Author: admin@primenews

Leeds Festival closed on Sunday with a heady mix of rock, rap and pop from the Killers, Central Cee and the 1975. The Killers concluded their set with two consecutive different renditions of their eternal anthem Mr Brightside – the first a surprising synth reworking – prompting mass hysteria. Earlier, Central Cee thrilled UK rap fans with a short but sweet version of his chart-busting Dave collab Sprinter. Co-headliners The 1975 gave a big out shout out to the absent Lewis Capaldi. Matty Healy’s band, who stepped in a few months back after the Scottish singer cancelled his tour dates…

Japan has complained to China after local businesses and institutions were inundated with abusive phone calls over the Fukushima plant discharge. The calls come from numbers with Chinese dialling codes. One restaurant chain in Fukushima reported more than 1,000 calls since last Thursday. Tokyo has also warned citizens visiting China to take precautions and avoid speaking Japanese loudly. Beijing has led criticism of last week’s release of treated wastewater. Tokyo has made daily reports, saying the seawater around the nuclear plant is showing no detectable levels of radioactivity. Japanese authorities say the calls from Chinese numbers began after the release…

North Korea will start allowing in citizens who have been locked out for almost four years due to pandemic border controls, state media KCNA said. Returning individuals will be subject to a seven-day quarantine under medical supervision at dedicated facilities. It appears to be its latest act to scale back Covid restrictions, coming just days after the first Pyongyang flight landed in Beijing since 2020. China last week reopened commercial air travel between Beijing and Pyongyang. North Korea is one of the last few countries to do so. Last month, Chinese and Russian officials became the first foreign dignitaries to visit North Korea since…

China has made a series of moves to restore investor confidence in the world’s second largest economy, including cutting a tax on stock trading for the first time since 2008. Foreign investors dumped billions of dollars worth of Chinese stocks over the past few weeks as the prospects for the economy dimmed. The announcements boosted Chinese stocks on Monday. However, much of the gains had evaporated by the afternoon as investors returned to worrying about China’s real estate crisis and sluggish growth prospects. The stamp duty on stock trades, which had stood at 0.1%, would be halved effective Monday, according to a joint statement by…

A prominent Pakistani human rights lawyer who was arrested on terror charges has been granted bail. Imaan Mazari-Hazir was arrested by plain-clothed officers who entered her home at about 03:30 local time on 20 August after she made a speech criticising the powerful military. Her arrest has been widely criticised. Analysts say a crackdown has increased after military installations were attacked in May by crowds protesting at the arrest of former PM Imran Khan. “There has been a gross over-reaction to the events of 9 May. But the establishment doesn’t want to be seen as only focused against Mr Khan’s…

Libya’s PM has suspended his foreign minister after she met with her Israeli counterpart. Libya – a strong backer of the Palestinian cause – does not recognise Israel, and the meeting has sparked protests in the majority Arab state. Israeli FM Eli Cohen said the “historic” meeting was “the first step” in establishing relations with Libya. Israel is working to build closer ties with Arab and Muslim-majority countries which do not officially recognise it. However Libya’s presidential council, which represents its three provinces, said it was illegal to normalise relations with Israel. The Speaker’s Office in parliament accused Najla Mangoush…

The New York Times found instant success with Wordle. Now it might have a new hit on its hands. A new puzzle called Connections is officially joining the newspaper’s portfolio of games this week, following a successful summer testing phase where it became the Times’ second-most played game behind Wordle despite minimal promotion. Players will see Connections appear in the Times’ Games app and in the news app under the Play tab beginning this week. Connections, which also can be played on desktop and mobile web, is a word association game that presents players with 16 words and challenges them to group…

Investors are eagerly anticipating a slew of news about the health of the US labor market over the next few days. The Bureau of Labor Statistics kicks things off on Tuesday with the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report for July. On Wednesday, we get the ADP National Employment Report for August. On Thursday, Challenger, Grey & Christmas releases its August job cuts, which provides information on corporate layoffs. And Friday brings the main event: the official government unemployment numbers for August. The labor market has been incredibly resilient over the past two years. That sounds like a good thing —…

Japanese players and fans were left in tears after the country claimed its first ever victory against European opponents in the FIBA Basketball World Cup on Sunday. Pulling off the biggest comeback of the 2023 tournament so far, co-hosts Japan came from a staggering 18 points down to beat Finland 98-88 in front of a home crowd in Okinawa, knocking out its Group E rival. Stars including Phoenix Suns’ Yuta Watanabe and the NBA G League’s Yudai Baba could be seen crying in disbelief as the Japanese team made history, while many fans were also overcome with emotion in the stands. US-born Josh Hawkinson…

Police in India are investigating a teacher after a video of her encouraging students to slap their 7-year-old classmate, who is Muslim, sparked widespread outrage in the country. The video of the incident, which took place in the Muzaffarnagar district in northern Uttar Pradesh state, shows the boy fearfully standing in front of his classmates as the teacher calls on students to hit him. The boy cries as his classmates take turns to slap him, while the teacher is heard telling the students to do it “properly.” A man can be heard laughing as the boy wails while the slapping continues. Muzaffarnagar’s…