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Almost a third of Brazilians disapprove of Lula, poll shows
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Almost a third of Brazilians disapprove of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, putting the leftist leader at about the same level of unpopularity as his right-wing predecessor Jair Bolsonaro during...
Internet personality Andrew Tate moved to house arrest after court ruling
BUCHAREST (Reuters) -Social media personality Andrew Tate was moved to house arrest late on Friday after a Romanian court overturned prosecutors’ request to keep him in police custody until late April. Tate, his brother Tristan and two Romanian female suspects have been under police detention since Dec. 29 as prosecutors investigate them for suspected human...
Raisi says hijab is the law in Iran as unveiled women face ‘yoghurt attack’
(Reuters) -President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that the hijab was the law in Iran after a viral video showed a man throwing yoghurt at two unveiled women in a shop near a holy Shi’ite Muslim city. Growing numbers of women have defied authorities by discarding their veils after nationwide protests that followed the death...
Egypt and Syria commit to closer ties as foreign minister visits Cairo
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt and Syria agreed to strengthen cooperation on Saturday during the first official visit by a Syrian foreign minister to Cairo in more than a decade, the latest sign of Arab states mending ties with President Bashar al Assad. Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad was embraced by Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry as...
Most of India to face above-normal April-June heat – forecaster
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Most of India will likely experience above-normal high temperatures between April and June, the national weather forecaster said on Saturday. More days than average of heatwave are likely over most parts of central, east, and northwest India during the season, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. In the plains, a temperature...
Pope Francis leaves hospital, saying ‘I’m still alive’
ROME (Reuters) -Pope Francis left hospital and returned to the Vatican on Saturday after being treated for bronchitis, making light of his illness by saying: “I’m still alive you know”. The pope, 86, was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Wednesday after complaining of breathing difficulties, but responded rapidly to an infusion of antibiotics, his...
Elon Musk seeks to end $258 billion Dogecoin lawsuit
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Elon Musk asked a U.S. judge on Friday to throw out a $258 billion racketeering lawsuit accusing him of running a pyramid scheme to support the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. In an evening filing in Manhattan federal court, lawyers for Musk and his electric car company Tesla Inc called the lawsuit by Dogecoin...
Hong Kong rejects US report criticising crackdown on freedoms
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong on Saturday “firmly rejected” findings in a new U.S. government report that said U.S. interests had been threatened and that Beijing continued to “undermine” the rule of law and freedoms in the territory under a national security crackdown. The U.S.’ 2023 Hong Kong Policy Act Report, published by the...
Taiwan says 10 Chinese aircraft crossed Taiwan Strait median line
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Ten Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, normally an unofficial barrier between the two sides, Taiwan’s defence ministry said on Saturday, as Beijing continues its military activities near the island. Nine Chinese fighter jets and one military drone crossed the median line in the 24 hours to 6 a.m....
In Germany, King Charles honours victims of WWII allied bombings
HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) – King Charles laid a wreath in memory of the victims of the allied bombing in World War Two during a visit to Hamburg’s St Nikolai memorial, the remains of a church in Germany’s northern port city severely damaged by the air raids. The gesture comes on the last day of Charles’...
UN to start taking deep-sea mining applications this July
(Reuters) – The International Seabed Authority will start accepting applications in July from companies that want to mine the ocean’s floor, a decision that came after the U.N. body spent the past two weeks debating standards for the new and controversial practice. Deep-sea mining would extract cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese – key battery materials...
Johnson & Johnson unit loses bid to stay in bankruptcy during Supreme Court appeal
(Reuters) -A Johnson & Johnson company cannot delay a court order dismissing its bankruptcy, a U.S. court said on Friday, despite the company’s planned Supreme Court appeal to use bankruptcy to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits over its talc products. J&J sought to use the bankruptcy of its subsidiary company, LTL Management, to halt...
Eleven killed in stampede for food aid in southern Pakistan
KARACHI (Reuters) -Eleven people were killed in a stampede during the distribution of food aid in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Friday, a health official said, one of several such incidents in recent weeks as the country’s economic crisis bites. The dead included five women and three children, police said, while five other...
Oscar Pistorius: from ‘Blade Runner’ hero to convicted murderer
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Oscar Pistorius, known as the “Blade Runner” for his carbon-fibre prosthetic legs, was denied parole on Friday after he sought early release from prison where he is serving a 13-year sentence for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius, a South African, went from public hero as a Paralympic champion to a convicted...
Indian capital to boost COVID-19 testing amid jump in daily cases
(Reuters) – New Delhi will ramp up testing for COVID-19 and encourage the increased use of masks, a local minister said on Thursday, after India recorded its highest daily case count in nearly six months. India recorded 3,016 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the federal health ministry said on Thursday,...
Mexican migration officer absent as deadly fire began in cell he supervised, guard says
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) – The migration officer supervising the men’s unit of a Mexican migrant detention center where a fire claimed 39 lives had left the building shortly before the incident, a private security guard said in an interview with Reuters. Angelica Hinojosa, a security guard at the center, said government migration officers are...
UN votes to ask world court to rule on national climate obligations
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United Nations General Assembly voted on Wednesday to pass a resolution asking the world’s top court to define the obligations of states to combat climate change, a legal opinion that could drive countries to take stronger measures and clarify international law. The historic resolution seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court...
IMF board approves $15.6 billion loan for Ukraine -statement
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Friday approved a four-year $15.6 billion financing package for Ukraine as part of a $115 billion total international support package, as Russia’s invasion stretched into a second year, the IMF said. The decision is expected to mobilize large-scale concessional financing from Ukraine’s international donors and...
Argentina restarts poultry exports weeks after bird flu episode
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentina has resumed poultry shipments weeks after imposing an export ban after bird flu was detected in the local industry, state safety regulator Senasa said on Friday, providing access to key export markets for the major agricultural producer. Uruguay approved new export certificates for poultry products from Argentina, Senasa said in its...
U.S. lawmakers introduce bipartisan bill to help news media negotiate with Big Tech
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers reintroduced a bill to allow news organizations to join together to negotiate ad rates with tech giants such as Alphabet Inc’s Google. The measure would allow news broadcasters and publishers with fewer than 1,500 full-time workers to jointly negotiate ad rates — many of which face...
1st April
Twitter makes some of its source code public
(Reuters) -Twitter on Friday made public parts of the computer code that decides how the social media site recommends content, allowing users and programmers a peek into its workings and the ability to suggest modifications to the algorithm. The company said in a blog post it uploaded the code in two repositories on code-sharing platform...
Number of dead from Ecuador landslide rises to 23
QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador’s government on Friday raised the number of dead from a landslide in the Andean city of Alausi to 23, while rescue teams continued to look for missing people. The incident took place on Sunday night in a part of the city, which is located in the province of Chimborazo. The landslide...
Mexican probe into missing students beset by delays and failure, watchdog says
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican authorities have failed to carry out all arrests ordered by prosecutors over the 2014 disappearance of 43 students and the military has denied access to important information, a rights group said on Friday, expressing concern over continued delays in the investigation. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in 2018 vowing...
Biden visits tornado-hit Mississippi town
ROLLING FORK, Mississippi (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday consoled families of victims and toured scenes of devastation in a Mississippi town after storms last week killed 26 people and destroyed homes and property in Mississippi and Alabama. Biden and first lady Jill Biden drove through Rolling Fork, Friday afternoon, viewing the damage left...
Spain’s Asturias ravaged by fires as authorities blame ‘terrorist’ arsonists
SETIENES, Spain (Reuters) – The lush region of Asturias in northern Spain was ravaged by more than 90 wildfires on Friday, most of them believed to have been started by arsonists whom the region’s leader called “fire terrorists”. Over 600 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blazes and several towns have been evacuated as police...
Trump to face criminal charges in Stormy Daniels hush money probe
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump is due to be fingerprinted and photographed in a New York courthouse next week as he becomes the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges in a case involving a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump’s expected appearance before a judge in Manhattan on Tuesday,...
Australia concerned by delays in trial of journalist detained in China
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia said it has “deep concerns” about delays in the case of Australian journalist Cheng Lei who faced a closed door trial in Beijing on national security charges a year ago. Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement on Friday that Cheng was still waiting to learn the outcome of...
Disillusioned Bulgarians head to polls for fifth time in two years
DEVIN, Bulgaria (Reuters) – In the rugged Rhodope mountains in southern Bulgaria, many voters have little hope that Sunday’s parliamentary election, the nation’s fifth in two years, will produce a stable government able to tackle corruption, inflation and poverty. The latest ballot was announced in January, following three attempts by various political groupings to put...
Australian man charged over girl taken from outback camp
SYDNEY, 2021 (Reuters) – (This Nov. 4, 2021 story has been updated to comply with an Australian court order to the media.) Australian police charged a 36-year-old man on Thursday with abducting a four-year-old girl from an outback campsite 18 days before she was found safe in a locked house. The man was twice taken...
Tunisia to cut off public water supplies overnight due to drought
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia will cut off water supplies to citizens for seven hours a night in response to the country’s worst drought on record, state water distribution company SONEDE said in a statement on Friday. The country’s agriculture ministry earlier introduced a quota system for potable water and banned its use in agriculture until...
