World News: 27 May 2023

Celine Dion cancels all remaining shows over poor health
The singer revealed last year she was suffering from Stiff-Person Syndrome (SPS), which was affecting her singing.
In a statement posted on Twitter, the 55-year-old told fans: "I'm so sorry to disappoint all of you once again. "Even though it breaks my heart, it's best that we cancel everything until I'm really ready to be back on stage." She added: "I'm not giving up... and I can't wait to see you again!"

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China deletes 1.4 million social media posts in crackdown on 'self-media' accounts
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement on Friday it had closed 67,000 social media accounts and deleted hundreds of thousands of posts between March 10 and May 22 as part of a broader “rectification” campaign.
Since 2021, China has targeted billions of social media accounts in a bid to “clean” its cyberspace and make it easier for authorities to control.

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North Korea spent the pandemic building a huge border wall
As the pandemic gripped the world in 2020, Kim Jong Un's regime embarked on a massive exercise to seal its borders with China and Russia, cutting off routes plied by smugglers and defectors.
Since then, Pyongyang has built hundreds of kilometers of new or upgraded border fences, walls and guard posts, commercial satellite imagery shows, enabling it to tighten the flow of information and goods into the country, keep foreign elements out and its people in.

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Russia offers support to Somalian army in fight against terrorist groups
The offer further underscores Russia’s growing interest in the African continent upstaging the west in countries facing conflict.
Currently, Russian mercenaries Wagner are present in the Central African Republic, Mali, Mozambique and Libya.

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Iraq launches $17 billion road and rail project to link Asia and Europe
Iraq’s train service currently operates a handful of lines, including slow oil freight and a single overnight passenger train that trundles from Baghdad to Basra, taking 10 to 12 hours to cover 500 kilometres.
The Grand Faw Port, which was devised over a decade ago, is halfway to completion, Fartousi said. Passenger transport between Iraq and Europe harkens back to grand plans at the turn of the 20th century to create a Baghdad to Berlin express.

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Venezuelan government is paying people to tweet state propaganda
Every day, Venezuela's ministry of communications tweets a "hashtag of the day", which is repeated not only by elected officials' accounts and state sympathisers but also by "digital troops" like Rafael, who are paid to share propaganda. "You have to space it out to avoid being blocked. I do about 100 in the morning and 100 more in the afternoon," he says.

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