Top Stories

• 
  Last update: 08:21 GMT 10.08.2020

  08:21 GMT 10.08.2020

  World

  China Slaps Several US Officials With Sanctions in Retaliation for Hong Kong Restrictions

  On Friday, the US Treasury Department said that the United States had imposed sanctions on 11 individuals in response to an alleged effort to "undermine" Hong Kong's autonomy.

• 
  Last update: 06:11 GMT 10.08.2020

  06:11 GMT 10.08.2020

  Latin America

  UK Took $1Bln of Gold From Cash-Strapped Venezuela - Deputy Secretary of Russian Security Council

  MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United Kingdom has de facto seized $1 billion of gold stored in its bank from Venezuela at a time when the Latin American nation is grappling with the pandemic, the deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council said.

• 
  Last update: 06:36 GMT 10.08.2020

  06:36 GMT 10.08.2020

  Asia & Pacific

  Taiwan Air Force 'Drove Out' Chinese Fighter Jets From Its Airspace, Defence Ministry Says

  The incident took place the day after US Health Secretary Alex Azar arrived on the island. Azar has become the highest-ranking American official to visit Taiwan since the United States cut official ties with the island in 1979.

• 
  Last update: 05:19 GMT 10.08.2020

  05:19 GMT 10.08.2020

  Europe

  Belarusian Investigative Committee Opens Probe Into Violence Against Police After Protests Hit Minsk

  Protests engufled the Belarusian capital on Sunday after the exit polls and first data from polling stations suggested that the incumbent president, Alexander Lukashenko, is set for a landslide victory with about 80 percent of votes. The opposition claims that falsifications took place during the vote.

• 
  Last update: 06:23 GMT 10.08.2020

  06:23 GMT 10.08.2020

  Viral

  From Nazis to Aliens: Bizarre '400 ft Ice Ship' Detected on Google Earth Sparks Conspiracy Theories

  Images of a large mass of ice lying south of New Zealand were discovered on Google Earth, with the uncanny shape firing users' imaginations.

• 
  Last update: 08:15 GMT 10.08.2020

  08:15 GMT 10.08.2020

  Viral

  Jaw-Dropping Golf Video of Jason Derulo 'Knocking Out' Will Smith's Teeth Has Fans Wincing

  An earlier TikTok video showed Jason Derulo pranking his fans, as he seemingly had his teeth knocked out when he recorded himself eating a cob of corn off a power drill.

• 
  Last update: 07:45 GMT 10.08.2020

  07:45 GMT 10.08.2020

  Asia & Pacific

  China Denounces Statement of 5 Western Foreign Ministers on Hong Kong as Meddling

  BEIJING (Sputnik) - The joint statement of the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States on Hong Kong is yet another instance of interference in China's domestic affairs, the Chinese embassy in Canada said in a statement on Monday.

• 
  Last update: 05:01 GMT 10.08.2020

  05:01 GMT 10.08.2020

  World

  COVID-19 Live Updates: Global Cases Near 20 Million

  The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic has reached 730,089; over 19.7 million cases of the infection have been detected, according to Baltimore, Maryland's Johns Hopkins University, which tracks and compiles data from national and local authorities, the media and other sources.