UK

Scunthorpe (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Scunthorpe, an industrial town in Lincolnshire, England, is home to the last steel plant in the UK to produce virgin steel used in construction and rail transport. The plant has long been struggling, with many fearing its closure would “be the end of Scunthorpe”. But recent emergency legislation from the Labour government has given it control over the site in order to keep the blast furnaces burning, and giving some hope to the town. “We’re a thriving town, we need the steelworks, keep the steelworks, nationalise it, get the jobs sorted out and do the job properly,” says former plant worker Jim Kirk, as a long-term solution has yet to be agreed upon, leaving the plant’s 2,700 workers in limbo.

San Diego (AFP) – CCTV footage shows elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park reacting during a 5.2-magnitude earthquake that hit southern California. The animals Ndlula, Zuli, Mkhaya, Umngani, and Khosi formed an “alert circle” to protect younger members of the herd – a natural response to perceived threats, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.

Japan (AFP) – Koji (pseudonym) Hayashi has spent years fearing that his mother, Masumi Hayashi, will be executed for a crime she swears she didn’t commit. Convicted of poisoning festival-goers with arsenic-laced curry in 1998, she remains on death row – her repeated appeals for a retrial rejected.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, for his first official overseas trip of the year. His tour of Southeast Asia will also see him visit Malaysia and Cambodia as Beijing seeks to strengthen regional trade ties and offset the impact of huge tariffs unleashed by his US counterpart Donald Trump.

Bad Arolsen (Germany) (AFP) – The vast Arolsen Archives, located in the quaint spa town of Bad Arolsen in central Germany, is the world’s largest repository of information on the victims and survivors of the Nazi regime. Eighty years after the end of World War II, people all over the world are still discovering the fate of their family members sent to Adolf Hitler’s Nazi death camps. “Approximately 20,000 people contact us each year asking for information about the fate of a relative”, says the director, Floriane Azoulay.

Images released by Blue Origin, the space company of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, show US singer Katy Perry and the other members of the crew at a rocket facility ahead of all-woman launch of the New Shepard rocket, and after they’ve landed. Alongside Perry, five other women, including Bezos’ fiancee Lauren Sanchez, blasted off from western Texas on Monday on the first all-woman space flight since Valentina Tereshkova’s historic solo mission in 1963.

Ânlóng Vêng (Cambodia) (AFP) – A new coffin-shaped structure topped with a clear plastic roof looms over the cremation site of Pol Pot in Anlong Veng, testament to the estimated two million Cambodian lives lost under his genocidal rule. One of history’s most notorious mass murderers, his Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh 50 years ago on Thursday, and his dark legacy still casts a long shadow over modern Cambodia.

Beijing (AFP) – Beijing warns Britain against “politicising” an unfolding spat over the future of Chinese-owned British Steel after legislation was approved to prevent the shutdown of the last British factory that can make steel from scratch. The move came after owners Jingye said it was no longer financially viable to keep the furnaces burning. “It is hoped that the British government will… avoid politicising trade cooperation or linking it to security issues,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian says. Britain’s Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said London was “naive” to let the Chinese firm take over part of the sensitive steel industry.

Quito (AFP) – Vote counting begins as polls close in Ecuador’s presidential election, with incumbent Daniel Noboa aiming to hold off a popular leftist challenger after a campaign overshadowed by drug-fueled violence. IMAGES

Quito (AFP) – Polls closed in Ecuador’s too-close-to-call presidential election, with incumbent Daniel Noboa hoping to fend off a charismatic leftist challenger after a campaign dominated by drug-related violence. IMAGES

Olon (Equateur) (AFP) – Right-wing incumbent President Daniel Noboa casts his vote at a polling station in Olon, Santa Elena Province, Ecuador, in presidential election. Noboa faces a tough runoff against charismatic leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez, who is vying to become the country’s first woman president. IMAGES

Peru (AFP) – Ewan, Jamie and Lachlan MacLean set off in a carbon fiber dinghy from Lima, aiming to reach Sydney in Australia 9,000 miles (14,500 kilometres) away in about four months. The three Scottish brothers have embarked on the mammoth journey from Peru hoping to set a record time for rowing across the Pacific Ocean.