World News Roundup: Philippine police to wear body cameras after calls for scrutiny grow; Hong Kong judiciary says British judge to step down from city's top court and more

With a security blanket deployed to prevent people gathering to light candles for the pro-democracy demonstrators killed by Chinese troops in Beijing 32 years ago, some marked the anniversary in churches or at home amid fears of being arrested. Australian media fined $840,000 for gag order breach in Pell sex assault case An Australian court on Friday ordered a dozen media firms to pay a total of A$1.1 million ($842,000) in fines for breaching a suppression order on reporting the conviction, since overturned, of former Vatican treasurer George Pell for child sexual assault.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Philippine police to wear body cameras after calls for scrutiny grow

Hundreds of police in the Philippines will start wearing body cameras during operations, it police chief said on Friday, heeding demands from human rights groups for accountability after thousands of killings and allegations of cover-ups. The announcement came after public outrage over the fatal shooting on Monday of a woman by an off-duty policeman, which led to condemnation from activists who say police brutality has become systematic under President Rodrigo Duterte and his bloody war on drugs.

Hong Kong judiciary says British judge to step down from city's top court

British judge Brenda Hale will step down from Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal next month when her three-year term expires, the city's judiciary said on Friday. The departure of Hale, a former president of Britain's Supreme Court, comes amid international concern at the pressures on Hong Kong's independent judiciary under a national security law.

Peru's Fujimori seeks to restore dynasty with a 'mother's firm hand'

In early May, Keiko Fujimori addressed her supporters wearing the white-red Peru soccer jersey that has become her campaign attire as her bid for the Andean country's presidency has gained pace ahead of a run-off vote on Sunday. The 46-year-old heir of the controversial Fujimori dynasty pledged to maintain stability in the country amid a polarizing race with socialist rival Pedro Castillo who has won support, especially among the poor, by pledging to tear up the status quo.

German archbishop offers to resign over Church's sexual abuse 'catastrophe'

One of Roman Catholicism's most influential liberal figures, Germany's Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has offered to resign as archbishop of Munich, saying he had to share responsibility for the "catastrophe" of sexual abuse by clerics over past decades. His offer, which Pope Francis has yet to accept, follows an uproar among the German faithful over abuse. Last week, the pope sent two senior foreign bishops to investigate the Archdiocese of Cologne, Germany's largest, over its handling of abuse cases.

Hong Kong locks down Tiananmen vigil park amid tight security, arrests organiser

Hong Kong sealed off a park where many thousands gather annually to commemorate China's 1989 Tiananmen crackdown and arrested the vigil's organiser on Friday in what activists see as suppression of one of the city's main symbols of democratic hope. With a security blanket deployed to prevent people gathering to light candles for the pro-democracy demonstrators killed by Chinese troops in Beijing 32 years ago, some marked the anniversary in churches or at home amid fears of being arrested.

Australian media fined $840,000 for gag order breach in Pell sex assault case

An Australian court on Friday ordered a dozen media firms to pay a total of A$1.1 million ($842,000) in fines for breaching a suppression order on reporting the conviction, since overturned, of former Vatican treasurer George Pell for child sexual assault. The 12 media outlets, mostly owned by Nine Entertainment Co and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, pleaded guilty in February to breaching the gag order on reporting on the trial and conviction of the cardinal, after the state agreed to drop all charges against journalists and editors.

EU to ban Belarus carriers from midnight as opposition urges G7 sanctions

European Union ambassadors on Friday adopted a plan to ban Belarus carriers from flying over EU territory or landing in EU airports, three diplomats said, as the country's exiled opposition leader called for more joint Western sanctions. The EU decision is part of planned punitive measures against Belarus in response to Minsk's scrambling a warplane to force the landing on May 23 of a Ryanair flight carrying an opposition journalist, who was then arrested.

Sweden's Left Party threatens to topple govt over rent reform

Sweden's centrist government came under threat on Friday after the Left Party vowed to bring it down over the prospective abolition of rent controls on new residential housing. The Left Party threat came after the government received a report into the reform of Sweden's highly regulated and much debated rent market, proposing that tenants and landlords negotiate rent between them and that rents subsequently follow the consumer prices index.

Resisting patent waiver, EU submits vaccine plan to WTO

The European Union submitted to the World Trade Organization on Friday a plan it believes will more effectively broaden supply of COVID-19 vaccines than the intellectual property (IP) rights waiver backed by the United States. India, South Africa and dozens of developing countries are demanding an IP rights waiver for COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments to address what they say is a "staggering inequity" in access to global public goods.

Putin inks law to ban 'extremists' from elections amid Navalny crackdown

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed legislation that bars members of "extremist" organisations from running for office, a move allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny say aims to sideline them from parliamentary election this year. Putin's approval of the law comes days before a court will consider outlawing Navalny's anti-corruption foundation and regional campaign groups on the grounds they are extremist.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)