NewsAFP NewsParis's 'Little Africa' fights back against racist stereotypes
Branded a "no-go zone" by Fox News in the wake of the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attacks, the Goutte d'Or neighbourhood of northern Paris has long been shunned by outsiders as a den of crime, prostitution and drugs. "I want people to discover the treasures of this place, beyond the fact that the roads are dirty and the buildings run down," said Jacqueline Ngo Mpii, founder of the company "Little Africa" offering guided tours of the Goutte d'Or since 2015. "It is a neighbourhood of prostitution and drug sales, but it is also a neighbourhood where renowned creators work, where African popular culture is based, and a neighbourhood adored by its inhabitants!" says the Cameroon-born Frenchwoman.
NewsAFP NewsIn Mali's largest prison, coronavirus kept at bay
Mali's largest jail is a squalid and overcrowded colonial-era throwback that in theory is an open invitation to coronavirus. Outside the penitentiary's ochre walls, the Malian capital has registered most of the country's 2,577 infections and 125 deaths. "From the start of the pandemic, we did everything we could to prevent it from getting in," said prison warden Colonel Adama Guindo, wearing a face mask.
BusinessAFP NewsCourt tells Uber, Lyft to classify drivers as employees
A California court has given Uber and Lyft until the middle of next week to reclassify drivers as employees in compliance with a new state law. The order came Monday when a judge granted a restraining order in a lawsuit filed by California attorney general Xavier Becerra and three cities including San Francisco, where Lyft and Uber are based. The suit calls on the companies to comply with a state law that went into effect at the start of this year that requires "gig workers" such as Uber and Lyft drivers to be classified as employees, eligible for unemployment, medical and other benefits.
BusinessAFP NewsVirus hits Commonwealth Bank profits in 'challenging' year
Australia's Commonwealth Bank (CBA) reported an 11.3-percent drop in full-year cash profits Wednesday as it took provisions against loan losses due to the coronavirus crisis. CBA said its statutory net profit after tax for the year ended June 30 was Aus$9.6 billion (US$6.9 billion), up 12.4 percent from the previous year, mainly due to the sale of some businesses. The statutory figure had been down 8.1 percent in 2019 and 4 percent the previous year as CBA, Australia's biggest bank, was weighed down by fines and reimbursements to customers over a raft of financial irregularities and malpractice claims.
NewsAFP NewsRussia vaccine claim faces scepticism as nations renew virus battle
Russia claimed Tuesday it has developed the world's first vaccine offering "sustainable immunity" against the coronavirus, despite mounting scepticism about its effectiveness as fears grow over a second wave of infections across the globe. President Vladimir Putin said the vaccine was safe and that one of his own daughters had received the inoculation, dubbed "Sputnik" after the pioneering 1950s Soviet satellite. "I know that it is quite effective, that it gives sustainable immunity," Putin said of the vaccine developed by the Gamaleya research institute in coordination with Moscow's defence ministry.
PoliticsAFP NewsBiden picks Kamala Harris to be first black woman VP
Presidential hopeful Joe Biden named Senator Kamala Harris, a former rival in the White House race, as his running mate Tuesday, marking a historic first for American women of color. Biden's announcement capped a months-long search for a Democratic partner to challenge President Donald Trump in November. Harris, who would become America's first female and first black vice president if elected, is a "fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country's finest public servants," Biden, 77, said in revealing his running mate.
BusinessAFP NewsMurdoch's Fox unveils global streaming for news channels
Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corp said Tuesday it was launching a stand-alone streaming service for its news and business channels that would be available in 20 countries by year's end. Fox, which is a streamlined company formed after it sold much of its film and TV entertainment operations to Disney, said the new subscription service would include on-demand content from Fox News and Fox Business Network. The Fox News International service priced at $6.99 per month will debut in Mexico on August 20 followed by Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom on September 17.
SportAFP NewsStokes' absence leaves England with Pakistan problem
England may have won the series opener against Pakistan but the absence of Ben Stokes leaves them with arguably the bigger selection headache going into Thursday's second Test at Southampton. Pakistan were much the better side for much of last week's first Test at Old Trafford and, despite a second-innings collapse, were still favourites to win when they reduced England to 117-5 in pursuit of a target of 277. Since England won with more than a day to spare in Manchester, it has been announced that star all-rounder Stokes will miss the rest of the series as a result of travelling to New Zealand to be with his ill father.
SportAFP NewsReinach eyes Springboks nine shirt with Pollard partnership at Montpellier
Reinach, 30, who has joined the French club on a three-year deal, was behind Faf de Klerk in the pecking order as the Boks lifted the Webb Ellis trophy last November. The ex-Northampton Saints number nine said he aims to catch the attention of Springboks head coach Jacques Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus by playing alongside Pollard.
NewsReutersMainland China reports 25 new coronavirus cases on August 11
China reported 25 new coronavirus cases in the mainland on Aug. 11, compared with 44 cases a day earlier, the health authority said on Wednesday. The National Health Commission said in a statement that 16 of the new infections were imported cases, and the remaining nine were locally transmitted cases reported from the Xinjiang region. China also reported 20 new asymptomatic patients, compared with 17 a day earlier.
NewsAFP NewsNew Zealand locks down all nursing homes after virus return
New Zealand locked down nursing homes nationwide Wednesday after a 102-day streak without the coronavirus ended, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the outbreak could force her to postpone next month's general election. Ardern said authorities were scrambling to trace anyone who had been in contact with four Auckland residents who tested positive Tuesday, ending the dream run in which the virus had been contained at New Zealand's borders. A three-day stay-at-home order for Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city with a population of 1.5 million, was announced on Tuesday night and went into force at lunchtime on Wednesday.
SportAFP NewsStars aligning for Atletico with Champions League glory not so far away
Atletico Madrid's triumph over Liverpool in March was a throwback to a more celebrated past under Diego Simeone but five months on and the Champions League offers them a very real opportunity in the present. Knocking out the holders at Anfield may prove to be the first glimpse of a new era under Simeone, where the likes of Joao Felix, Marcos Llorente, Jose Gimenez and Jan Oblak push Atletico to challenge for major honours again. Or it could be a last hurrah for the Simeone project, which some believe will never again scale the heights of their incredible La Liga title win in 2014 or their runs to the Champions League finals in 2014 and 2016.
NewsReutersArgentina death toll from coronavirus tops 5,000 as new cases spike
Argentina's death toll from the coronavirus has topped 5,000, the government said on Tuesday, as cases have skyrocketed in recent weeks, pushing the South American nation up in the global charts despite months of lockdown and a promising start. Argentina has been under quarantine since March 20, although officials previously relaxed restrictions in many parts of the nation, a move blamed for the recent spike in cases. The country recorded 7,043 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, pushing the total confirmed infections to 260,911, surpassing the total caseload in Italy.
NewsReutersMexico's new warning labels on junk food meet supersized opposition from U.S., EU
The United States, European Union, Canada and Switzerland, home to some of the world's biggest food companies, have pressed Mexico to delay upcoming health warnings on processed food and drinks, a World Trade Organization document showed. Mexico, the largest consumer of processed food in Latin America and the fourth-largest in the world, has long struggled with high rates of obesity and diabetes.
EntertainmentAFP NewsLast Blockbuster store lists '90s sleepover' on Airbnb
The last Blockbuster store on the planet is offering guests a chance to roll back the clock to simpler times with a '90s themed sleepover, it was announced Tuesday. An Airbnb listing for the holdout video rental shop in the northwestern US state of Oregon promises to convert the store into a makeshift living room "with a pull-out couch, bean bags and pillows for you to cozy up with 'new releases' from the '90s." "When you call dibs on this stay, you're booking a night back in the 90s, but this time you won't have to beg your parents to rent the latest horror flick -– we'll give you the keys to the entire store!" it promised.
NewsReutersJapan faces WW2 anniversary in shadow of coronavirus
In a 4 1/2-minute radio speech on Aug. 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender in World War Two, telling his subjects he had resolved to pave the way for peace by "enduring the unendurable". Seventy-five years later, the unresolved legacy of the conflict haunts Tokyo's ties with China and South Korea, even as the countries cope with a COVID-19 pandemic that is forcing Japan to scale back its Aug. 15 ceremony for war dead. In Japan, consensus over the war's legacy is elusive.
NewsReutersNew Zealand delays election process as it plunges back into coronavirus lockdown
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Wednesday delayed a key step toward next month's general election, as the country was plunged back into lockdown after the discovery of the first COVID-19 cases in more than three months. Ardern said she was suspending the dissolution of parliament, which was due to make way for an election scheduled to take place on Sept. 19, until Monday. "It's too early to make decisions but there is a bit of flexibility to move the election date if required," Ardern told a televised media conference, adding any date before Nov 21 can be chosen for the election.
BusinessReutersToshiba says likely to report first-quarter operating loss on coronavirus impact
Japanese industrial conglomerate Toshiba Corp said on Wednesday it was likely to report an operating loss for the April-June period, its first negative quarter in nearly four years, as it soaks up the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The prediction came after the Nikkei business daily reported that Toshiba likely had a first-quarter operating loss of more than 10 billion yen ($94 million) as electronic device sales slipped during the virus outbreak. Toshiba said in a statement the Nikkei report was roughly in line with results it would release later in the day, noting that it flagged in June that operating losses in the April-September half may total 10 billion to 20 billion yen.
SportAFP News'Thousands have tried' - Bayern ponder how to stop Messi
Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka said the German giants are working out how to curb the legendary talents of Barcelona star Lionel Messi ahead of Friday's Champions League quarter-final. "Thousands of people before me have tried to answer this question," Goretzka replied Tuesday in Lisbon when asked how to stop Messi. "That can only be done collectively," the 25-year-old central midfielder said of Messi, "because he is a gifted footballer".
SportAFP NewsFunds raised for statue of English football's black trailblazer
Jack Leslie, who was chosen to play for England in 1925 but dropped when selectors discovered he was black, will have a statue erected in his honour outside Plymouth Argyle's stadium after an appeal raised the £100,000 ($131,000) required. The Plymouth player, who had an English mother and a Jamaican father, was called up to the national side in the 1920s but the invitation was subsequently withdrawn. It would be another 53 years until Viv Anderson became England's first black player.
NewsAFP NewsHarris under scrutiny for tough-on-crime prosecutor past
Joe Biden's choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate was hailed on Tuesday as a historic first for women of color, but some warn her record as a tough prosecutor could dent her appeal with two key constituencies -- black voters and liberals. Harris, the first woman and the first black attorney general in the history of the Golden State, portrayed herself as a progressive reformer during her own presidential bid, but some have cast doubts on that claim. "Time after time, when progressives urged her to embrace criminal justice reforms as a district attorney and then the state's attorney general, Ms Harris opposed them or stayed silent," law professor Lara Bazelon wrote last year in an op-ed for The New York Times.
NewsReutersAustralia suffers deadliest day of coronavirus pandemic, cases rise
Australia recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic on Wednesday and the biggest daily rise in infections in three days, denting hopes that a second wave gripping the state of Victoria may be stabilising. Victoria reported 21 deaths - two more than the previous deadliest days earlier this week - and 410 new cases in the past 24 hours, ending a run of three consecutive days with new infections below 400. A cluster of infections in Melbourne, the Victorian capital and Australia's second-largest city, forced authorities last week to impose a night curfew, tighten restrictions on people's daily movements and order large parts of state economy to close.
PoliticsReutersExclusive: U.S. ban on TikTok could cut it off from app stores, advertisers - White House document
President Donald Trump's executive order banning China's TikTok could prevent U.S. app stores from offering the popular short-video app and make advertising on the platform illegal, according to a White House document seen by Reuters. Trump signed an order last week prohibiting transactions with TikTok if its parent ByteDance does not reach a deal to divest it in 45 days. It did not specify the scope of the ban, stating only that the U.S. Department of Commerce would define which transactions would be barred at the end of the 45-day period.
NewsAFP NewsBribes funded campaign of Mexico's Pena Nieto, ex-aide says
Multi-million-dollar bribes from a Brazilian construction giant financed the presidential campaign that brought Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto to power, a former top advisor revealed Tuesday according to prosecutors. The explosive allegations from Emilio Lozoya, who was Pena Nieto's chief international strategist prior to the 2012 election, are the latest twist in a scandal that has shaken Latin America. It follows the former aide's extradition from Spain last month to stand trial on corruption charges linked to Odebrecht, Latin America's biggest construction company.
NewsReutersDefectors say South Korea investigations threaten North Korean 'Underground Railroad'
A combination of coronavirus border closures and an unprecedented pressure campaign by a South Korean government keen to engage with North Korea may destroy networks defectors have long used to start new lives, activist groups say. The sweeping probe comes as South Korean President Moon Jae-in's administration strives to restart dialogue and economic projects with Pyongyang, which is under strict international embargoes due to its nuclear weapons programme. The ministry has already revoked the licenses of two defector groups that were sending anti-Pyongyang propaganda into the North, following complaints from North Korea.
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