Author: admin@primenews

Venezuela has announced it will hold presidential elections on 28 July – months earlier than expected. President Nicolás Maduro, who has been in power for 11 years, is widely expected to seek re-election. His opponent, María Corina Machado, is banned from holding office for alleged financial misconduct, which she denies. Last year, the government and the opposition in the South American nation agreed to hold elections in 2024 and invite international observers. The 2018 elections – when Mr Maduro was declared a winner – had been widely dismissed as neither free nor fair. The election date announcement was made by…

Peru’s Prime Minister Alberto Otárola has resigned over allegations he attempted to use his influence to help a woman gain lucrative government contracts. The scandal escalated last week when a Peruvian TV broadcaster aired audio clips of what it said were conversations between the two. Mr Otárola, 57, has denied any wrongdoing. A formal investigation has been launched into the allegations. According to the Panorama programme, which first aired the clips over the weekend, the woman Mr Otárola can be heard speaking to is Yaziré Pinedo, 25. Ms Pinedo was reportedly awarded two contracts for work in the defence ministry…

A Western Australian man has been charged with aggravated assault after allegedly using cable ties to restrain three children. Police said the man had detained the six-year-old girl and two boys aged seven and eight after finding them swimming on a vacant property. Video circulated online appears to show two of the children tied up and crying. Top state officials say they are “appalled” by the footage and police have called for calm in the community. Authorities said the 45-year-old man had called them on Monday to report the incident in Broome, about 2,000km (1,200 miles) north of Perth, telling…

Goldbugs are rejoicing as their favorite precious metal continues to reach new heights. The price of gold rose on Tuesday to settle at $2,141.90 a troy ounce, notching another record high as investors continue to bet the Federal Reserve will cut rates in the back half of the year. Gold is considered to be one of the most resilient investments. When interest rates fall, holding income-paying assets (like bonds) becomes less appealing than owning the precious metal. However, some investors also believe gold to be a hedge against inflation, wagering that it will hold its value even if it begins to…

The US says it airdropped 36,000 meals into northern Gaza on Tuesday in co-ordination with Jordan – the second such joint mission in recent days. It came a day after the World Health Organization said children were dying of starvation in the north, where an estimated 300,000 Palestinians are living with little food or clean water. But the strategy has sparked considerable discussion, with humanitarian organisations saying it cannot meet the soaring needs. It is also a symbol of the failure of the aid effort on the ground. Aid lorries have been entering the south of Gaza through the Egyptian-controlled…

More than 10 million Thais sought treatment for illnesses linked to air pollution in 2023, authorities said. The data from the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) come as Thailand’s air quality is worsening. Widespread farm burning and forest fires, notably in the country’s north, often create a noxious smog at the beginning of the year. The start of 2024 has already seen a jump in cases of pollution-related diseases compared to the previous year. From 1.3 million in the first nine weeks of 2023, the number of people seeking treatment for pollution-related illnesses increased to 1.6 million at the start…

Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce a 2p cut to National Insurance when he delivers his Budget on Wednesday. The plan – which matches a cut announced in the Autumn Statement – was first reported in The Times. Mr Hunt has promised his Budget will help families with “permanent” tax cuts and stimulate a flagging economy. Labour said any reductions would be cancelled out by the government’s previous decision to freeze the thresholds people start paying tax. The move means a pay rise is more likely to drag someone into a higher band so they pay more tax. Mr Hunt has been under…

A ban on a Calvin Klein advert starring FKA twigs has been partially reversed. The singer criticised the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) after it said the image in the campaign was likely to cause offence by objectifying women. In a statement, the agency said it had reversed its original decision after a review concluded the image was not sexually explicit. However, the advert remains banned from display where it might be seen by children. The regulator launched an investigation in response to two complaints about the poster, which showed FKA twigs wearing a shirt drawn halfway around her body. Text…

The price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, briefly hit a new all-time high of more than $69,000. It surpassed the previous record set in November 2021 – though by 2022 Bitcoin’s value had sunk to $16,500. The new surge in price has been spurred by US finance giants pouring billions into buying bitcoins. The cryptocurrency rose to around $69,200 shortly after 15:00 GMT on Tuesday, before falling back. It was trading around $62,185 by 21:00 GMT. Bitcoin’s value has spiked by more than 50% over the last month, according to cryptocurrency market data platform CoinMarketCap. Carol Alexander, professor of…

Meta says it has resolved a “technical issue” which caused Facebook, Messenger and Instagram to go down. Hundreds of thousands of users worldwide were unable to access them for around two hours on Tuesday. People trying to log onto the websites and apps were finding error messages and were unable to refresh their feeds as normal. Meta also apologised to those who had been affected, saying it resolved the problem as quickly as it could. Tracking website Downdetector indicated the outages had affected multiple countries. Meta’s platforms are some of the most popular in the world. Facebook has three billion…