Briefly

GUINEA

Junta leaders seek to tighten grip on power

Guinea's new military leaders sought to tighten their grip on power on Monday after overthrowing President Alpha Conde, ordering the soldiers from his presidential guard to now join the junta forces and barring government officials from leaving the country. After putting the West African nation back under military rule for the first time in over a decade, the junta already had dissolved the National Assembly and the country's Constitution. Junta leader Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya said the new military regime would not pursue vendettas against political enemies, though he also instructed some officials to turn over their passports immediately. He also promised to set up a transitional government of national unity.

THE PHILIPPINES

Typhoon Conson causes power outages

A strong typhoon slammed into the eastern Philippines on Tuesday, bringing high winds that caused power outages in several provinces. Typhoon Conson carried sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 150 km/h, first making landfall at the coastal town of Hernani in Eastern Samar Province before hitting nearby Samar Province, the state weather service said. Power systems operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines said some transmission lines were affected. Power outages were reported in Eastern Samar, Samar and Leyte provinces.

BRAZIL

Rallies on national day put country on edge

Supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro were expected to take to the streets on Tuesday in hundreds of cities across Brazil for a high-risk national holiday, but opponents of the right-wing leader are hoping to frustrate him with massive counter-protests. The protests will make for an unpredictable Brazilian Independence Day. The president, who is fighting record-low poll numbers and seeking to fire up his base, has stated that "gigantic" crowds will turn out to support him. Heavy security measures have been implemented in major cities including Brasilia and Sao Paulo to avoid any clashes. If everything goes according to plan, the two groups of protesters will not cross paths.

FRANCE

Nation pays tribute to film legend Belmondo

Fans and stars paid tribute to Jean-Paul Belmondo on Tuesday, saying the charismatic French actor, who died on Monday aged 88, would live on forever in people's minds and on screen. Belmondo, who shot to international fame as a star of New Wave cinema after his breakthrough performance in Jean-Luc Godard's A bout de souffle (Breathless) in 1959, had, for decades, been one of France's most popular actors. President Emmanuel Macron tweeted on Monday that the actor, who switched in the 1960s to mainstream films and became one of France's leading comedy and action heroes, was a "national treasure".

JAPAN

Ex-official gets prison term in bribery case

A Tokyo court on Tuesday sentenced to four years in prison a former top government official for taking bribes from a gambling company, in a high-profile case that has added to the political woes of Japan's outgoing prime minister ahead of elections this year. The Tokyo District Court found Tsukasa Akimoto, who was a vice-minister in charge of tourism and casino promotions, guilty of taking $69,200 in bribes from a foreign gambling operator.

Agencies - Xinhua