Beijing, May 31

Shanghai authorities say they will take some major steps on Wednesday toward reopening China's largest city after a two-month Covid lockdown that has throttled the national economy and largely bottled up millions of people in their homes.

Full bus and subway service will be restored as will basic rail connections with the rest of China, Vice Mayor Zong Ming said on Tuesday at a daily news conference.

Schools will partially reopen on a voluntary basis for students and shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores and drug stores will continue to reopen gradually with no more than 75 per cent of their total capacity. Cinemas and gyms will remain closed. Officials, who set June 1 as the target date for reopening earlier in May, appear ready to accelerate what has been a gradual easing in recent days. — AP

United nations: The economic impact of cleaning up littered tobacco products fall on taxpayers rather than the industry creating the problem and each year. This costs India Rs 766 million, the WHO said. PTI

US-Indian Congressman gets leadership award

Washington: Indian-origin US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has been honoured with the Distinguished Leadership Award.

Paris: The Mona Lisa was left shaken but unharmed on Sunday when a visitor to the Louvre tried to smash the glass protecting the world's most famous painting before smearing cream across its surface in an apparent climate-related publicity stunt. Reuters

Egypt displays newly discovered ancient artifacts

Cairo: Egypt on Monday displayed a trove of ancient artifacts dating back 2,500 years that the country's antiquities authorities said were recently unearthed at the famed necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo. The artifacts were showcased at a makeshift exhibit at the feet of the Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara. AP

Weighing malnourishment: A one-year-old child sits inside a plastic bucket suspended from a scale as he is screened for malnutrition after he arrived at a hospital in Dollow, Somalia. Reuters

LONDON, May 30

Britain will offer work visas to graduates from the world's best universities in an expansion of its post-Brexit immigration system that is designed to attract the "best and brightest" workers.

Since leaving the European Union, Britain has ended the priority given to EU citizens and introduced a points-based immigration system that ranks applicants on everything from their qualifications and language skills to the type of job offered to them.

Under the scheme announced on Monday, graduates with a bachelors or masters degree from the top 50 universities abroad can apply for a two-year work visa and will be allowed to bring family members with them. Those who receive doctorates can apply for a three-year visa.

Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said it would enable Britain to grow as an international hub for innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship.

Taft (US), May 30

Authorities said a 26-year-old man was in custody after one woman (39) was killed and seven injured in a shooting early on Sunday at an outdoor festival in eastern Oklahoma, where witnesses described frantic people running for cover amid gunfire.

An arrest warrant was issued for Skyler Buckner and he turned himself in to the Muskogee County sheriff's office on Sunday afternoon, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said. — AP

Ahmedabad, May 30

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said his ministry was in talks with governments of different countries neighbouring Ukraine to accommodate in their universities Indian medical students who were forced to leave the war-torn nation.

Speaking to reporters in Vadodara, Jaishankar, a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, said the Hungarian Government had assured it would try to accommodate as many Indian students as possible.

"Apart from the efforts being made in the country by department to help these medical students (who have returned from Ukraine due to war), the External Affairs Ministry is also in talks with Ukraine's neighbouring countries to find out if such students can be admitted in their universities," said Jaishankar.

London, May 29

British PM Boris Johnson is reportedly set to announce a return to imperial measurements of pounds and ounces as a post-Brexit move away from the European metric system to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee next week. Media reports indicate Johnson is preparing a nostalgic move away from another EU influence on the country.

Brasilia, May 29

Landslides caused by heavy rains killed at least 29 persons in the state of Pernambuco in northeast Brazil on Saturday.

In Alagoas, another state in the region, two persons died when they were swept away in river flooding on Friday. More than 1,000 people have been forced to leave their homes because of the flooding in Pernambuco, civil defense officials said. — AP

Abuja, May 28

A stampede on Saturday at a church charity sale in southern Nigeria left 31 persons dead, police said, a shocking development at an event that organisers said aimed to "offer hope" to the needy.

The stampede at the programme organised by the Kings Assembly pentecostal church in Rivers state involved many people who were seeking assistance, according to Grace Iringe-Koko, a police spokesperson.

Several of the victims came to benefit from an annual "Shop for Free" charity programme organised by the church. Such events are common in Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, where more than 80 million people live in poverty, according to government statistics. — AP

Lahore: Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday testified in a special court hearing the PKR 16 billion money laundering case against him. Sharif said he had refused to take any salary when he was the Chief Minister of Punjab province and termed himself a "majnoo" for doing so. PTI

Woman jailed for breaking flight attendant's teeth

San Diego: A California woman who punched a Southwest Airlines flight attendant in the face during a flight, breaking her teeth, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison. Vyvianna Quinonez (29) was also fined nearly $26,000 in restitution and $7,500 for the assault on a May 23, 2021, flight between Sacramento and San Diego. AP

Sao Paulo (Brazil), May 28

Brazil's airport authority Infraero said Friday it has notified the Federal Police over an apparent hack into electronic displays at an airport in Rio de Janeiro. Instead of advertisements and flight information, travellers were shown pornographic movies.

Video clips on social media showed travellers in the Santos Dumont airport laughing at the displays, hiding them from their kids or just stunned.

The airport authority's statement said that its information services are outsourced to another company, which it has also notified.

"We stress that the content shown in our media screens is a responsibility of the companies who have advertisement rights," said Infraero. It said its partners use their own systems of publication, which have no connection with Infraero's flight information system.

Infraero said it turned off the screens that had been hacked.

Chicago, May 28

Three people were shot and wounded on Friday in a neighbourhood west of Chicago, authorities said.

The Chicago Police Department said a man was sitting in a parked car with a woman standing by his driver side window when both were struck with gunfire at about 10.15 pm in South Austin, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The man, 34, was shot twice in the neck and taken to the hospital in critical condition, and the woman, 31, was shot in the elbow and is in fine condition, police said.

A third person, a 32-year-old man, was driving down the street when the shooting occurred and was also struck by gunfire, police said. He was also taken to the hospital and is in good condition.

No additional details about the shooting were immediately made available. No one was in custody. AP