STUCK SHIP IN EGYPT'S SUEZ CANAL IMPERILS SHIPPING WORLDWIDE

A skyscraper-sized cargo ship wedged across Egypt's Suez Canal further imperiled global shipping Thursday as at least 150 other vessels needing to pass through the crucial waterway idled waiting for the obstruction to clear, authorities said.

The Ever Given, a Panama-flagged ship that carries cargo between Asia and Europe, ran aground Tuesday in the narrow, man-made canal dividing continental Africa from the Sinai Peninsula. In the time since, efforts to free the ship using dredgers, digging and the aid of high tides have yet to push the container vessel aside.

Egyptian officials and others were due to begin work again to free the vessel Thursday morning after halting for the night.

So far, dredgers have tried to clear silt around the massive ship. Tug boats nudged the vessel alongside it, trying to gain momentum. From the shore, at least one backhoe dug into the canal's sandy banks, suggesting the bow of the ship had plowed into it.

Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, the company that manages the Ever Given, said the ship's 25-member crew are safe and accounted for. The ship had two pilots from Egypt's canal authority aboard the vessel to guide it when the grounding happened around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, the company said.

Canal service provider Leth Agencies said at least 150 ships were waiting for the Ever Given to be cleared, including vessels near Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea, Port Suez on the Red Sea and those already stuck in the canal system on Egypt's Great Bitter Lake.

Cargo ships already behind the Ever Given in canal will be reversed south back to Port Suez to free the channel, Leth Agencies said. Authorities hope to do the same to the Ever Given when they can free it.

NORTH KOREA FIRES TWO BALLISTIC MISSILES INTO SEA OF JAPAN

North Korea has fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, says the US and Japan - the first such test since Joe Biden became US president.

Pyongyang is banned from testing ballistic missiles, considered threatening weapons, under UN Security Council resolutions.

Both Japan and South Korea have both condemned the test.

It comes just days after North Korea reportedly fired two non-ballistic missiles into the Yellow Sea.

Japan said no debris had fallen within its territorial waters.

The US Pacific Command, which oversees military forces in the Asia-Pacific region, said on Thursday that the test highlighted "the threat that North Korea's illicit weapons programme poses to its neighbours and the international community".

Mr Biden is yet to officially comment.

On Tuesday, he played down a non-ballistic missile launch which took place over the weekend, saying the US did not consider it a provocation.

Thursday's test also comes days after the US received its first North Korean in custody after Mun Chol Myung was extradited from Malaysia. Mr Mun is a businessman accused of laundering money through the US financial system to provide luxury items to North Korea.

The incident angered North Korea so much it cut off diplomatic ties with Malaysia.

BIDEN TASKS HARRIS WITH TACKLING MIGRANT INFLUX ON US-MEXICO BORDER

US President Joe Biden has put Vice-President Kamala Harris in charge of controlling migration at the southern border following a big influx of new arrivals.

Mr Biden said he was giving her a "tough job" but that she was "the most qualified person to do it".

The numbers of people arriving have grown since Mr Biden took office.

They include hundreds of unaccompanied minors who are being held in immigration detention facilities.

Announcing Ms Harris's appointment as his immigration czar, Mr Biden told reporters and officials at the White House: "She's the most qualified person to do it, to lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle [Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador], and the countries that are going to need help in stemming the movement of so many folks - stemming the migration to our southern border".

Mr Biden said Ms Harris's past work as California's attorney general made her well suited to leading the effort, adding: "When she speaks, she speaks for me."

In response Ms Harris said: "Needless to say, the work will not be easy. But it is important work."

MYANMAR RELEASES HUNDREDS OF POST-COUP PRISONERS

Witnesses said hundreds imprisoned after last month’s coup were freed on Wednesday in what appeared to be the first gesture by Myanmar’s military to placate persistent protesters.

Several full buses drove from Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison. Myanmar state television said 628 people had been released.

Most of them were students previously held at police stations and prisons, reported the news portal Myanmar Now.

The Associated Press said one of its journalists, photographer Thein Zaw, had told his family that he was being released.

He had been among nine media workers taken into custody during a February 27 street protest in Yangon and charged with violating public order law.

In all, about 40 journalists have been detained since the military’s February 1 coup.

Thein Zaw told AP by phone that the judge handling his case had dropped all charges against him because he been doing his job at the time of his arrest. He had photographed police charging toward anti-coup protesters.

At least 2,000 people have been arrested since the coup, according to the activist group The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

On Tuesday in Mandalay, at least five people were shot dead, including a 7-year-old girl, according to Myanmar Now.

Since the coup’s onset, AAPP says it has confirmed the killings of 275 people in connection with the military’s post-coup crackdown.

US SENATE CONFIRMS MURTHY AS US SURGEON GENERAL

Indian-American physician Vivek Murthy has been confirmed by the Senate as President Joe Biden's Surgeon General, a role in which his top priority will be responding to the pandemic that has severely hit the country.

Dr Murthy, 43, will occupy the position of America's Surgeon General for the second time. In 2011, President Barack Obama tapped him to serve on the advisory group on prevention, health promotion, and integrative and public health.

“I'm deeply grateful to be confirmed by the Senate to serve once again as your Surgeon General. We've endured great hardship as a nation over the past year, and I look forward to working with you to help our nation heal and create a better future for our children,” Murthy said on Tuesday soon after the Senate confirmed his nomination by 57-43 votes. Dr Murthy will advise President Biden on the pandemic and will be the federal government's leading voice on public health.

GOOGLE SIGNS NEWS CONTENT DEALS WITH ITALIAN PUBLISHERS

Alphabet’s Google said on Wednesday it had sealed agreements with various Italian publishers to offer access to some of their content on the US tech giant’s Showcase news platform. Google News Showcase is a global vehicle to pay news publishers for their content online and a new service that would allow partnering publishers to curate content and provide limited access to paywalled stories for users.

The deal was signed with several Italian publishers, including RCS Mediagroup, which publishes daily Corriere della Sera as well as popular sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport, the publisher of financial daily Il Sole 24 ore, Caltagirone editore, which owns Il Messaggero, and Monrif, which publishes local papers such as Il Giorno and La Nazione. To date, 13 Italian editorial firms have finalised deals with Google, giving users access to content from 76 national and local papers. No financial details of the deal were disclosed.

IMF APPROVES $500 MILLION DISBURSEMENT TO PAKISTAN

The IMF said in a statement that the latest payment brought total disbursements under the Extended Fund Facility to $2 billion since the program was first approved in July 2019.

"The Pakistani authorities have continued to make satisfactory progress under the Fund-supported program, which has been an important policy anchor during an unprecedented period," IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh said in a statement.

"While the Covid-19 pandemic continues to pose challenges, the authorities’ policies have been critical in supporting the economy and saving lives and livelihoods," she said.

The disbursement was made after Pakistan cleared up an issue with data on government guarantees dating back to the 2016 fiscal year that had been reported inaccurately and put the government in non-compliance with the program.

SUNDAR PICHAI, MARK ZUCKERBERG SUGGEST WAYS TO REFORM KEY INTERNET LAW

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg laid out steps to reform a key internet law on Wednesday, saying that companies should have immunity from liability only if they follow best practices for removing damaging material from their platforms.

In testimony prepared for a joint hearing before two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees on Thursday, Zuckerberg acknowledged the calls from lawmakers for changes to a law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives companies like Facebook immunity from liability over content posted by users.

The hearing titled 'Disinformation Nation: Social media's role in promoting extremism and misinformation' is designed to address concerns Democrats have had about the spread of misinformation during the coronavirus pandemic and the presidential election.

It is also likely to discuss ways to hold tech platforms accountable by reforming the internet law. The chief executives of Google and Twitter will also testify at the hearing.

Google's Sundar Pichai will make suggestions to reform the law but, unlike Zuckerberg, will not advocate for adoption of a set of best practices, according to his testimony. Twitter's Jack Dorsey will lay out steps the platform has taken to tackle misinformation.

Zuckerberg and Pichai will also urge caution as Congress considers reforming the law.

"Platforms should not be held liable if a particular piece of content evades its detection -- that would be impractical for platforms with billions of posts per day," Zuckerberg wrote in his testimony.

NIKE FACES SOCIAL MEDIA STORM IN CHINA OVER XINJIANG STATEMENT

Anger with Nike Inc erupted on Chinese social media late on Wednesday after China's netizens spotted a statement from the sporting goods giant saying it was "concerned" about reports of forced labour in Xinjiang and that it does not use cotton from the region.

Topics around the Nike statement were among the highest trending on China's Twitter-like social media Weibo on Thursday, and the social media backlash had a wider fallout.

Popular Chinese actor Wang Yibo terminated his contract as a representative for Nike in response to social media criticism over the company's Xinjiang statement, his agency said on Weibo on Thursday.

It was unclear when Nike had put out the statement, which did not have a date on it. Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We are concerned about reports of forced labor in, and connected to, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR)," Nike said in the statement.

"Nike does not source products from the XUAR and we have confirmed with our contract suppliers that they are not using textiles or spun yarn from the region."