|  | | | | | | | | | Hong Kong | | Singapore’s hotel occupancy rates have climbed to their highest in over a decade as travelers and business events switched from Hong Kong. Data released by Singapore’s tourism board showed average occupancy rates in the city-state’s hotels hit 93.8% in July, the highest in records going back to 2005, and up from 92.5% a year ago. | | | | Spanish fashion brand Zara, seeking to avoid becoming embroiled in controversy over protests in Hong Kong, issued a statement on Chinese social media. Zara said on China’s Weibo platform that it supported the “one country, two systems” policy under which China rules Hong Kong and said it had not supported strikes. The brand became a top trending topic on Weibo, with one hashtag “Zara statement” viewed more than 170 million times as of Tuesday morning. | | | | | U.S. | | | | | | Divers searched for more bodies around the wreck of a boat destroyed by a blaze off the coast of southern California, as authorities launched an investigation into one of the area’s worst maritime disasters. Flames ripped through the scuba diving vessel Conception, as it was moored off Santa Cruz Island, trapping the passengers below deck. Five of the six-strong crew managed to escape in an inflatable boat, but no one else has been found. There were a total of 33 passengers and six crew members onboard the Conception when the fire started at about 3:15 a.m. on Monday, officials said. | | | | | | | | A 14-year-old American boy shot and killed five family members at their home in Alabama, before throwing away the pistol and calling police, officials said, in the latest high-profile gun crime. The sheriff’s office said five people were shot, with three dying at the scene and two later in hospital. “The 14-year old caller was interviewed and confessed to shooting all five members of his family in the residence,” it said on Twitter. | | | | | | | | | | | | | Environment | | Slave to sachets: Armed with gloves, rubber boots and a rake, “Mangrove Warrior” Willer Gualva, 68, comes to Freedom Island in the Philippines almost every day to stop it being engulfed by trash. No one lives on the island, yet each morning its shores are covered in garbage, much of it single-use sachets of shampoo, toothpaste, detergent and coffee that are carried out to sea by the rivers of overcrowded Manila. | | | | | World | | The United States, Britain and France may be complicit in war crimes in Yemen by arming and providing intelligence and logistics support to a Saudi-led coalition that starves civilians as a war tactic, the United Nations said. Investigators found potential crimes on both sides, while also highlighting the role Western countries play as key backers of the Arab states and Iran plays in support of the Houthis. | | | | | | | | | | | | | Business | | U.S. companies planning to launch IPOs in the coming weeks are hoping that August’s bout of stock market volatility will subside this month, according to investment bankers and capital markets lawyers advising them. 5 min read | | | | Roche Holding and Spark Therapeutics announced another extension of the Swiss drugmaker’s $4.3 billion takeover offer for the U.S. gene therapy specialist as regulatory reviews continue. 1 Min Read | | | | Some Chinese business sectors reported solid first half earnings, though a substantial fall in industrial profits and in tepid overseas investment inflows into China’s stock markets show fallout from the protracted trade war with the United States. 5 min read | | | | | | | | | | | Top Stories on Reuters TV | | | | | | | |
