camp's inmates. 650 words moved by Bernard Osser. Picture Taiwan-China-politics-farms-trade-pineapple,FOCUS PINGTUNG, Taiwan A Chinese ban on pineapple imports from Taiwan has sparked a flood of patriotic buying of the fruit and forced restaurants to come up with inventive new menu choices but it has also left many questioning Taipei's overwhelming economic reliance on its giant neighbour. 750 words moved by Amber Wang. Picture. Video -- CORONAVIRUS -- Health-virus-EU-vaccines BRUSSELS The EU tightens its rules on Covid-19 vaccine exports, making authorisations contingent on destination countries behaving "fairly" in return -- particularly vaccine-producing ones. 650 words moved by Marc Burleigh. Video. Picture. Health-virus-Germany-politics,4thlead BERLIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel admits a failed plan for a strict Easter virus shutdown was "my mistake" in a rare climbdown amid massive criticism of the government's pandemic response. 600 words moved by Femke Colborne. Picture. Video Also moved: Health-virus-China-HongKong-Macau-vaccine,3rdlead Health-virus-India-vaccine Health-virus-US-Miami-spring,FOCUS Health-virus-Belgium,3rdlead -- AMERICAS -- US-immigration-Mexico-Biden,WRAP WASHINGTON US Vice President Kamala Harris is put in charge of addressing an influx of migrants at the Mexican border as the White House seeks to take charge of a row that has energized his critics. 600 words 2000 GMT by Jerome Cartillier and Shaun Tandon US-politics-employment-rights-gender WASHINGTON US soccer star Megan Rapinoe testifies before Congress, highlighting the pay inequities between men and women as she urges lawmakers to help end the gender pay gap, a push supported by President Joe Biden. 550 words moved by Michael Mathes. Picture US-politics-media,FOCUS NEW YORK Tensions have cooled between the news media and the White House after four tumultuous years -- potentially bad news for outlets struggling with a long downtrend in the industry. 700 words moved by Thomas Urbain, with Rob Lever in Washington -- EUROPE -- US-diplomacy-China-NATO-EU,WRAP BRUSSELS US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vows a new approach to work closer with allies, promising Washington will not force them to take sides against China. 600 words 1930 GMT by Max Delany. Video. Picture. -- AFRICA -- Ethiopia-Eritrea-unrest-massacre-Tigray,WRAP NAIROBI The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission says Eritrean soldiers killed over 100 civilians in a November massacre in war-torn Tigray that may amount to crimes against humanity. 600 words moved by Nick Perry. File picture. Graphic Rwanda-trial-genocide KIGALI Paul Rusesabagina, the polarising hero of the hit movie "Hotel Rwanda," fails to show up for his trial Wednesday, after informing prison authorities he was quitting the process as he did not expect justice. 450 words moved by Ivan Rush Mugisha. File picture -- ASIA -- Bangladesh-refugee-fire-charity-unrest,lead COX'S BAZAR Bangladesh defends the use of barbed-wire fences around vast camps holding almost a million Rohingya refugees, after a major fire leaves at least 15 people dead and nearly 50,000 homeless. 550 words moved by Sam Jahan. Picture Australia-flood-weather,WRAP WINDSOR, Australia Rescue teams race emergency supplies to flood-hit Australians, as trapped residents wait for still-swollen rivers to ebb, so the long, hard clean-up from the "Big Wet" can begin. 700 words moved by Andrew Leeson. Video. Photo. Graphic -- BUSINESS/ECONOMY -- US-economy-politics-IMF,lead WASHINGTON US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen defends the IMF's move to boost its reserve offerings, calling the increased aid a "joint effort" to help the poorest nations hit by Covid-19. 450 words moved. File picture -- ENTERTAINMENT -- Entertainment-Russia-Eurovision-politics-Manizha,PROFILE MOSCOW Russia's unlikely entry to Eurovision song contest, sung by a refugee and feminist activist, was making headlines even before a controversy with conservative groups kicked off. 600 words moved by Marina Lapenkova. Picture. Video -- SCIENCE -- Science-palaeontology-kangaroo-Australia PARIS Even more remarkable than the nearly perfect fossils of 40-kilo kangaroos which mysteriously evolved to climb trees was where they were found: the famously barren Nullarbor Plain -- as in "Null" for none, "arbor" for tree -- of southwestern Australia. 600 words moved by Marlowe Hood. Picture -- SPORT -- Oly-2020-2021-Japan-relay FUKUSHIMA, Japan The Tokyo Olympics torch relay sets off from disaster-hit Fukushima Thursday, a year later than originally planned and with organisers hoping it will sweep away persistent doubts about the pandemic-postponed Games. 600 words 1900 GMT by Andrew McKirdy with Sara Hussein in Tokyo. Picture. Video. Graphic Fbl-WC-2022-Eur,WRAP PARIS Qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar gets underway in Europe where defending champions France, European champions Portugal and highly-regarded Netherlands are all in action. 600 words 2200 GMT by Jed Court. Picture afp
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