China bookings to return to pre-pandemic level by early 2024 – Agoda

By Chayut Setboonsarng BANGKOK (Reuters) – Overseas travel bookings from mainland China are currently at just over half of pre-pandemic levels but are on course to return to the 2019 numbers by the end of this year or early 2024, the head of online travel agency Agoda said on Thursday. China was the world’s largest…

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‘Rust’ armorer may have brought live rounds on set -prosecutors

By Andrew Hay (Reuters) – Prosecutors say they have evidence pointing to the possibility the armorer for the movie “Rust” introduced live rounds onto the set where a gun that actor Alec Baldwin was holding fired a bullet, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021. Prosecutors had previously said it might never be clear how live…

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Music publishers sue Twitter for allowing copyrighted songs

By Blake Brittain (Reuters) – A group of 17 music publishers sued Twitter in Nashville, Tennessee, federal court on Wednesday, accusing the company of enabling thousands of copyright violations by allowing users to post music without a license. Twitter drives user engagement with “countless infringing copies of musical compositions,” the lawsuit said. Members of the…

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At a Buenos Aires soup kitchen, lines grow longer as inflation soars

By Miguel Lo Bianco BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Anahí Robledo feeds 50 families each day at the community kitchen she runs in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, struggling with the chronic inflation that has thrown four in every ten people in the country into poverty. Argentina is battling an economic crisis…

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Hong Kong protest anthem’s online presence fades as govt seeks total ban

By Jessie Pang HONG KONG (Reuters) – Various versions of the pro-democracy protest anthem “Glory to Hong Kong” were unavailable on Apple’s iTunes Store, Spotify, KKBOX, Facebook and Instagram’s Reels on Wednesday after the government sought an injunction banning the song outright. A Reuters search for the song’s Chinese title on Apple’s iTunes Store and…

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Biden calls racism ‘still too powerful’ during Juneteenth concert at White House

By Andrea Shalal and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Tuesday denounced racism in the United States and said the Juneteenth holiday was meant to help underscore American values that he said were under threat. Speaking at the White House’s first big Juneteenth celebration, a concert that featured performances by singers Jennifer Hudson,…

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Explainer-Reddit protest: Why are thousands of subreddits going dark?

(Reuters) – Thousands of popular Reddit communities dedicated to topics ranging from Apple Inc to gaming and music locked out their users on Monday in protest against the company’s plan to charge for access to its data. Starting next month, third-party app developers using Reddit’s vast troves of data will have to pay a price…

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