Egypt arrests six Al-Jazeera English journalists
Egyptian police on Monday arrested six foreign journalists working for Al-Jazeera English news channel at their Cairo hotel after authorities forbade them covering anti-regime protests, the channel said.
The nationalities of the arrested Al-Jazeera employees are "Australian, Portuguese and British," an Al-Jazeera spokesman said, without specifying how many of each nationality had been arrested.
The arrests came after Egypt on Sunday moved to shut down Al-Jazeera's coverage of mass protests against President Hosni Mubarak's regime, but the pan-Arab broadcaster vowed that it would not be silenced.
Outgoing information minister Anas al-Fikki on Sunday "ordered the closure of all activities by Al-Jazeera in the Arab republic of Egypt and the annulment of its licences," state media said.
The press cards of all Al-Jazeera staff in Egypt were also being withdrawn, it added.
Al-Jazeera said earlier that the shutdown of its Egyptian operations - on day six of unprecedented and often violent street protests - was aimed at "censoring and silencing the voices of the Egyptian people."
Less time to read?
Try Quickreads
-
July 1: Canada to mark 155th anniversary of its formation
As the country prepares to celebrate the 155th anniversary of the formation of the Canadian Confederation, Canada Day, the traditional centre of festivities, Parliament Hill in Ottawa, will be off limits as protesters linked to the Freedom Convoy begin gathering in the capital for the long weekend. Various events have been listed by protesters including a march to Parliament Hill on Friday.
-
Bulgaria's ‘Crypto Queen’ Ruja Ignatova added to FBI's most-wanted list
Quicked is empty for story with id 101656645778593
-
Europe to see 'high levels' of Covid this summer: WHO
With the milder but more contagious Omicron subvariant BA.5 spreading across the continent, the 53 countries in the WHO European region are currently registering just under 500,000 cases daily, according to the organisation's data. That is up from around 150,000 cases daily at the end of May. Austria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal were the countries with the highest incidence rates, with almost all countries in the region seeing a rise in cases.
-
China says New Zealand PM's comments on assertiveness ‘wrong’
China's embassy in New Zealand rebuked New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for comments she made at the NATO summit about Chinese assertiveness, calling them "misguided" and "wrong". Ardern said on Wednesday in Madrid that China has "in recent times also become more assertive and more willing to challenge international rules and norms." New Zealand, which is heavily reliant on China for trade, has often shied away from direct criticism of Beijing.
-
North Korea blames 'alien things' near border with South for Covid outbreak
Quicked is empty for story with id 101656633439621
