GLOBAL SNAPSHOT

China launches

BEIJING: China has launched its first unmanned cargo spacecraft on a mission to dock with the country’s space station, marking further progress in the ambitious Chinese space program. The Tianzhou 1 blasted off atop a latest-generation Long March 7 rocket from China’s newest spacecraft launch site, Wenchang, on the island province of Hainan. Minutes later, as the spacecraft cleared the atmosphere, the mission was declared a success by administrators at ground control on the outskirts of Beijing.

Welcome back in EU

LONDON: The UK would be welcomed back by the EU if it abandoned Brexit following the general election, the European Parliament’s president has said. Antonio Tajani said all 27 other countries in the European Union would be in favour if a new government decided to reverse the Article 50 process following the June 8 election. “If the UK wanted to stay, everybody would be in favour. I would be very happy,” he said.

Witnesses banned

MOSCOW: Russia’s Supreme Court has issued a ruling banning Jehovah’s Witnesses after the justice ministry called on it to dissolve the “extremist organisation”. Supreme Court judge Yury Ivanenko said Russia had decided to close down “the administrative centre of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the local organisations in its fold and turn their property over to the Russian Federation.” The decision comes after the ministry said it had found signs of “extremist activity” within the organisation and requested that it be banned.

Marilyn home sale

LOS ANGELES: The only home ever owned by Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe, in the affluent Brentwood area of Los Angeles, is for sale with an asking price of $US6,900,000 ($A9.2 million). The bottle blonde bombshell, whose last feature film was the 1961 drama The Misfits, bought the 1929 Spanish hacienda style four-bedroom home in the coveted district in early 1962.

US wants Assange

WASHINGTON: The arrest of Australian fugitive Julian Assange is a “priority” for the US, America’s attorney general says. Prosecutors are believed to be preparing or considering charges against WikiLeaks and its founder, according to US media reports. WikiLeaks has a reputation for publicly posting leaked information on US government activities. Last month WikiLeaks released nearly 8000 documents that it says reveal secrets about the CIA’s cyber-espionage tools.