22 May 2023; MEMO: France's judiciary has summoned the brother of, and an assistant to, Lebanon's Central Bank Governor, two sources close to the matter told Reuters on Monday, as it continues its probe into alleged embezzlement and money-laundering by the bank chief, Reuters reports.

(AP) --- Organizers of the Paris Olympics said they have sold 6.8 million tickets out of 10 million available with 14 months left before the opening ceremony and on Tuesday brushed off criticism that prices are too high.

Tony Estanguet, the organizing committee president, said the second ticketing phase that ended last week exceeded expectations despite some fans — and athletes — complaining about hefty prices.

22 May 2023; MEMO: Spain issued a fresh condemnation of Israel on Monday, rejecting the rhetoric used by Israel's far-right Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem, Anadolu News Agency reports.

In a statement, Madrid called on Israel to "scrupulously respect the status quo of holy sites" and for all parties to "do everything possible" to avoid fresh tensions and preserve stability.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Living in New York City, working full time and without a car, Jessica Ray and her husband have come to rely on deliveries of food and just about everything else for their home. It has meant more free time on weekends with their young son, rather than standing in line for toilet paper or dragging heavy bags of dog food back to their apartment.

“I don’t even know where to buy dog food,” said Jessica Ray of the specialty food she buys for the family’s aging dog.

COPENHAGEN, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The Danish Parliament (Folketing) agreed on Tuesday on the terms of ownership and operation of pipelines used for transporting hydrogen from PtX (Power-to-X) plants to consumers both domestically and internationally, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities said in a press release.

The country's state-owned companies Energinet, controller of energy infrastructure, and Evida, an energy supply company, will own the pipelines and the two companies will leverage their expertise in existing gas infrastructure.

WASHINGTON, May 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate's top Democrat said on Tuesday he and President Joe Biden's administration were engaging allies and businesses to address China's ban on sales of memory chips made by U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc (MU.O).

The restrictions this week by China's cyberspace regulator against Micron, the biggest U.S. memory chipmaker, were the latest in a widening trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

22 May 2023; MEMO: Cyprus does not share the views of Eni CEO, Claudio Descalzi, who argued that the EastMed pipeline needed Turkiye's approval, said Energy Minister, George Papanastasiou, Channel News Asia reports.

UNITED NATIONS, May 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Extreme weather has caused the deaths of 2 million people and $4.3 trillion in economic damage over the past half a century, a report by the United Nations finds.

According to the new figures published on Monday from the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), 11,778 weather-related disasters have occurred from 1970 to 2021, and they have surged over that period.

The report found that more than 90 percent of deaths reported worldwide due to these disasters took place in developing countries.

22 May 2023; MEMO: The Iraqi national fencing team withdrew from the individual competitions in the World Fencing Championship in Istanbul, a qualifier for the Paris Olympics, after the competition draw pitted it against the Israeli team.

LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - Prince Harry on Tuesday lost his legal bid to challenge the British government's refusal to let him pay for his own police protection when he is in the United Kingdom.

Harry, King Charles' younger son, was stripped of the police security usually afforded to royal figures in the United Kingdom after he and his American wife Meghan stepped down from their official roles in 2020 to move to the United States.

GENEVA, May 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A new pandemic accord under negotiation must be a “historic agreement” marking a dramatic shift in the approach to global health security after the Covid crisis, the WHO chief said.

“We cannot simply carry on as we did before,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as he opened the World Health Organization’s annual assembly in Geneva.

WHO’s member states have begun negotiations towards an international agreement aimed to ensure the world is better equipped to prevent or more effectively respond the next time a pandemic hits.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s military said Tuesday it quashed what appeared to be one of the most serious cross-border attacks from Ukraine since the war began, claiming to have killed more than 70 attackers in a battle that lasted around 24 hours.

Moscow blamed the raid that began Monday on Ukrainian military saboteurs. Kyiv portrayed it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans. It was impossible to reconcile the two versions, to say with certainty who was behind the attack or to ascertain its aims.