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| - Duty Editor: Karl Malakunas Tel: +852 2829 6211 -- TOP STORIES -- + Putin, Belarussia's Lukashenko to discuss crisis + Biden urges 'generational' investment in US economy + Media tycoon Jimmy Lai jailed again in Hong Kong + Australian city locks down in zero-Covid push + Die-hard 'Friends' fans treated to reunion special Belarus-politics-aviation-arrest,WRAP SOCHI, Russia Vladimir Putin and Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko are to meet after the UN civil aviation agency announced it will investigate the diversion of a passenger plane and the arrest of a journalist on board in a growing diplomatic row. 800 words moved by Mary Sibierski. Picture. Video. Graphic US-economy-politics-infrastructure,WRAP CLEVELAND, Ohio President Joe Biden urges "generational" investment in US infrastructure to keep the economic superpower ahead of China while ensuring that less wealthy Americans are not left behind. 550 words moved by Nicholas Kamm with Sebastian Smith in Washington. Picture HongKong-China-politics-court,WRAP HONG KONG Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai is among eight democracy activists handed new prison sentences for attending protests on the 70th anniversary of China's founding that helped trigger a sweeping crackdown. 550 words 0530 GMT by Yan Zhao. Picture. Video. Live video Health-virus-Australia,lead MELBOURNE Five million Melbourne residents return to lockdown, straining local resolve and testing Australia's "zero-Covid" strategy of smothering outbreaks however small. 450 words moved. Picture. Video. Entertainment-US-TV-celebrity-Friends LOS ANGELES Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer almost hooked up on the set of "Friends" -- but their characters Rachel and Ross nearly didn't, just one of the revelations as a one-off reunion special of the beloved 1990s sitcom streams on the HBO Max platform. 400 words moved -- SPOTLIGHT -- China-television-culture-LGBT,FOCUS BEIJING Two men exchange longing glances, a frisson of sexual tension in an on-screen relationship that must otherwise go unspoken -- China's "boys' love" phenomenon is gripping video streamers, slipping by censors of LGBTQ themes with their subtlety. 800 words moved by Beiyi Seow and Danni Zhu. Picture -- CORONAVIRUS -- Oly-2020-2021-Japan-virus-health TOKYO Japan moves to extend a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas until just a month before the Olympics, in a move likely to fuel concerns over whether the Games can be held safely. 500 words moved Health-virus-Mexico,FOCUS MEXICO CITY A steady decline in coronavirus cases and rising levels of immunity from vaccination or infection suggest that the worst of the pandemic may be over for hard-hit Mexico, experts say. 650 words 0530 GMT by Jennifer Gonzalez Covarrubias. File picture Also moved: Health-virus-Argentina-Uruguay-vaccines,FOCUS Health-virus-US-IT-Facebook,WRAP WASHINGTON Facebook has reversed its policy banning posts suggesting Covid-19 emerged from a laboratory amid renewed debate over the origins of the virus, raising fresh questions about social media's role in policing misinformation. 750 words moved by Rob Lever -- AMERICAS -- Fbl-BRA-FRA-Ligue1-PSG-Neymar-Nike-assault,WRAP LOS ANGELES Nike says it parted ways with Neymar last year after the superstar Brazil attacker "refused to cooperate in a good faith investigation" as the company probed an employee's claim that he sexually assaulted her. 600 words moved. File picture US-Afghanistan-conflict-military-immigration WASHINGTON The US government is "rapidly" formulating plans to evacuate potentially thousands of interpreters who worked for coalition forces in Afghanistan over the past two decades to protect their safety, a top general says. 400 words moved Colombia-politics-protest,FOCUS BOGOTA Colombia marks a full month of anti-government protests that have claimed dozens of lives and invited international condemnation of its police response. Observers fear the end is nowhere in sight. 800 words moved by Hector Velasco. Picture Mexico-vote-crime-drugs,FOCUS DOLORES HIDALGO, Mexico Every day before hitting the campaign trail, Julio Gonzalez prays he will come home alive and avoid joining the growing number of candidates murdered during another bloody Mexican election battle. 650 words moved by Yussel Gonzalez. Picture. Video -- ASIA -- SriLanka-Singapore-transport-pollution-fire,WRAP COLOMBO Tonnes of ash-grey plastic pellets from a burning container vessel wash ashore on a Sri Lankan tourist beach as international efforts to put out the blaze and prevent an ecological disaster drag into a ninth day. 500 words 0700 GMT by Amal Jayasinghe. Picture. Video HongKong-China-politics-court,PROFILE HONG KONG Hong Kong democracy campaigner Figo Chan wore an Avengers hoodie into court for his jail sentence in a nod to his love of the comic series and its tale of heroic redemption. He says prison will make him a better man. 550 words 0700 GMT by Su Xinqi. Portraits by Anthony Wallace. Myanmar-coup-politics-food,FOCUS YANGON Aye Mar sits with her seven children in their Yangon kitchen and worries whether their meal of rice and stringy vegetables -- all she can afford in coup-stricken Myanmar -- will satisfy their hunger. 550 words moved. Picture. Video China-technology-politics-internet,ANALYSIS BEIJING With a self-effacing note Chinese tycoon Zhang Yiming, the brains behind popular video-sharing app TikTok, stepped down as head of his own firm last week admitting he preferred "daydreaming" to running a multibillion-dollar global company. 800 words moved by Jing Xuan Teng with Aidan Jones in Bangkok -- EUROPE -- Armenia-Azerbaijan-conflict-Karabakh,WRAP YEREVAN Six Armenian soldiers are captured by Azerbaijan, the latest in a series of escalating border incidents after last year's war over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, with Washington calling on both sides to resolve the situation "urgently and peacefully". 750 words moved by Mariam Harutyunan. Picture. Video Spain-attacks-Catalonia-trial,WRAP MADRID A Spanish court hands jail terms of up to 53 years to three men who helped the jihadists behind the 2017 Barcelona attacks that killed 16 people. 600 words moved. File picture. File video -- MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA -- Syria-conflict-vote,WRAP DAMASCUS Bashar al-Assad has been re-elected for a fourth term as president of war-ravaged Syria, official results showed on Thursday, despite Western accusations the polls were "neither free nor fair". 600 words moved Also moved: Syria-conflict-vote-Assad,PROFILE Iran-politics-vote,WRAP TEHRAN Iran's supreme leader urges voters to ignore boycott calls and turns a deaf ear to criticism over the rejection of hopefuls for next month's presidential election, a move that appears to have made ultraconservatives the front-runners. 700 words moved. Picture. Video Israel-Palestinians-conflict-UN-rights,WRAP GENEVA The UN Human Rights Council decides to create an open-ended international investigation into violations surrounding the latest Gaza violence, and into "systematic" abuses in the Palestinian territories and inside Israel. 850 words moved by Nina Larson. Picture. Video Also moved: Israel-Palestinians-conflict-US-diplomacy,Q&A Iraq-media-misinformation,FOCUS BAGHDAD Conspiracy theories, fake reports and mudslinging -- in Iraq, false news thrives and risks real-lige consequences as authorities struggle to counteract its spread. 750 words moved by Laure Al Khoury. Picture. Video -- AFRICA -- Rwanda-France-diplomacy-genocide-history,WRAP KIGALI French President Emmanuel Macron recognises his country's role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, as the two countries seek to turn the page on decades of diplomatic tensions over the bloodshed. 800 words moved by Jerome Rivet and Simon Valmary. Picture. Video Also moved: France-Rwanda-diplomacy-genocide-history-politics,FACTS Germany-Namibia-genocide,WRAP BERLIN Germany for the first time on Friday recognised it had committed genocide in Namibia during its colonial occupation, with Berlin promising financial support worth more than one billion euros to aid projects in the African nation. 550 words moved by Isabelle Le Page. File picture DRCongo-volcano,WRAP GOMA, DR Congo Tens of thousands of people flee the eastern DR Congo city of Goma, choking highways, after the local governor warned in a dawn broadcast of a possible new eruption of the volcano Mount Nyiragongo. 900 words moved by Heritier Baraka Munyampfura. Graphic. Picture. Video Also moved: DRCongo-volcano-gas-science,FOCUS DRCongo-volcano-Cameroon,FACTS Mali-politics,WRAP BAMAKO The Malian military release the country's interim leaders but take control of the government in moves that have fallen far short of international demands to resolve the deep crisis. 650 words moved by Serge Daniel with Laurent Lozano in Dakar Also moved: Mali-politics-army-unrest,PROFILE afp
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