Queen Elizabeth to knight Tony Blair

Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister is to be knighted with the highest possible ranking in the New Year's Honours List, Buckingham Palace announced Friday.
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Hong Kong's statues are disappearing, but their symbolism may prove harder to erase

Depicting a heap of screaming faces and contorted torsos, the "Pillar of Shame" was not just a reminder of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre -- it was, for many, an emblem of free speech in Hong Kong.
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Biden told Putin there will be a 'heavy price to pay' if Russia invades Ukraine

President Joe Biden will speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, several days after Biden urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to ease an unremitting military crisis on Ukraine's border.
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Hong Kong authorities insist newsroom raids and arrests have 'nothing to do with media work'

Hong Kong authorities are defending the arrests of seven people linked to a pro-democracy publication in the face of growing international condemnation, with the city's leader insisting the police raids had "nothing to do with journalistic or media work."
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As Omicron spreads in India, mass gatherings spark fears of another wave

Doctors in India are bracing for a potential third wave driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, as cases rise and political leaders hold mass gatherings ahead of key elections.
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Alleged Chinese smugglers publicly shamed for breaching Covid rules

Police in southern China paraded four suspects through the streets for allegedly smuggling people across sealed borders in breach of pandemic control measures -- a controversial act of public shaming that triggered backlash on Chinese social media.
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Russian court shuts down Memorial Human Rights Center, day after sister group ordered closed

A court in Moscow ordered the closure of the Memorial Human Rights Center on Wednesday, in the latest blow to Russian civil society groups.
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