22 June 2023; MEMO: A US army veteran has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for the murder of an Afghan refugee after he shouted Islamophobic slurs at the victim, Anadolu Agency reports.

After a three-day trial, Dustin Passarelli was convicted in the Mid-western US state of Indiana of the murder of Mustafa Ayoubi, 32, with additional time for using a firearm.

23 June 2023; MEMO: The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has condemned the Israeli settlers' attacks on Palestinian property, describing them as "acts of terrorism".

In a statement issued by his office, Guterres said the settlers' terrorist acts included "acts of sabotage and arson of land, property and schools in Palestinian villages around Nablus and Ramallah."

24 June 2023; MEMO: Germany has cancelled its condemnation of a UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry into the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories in response to measures aimed at expediting settlements, Walla reported on Friday.

LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - The world's central bank umbrella body, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), called on Sunday for more interest rate hikes, warning the world economy was now at a crucial point as countries struggle to rein in inflation.

Despite the relentless rise in rates over the last 18 months, inflation in many top economies remains stubbornly high, while the jump in borrowing costs triggered the most serious banking collapses since the financial crisis 15 years ago.

NEW YORK (AP) — Salman Rushdie, Cheryl Strayed, Carl Hiassen and Ibram X. Kendi are among hundreds of authors who have endorsed an announcement by the American Library Association and the Association of American Publishers that calls attention to the 70th anniversary of a Freedom to Read Statement issued by book publishers and librarians during the height of the McCarthy era.

23 June 2023; MEMO: Sri Lanka is set to start bartering tea to Iran next month in lieu of $250 million owed for oil, a Sri Lankan official told Reuters on Friday, as the crisis-hit country tries to lift sales to a key market and protect its forex reserves.

MAKKAH, June 26 (APP):The last daunting three years had witnessed a sharp reduction in the scale of annual pilgrimage amid the Covid-19 pandemic but Hajj this year is featuring a historic capacity of pilgrims, gathering in and around the Holy City to begin their lifetime spiritual journey.

More than 2.5 million pilgrims from 160 countries around the world and locals are expected to converge on Islam’s holiest mosque in Makkah.

23 June 2023; MEMO: Illegal Israeli settlers, last night, attacked Palestinian residents in Masafer Yatta district to the south of Hebron in the Occupied West Bank, reported Wafa news agency.

According to local activist, Osama Al-Makhamreh, the settlers from Havat Maon were under the protection of Israeli occupation forces as they assaulted Palestinian shepherds and civilians in the village of Khirbet Tuba, based in Masafer Yatta, resulting in grave injuries.

TOKYO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Multiple civic groups in Japan have continued to oppose the country's plan of dumping nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, exhorting the government to take the long-term impact into account to avoid entailing endless trouble to future generations.

WASHINGTON, June 25. /TASS/: US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy got in touch with Russian foreign ministry officials amid the situation around PMC Wagner but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has no contacts with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the CBS television channel said on Sunday, citing its sources.

According to CBS, contacts with Russia were carried out both between Ambassador Tracy and the Russian foreign ministry and at several other levels. However, there were no contacts between the two countries’ top diplomats.

June 25 (Reuters) - Hikers have found human remains in Southern California's Mount Baldy wilderness, the mountainous area where British-born film actor Julian Sands went missing in January, local authorities said late on Saturday.

The hikers contacted Fontana Station officials at about 10 a.m. on Saturday to report the discovery of the body, which was taken to the coroner's office for identification, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

TOKYO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Passengers evacuated a train in a central subway station in Tokyo after a man was seen carrying a knife on Sunday, local media reported.

Three were injured during the rush to get off the train.

At around 4:15 p.m. local time, police received a call reporting a person wielding a knife in a train compartment at Shinjuku station on the JR Yamanote line, said local fire and police departments.