While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, July 25
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The storm passed through quickly but the strong winds caused significant damage.
PHOTO: AFP
One dead after ‘likely tornado’ hits Switzerland
One person was killed and around 15 others injured in northwestern Switzerland on Monday after a “likely tornado” struck a city in the Jura mountains, causing significant damage.
The storm hit the watchmaking city of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Neuchatel region bordering France.
The storm “unfortunately caused the death of one person in their 50s following the toppling of a construction crane”, the Neuchatel police said.
China to G7, EU: We ‘strictly’ implement UN sanctions on North Korea
AFP
China asserted on Monday that it “strictly” implements UN sanctions on North Korea, reacting to a letter from the Group of Seven, European Union and others that urged Beijing to stop Pyongyang from evading the measures by using Chinese waters.
The letter sent on Friday expressed concern about “the continuing presence of multiple oil tankers ... that use your territorial waters in Sansha Bay as refuge to facilitate their trade of sanctioned petroleum products” to North Korea.
It was signed by G7 members - the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain - plus Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the EU and came ahead of a visit to North Korea this week by a high-level Chinese delegation.
TikTok rivals Twitter with new text format
REUTERS
TikTok, the social platform known for its addictive video content, announced Monday that it will offer text-only posts, becoming the latest tech giant to offer an alternative to embattled Twitter.
The text posts on TikTok will most closely resemble similar offerings on Instagram, which earlier this month also launched a challenge to Twitter – which owner Elon Musk renamed X – called Threads.
Like Meta-owned Threads, TikTok benefits from its size, with around 1.4 billion monthly active users, according to specialist site Business of Apps.
Messi to captain Inter Miami, says coach Martino
USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
World Cup winner Lionel Messi will be the new captain of Inter Miami, the Major League Soccer (MLS) side’s coach Tata Martino confirmed on Monday.
Messi, who signed for Miami earlier this month, wore the captain’s armband on his debut for the club in a Leagues Cup tie against Liga MX’s Cruz Azul on Friday, in which the Argentine forward scored a stoppage-time free-kick.
The club’s previous captain was Brazilian midfielder Gregore, who is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to a foot injury.
Toyota’s China joint venture dismisses about 1000 workers
REUTERS
Toyota Motor’s joint venture (JV) in China said on Monday that it has terminated early the contracts of about 1,000 dispatch workers, in a sign of pressure on automakers from a price war in the world’s largest auto market.
The JV between Toyota and China’s state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) laid off the workers over the weekend and offered them compensation, three workers, who declined to be named for privacy, told Reuters earlier.
The workers affected were hired by labour service companies and dispatched to work at the factory in the southern city of Guangzhou.
