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A day after announcing that Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov would be replaced, a top ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appeared to row back for now, saying no personnel changes in the defence sector would be made this week. Two senior lawmakers on Monday noted that rules require Ukraine's defence minister to be a civilian, which would appear to put an obstacle in the way of the immediate appointment of Budanov, a 37-year-old military officer. 'WAR DICTATES CHANGES'Arakhamia said Ukraine's armed forces should not be overseen by politicians during wartime, but by people with a background in defence or security. As a wartime defence minister, Reznikov, 56, fostered ties with Western defence officials and helped oversee the receipt of billions of dollars of military aid to help Kyiv fend off the Russian invasion. During his tenure as defence minister, he spoke out strongly about wartime corruption, which he said was akin to "marauding".

☆ Japan government has sounded out Amamiya about becoming BOJ governor -Nikkei
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The next BOJ chief will face the delicate task of normalising ultra-loose monetary policy, which is drawing increasing public criticism for distorting market function. A career central banker who has drafted many of the BOJ's monetary easing tools, Amamiya has been seen by markets as a top contender to take over as next governor. The Nikkei report did not say whether Amamiya accepted the offer. The prime minister's office and the BOJ were not immediately available to comment on the Nikkei report outside of regular office hours. Amamiya and Masazumi Wakatabe are currently serving as deputy governors, but their five-year terms end on March 19.

In a statement that did not name Kolomoiskiy, the SBU published the same photographs, but with the person's face blurred out. If someone is not ready for change, then the state itself will come and help them change," Arakhamia wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The head of the State Bureau of Investigation said the law enforcement action was "only the beginning". The oligarchs took control of swathes of industry during the post-Soviet privatisations of the 1990s and wield influence to this day. Reporting by Olena Harmash; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Timothy Heritage and Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Pakistan mosque bombing death toll rises to 87
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jibran Ahmad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan Asim Munir and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visit an injured, after a suicide blast in a mosque, at a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan January 30, 2023. Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERSPESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The death toll in the suicide bombing that tore through a mosque in Pakistan rose to 87 on Tuesday, a hospital official said, a day after the one of the biggest attacks in the unstable South Asian nation. The attack occurred in one of the most fortified areas of the northwestern Peshawar city, which houses offices of the police and counter-terrorism departments. Hospital official Mohammad Asim said that 87 people had been killed, and that 57 people were being treated, seven of whom were in critical condition. Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella of Sunni and sectarian Islamist groups, has denied responsibility.

[1/2] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on as he convenes a weekly cabinet meeting amid surge of violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank, at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, January 29, 2023. The blue-chip Tel Aviv 35 index (.TA35) was 1.% lower in afternoon trade, while the broader TA-125 index (.TA125) dipped 1.7%. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment to Reuters. Critics have said the move will compromise the independence of the judiciary and undermine Israel's democratic system of checks and balances. There was no sign of a large-scale military operation in the works, and Netanyahu said Israel was not seeking an escalation.

☆ New Fiji govt suspends police commissioner, scraps China policing arrangement
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere said Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho had been suspended on the advice of the Constitutional Offices Commission, "pending investigation and referral to and appointment of, a tribunal". The Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem was also suspended by the commission, the statement said. Qiliho declined to comment to local media because he said he will face a tribunal over his conduct. On Thursday, Fiji Times reported Rabuka said his government would end a police training and exchange agreement with China. Republic of Fiji Military Forces Commander Major General Jone Kalouniwai earlier this month warned Rabuka's government against making "sweeping changes", and has insisted it abide by a 2013 constitution which gives the military a key role.

☆ Germany accuses Russia of twisting minister's war comments for 'propaganda'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Russia has twisted comments by Germany's foreign minister about the war in Ukraine for propaganda purposes, a German foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday, stressing Berlin's position that NATO must not become party to the conflict. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock riled Moscow with comments at an event in Strasbourg on Tuesday, when, speaking in English, she said that "we are fighting a war against Russia, and not against each other". Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a post on her Telegram messaging channel cited by state TASS news agency on Wednesday, seized on Baerbock's comments as evidence the West was waging a "premeditated war against Russia". This concern was part of the reason for Germany's delay in agreeing to send the Leopard tanks to Ukraine. "Russian propaganda continually takes statements, sentences, stances, positions of the government, our partners and uses them to serve their purposes," said the German foreign ministry spokesperson.

Adani, whose home state is Gujarat in western India, built his business empire from scratch after starting as a commodities trader. Adani's business empire grew rapidly and his wealth ballooned. In recent years, the $220 billion Adani Group empire has attracted foreign investment - France's TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), for example, partnered with Adani last year to develop the world's biggest green hydrogen ecosystem. It is not known what was discussed and Adani Group did not respond to a request for comment on Friday. Adani Group's consolidated gross debt stands at $23.34 billion, Jefferies says.

☆ Exclusive: Inside the extramarital affair and cash-fueled double life of Charles McGonigal, the FBI spy-hunter indicted for allegedly taking Russian money
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

She had dated federal law enforcement officials before. "Charlie McGonigal knew everybody in the national security and law enforcement world," Guerriero said, in an exclusive interview with Insider. One law enforcement source estimated that McGonigal stood to make roughly $300,000 to $350,000 a year, including annual bonuses. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whom she knew from law enforcement circles, let her stay in a guest bedroom. During her relationship with McGonigal, Guerriero says, they never talked about politics.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Haitian police officers on Thursday blocked streets and forced their way into the country's main airport to protest the recent killing of officers by armed gangs expanding their grip on the Caribbean nation. "PM is still at the Airport, unable to leave for now," said the source, who asked not to be identified. Haiti's National Police and the Prime Minister's Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Roads around Port-au-Prince and in several cities to the north were blocked by protesters. The proposal was originally made three months ago but no country has offered to lead such a force.

☆ Spanish police arrest man suspected in 2022 parcel-bomb case
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Vincent West | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] Spanish police officers guard outside a building after the arrest of a man suspected of being the sender of letter-bombs in November and December to the Ukrainian and U.S. embassies and several institutions in Spain, in Miranda de Ebro, Spain January 25, 2023. The man was detained in the northern town of Miranda de Ebro, and police searched his home. The suspect is a retired Spanish citizen with the initials P.G.P. The man used to work for the town hall of the Basque capital Vitoria-Gasteiz before retiring in 2013, a city spokesperson said. Spanish officials have declined to comment on the report, while a senior judicial source denied having knowledge of such a line of investigation.

☆ Israeli prime minister and finance minister agree on 2023/2024 budget
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday agreed on a state budget for 2023 and 2024, according to a joint statement released by the prime minister's office and the finance ministry. They agreed "to maintain a responsible and restrained fiscal policy" and to "preserve and stabilize the Israeli economy for the next four years", the statement said. The budget would also "help in the fight against the cost of living", it added without giving details. The state budget must be approved within 145 days from when the new government was established, or late in May. At 0.6% of gross domestic product, Israel posted its first budget surplus in 2022 in 35 years.

☆ Crime, inflation hammer support for Chile's Boric in tough first year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Natalia A. Ramos Miranda | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"I wanted to give a chance to a young person, without the problems of the older politicians," she said. Recent pardons of 12 protesters convicted for crimes such as looting and robbery during 2019 riots went down badly amid rising crime statistics. The president's spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment, but Boric has repeatedly acknowledged that his administration has made mistakes. During a news conference announcing the justice minister's resignation, Boric said the government was determined to "strengthen political management." "Sometimes it seems that he is ruling just so that the right does not get angry," said 46-year-old designer and Boric voter Gaston Gomez.

☆ Eritrean troops seen leaving Ethiopian town of Shire
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Dawit Endeshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Tigray war is believed to have resulted in tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of deaths and forced millions to flee their homes. Witnesses and an Ethiopian official reported last month that Eritrean soldiers were leaving Shire and two other major towns, but many ended up staying behind. A Shire resident said the Eritrean convoys were seen leaving the town from early in the morning until about 5 p.m. on Friday. All Eritrean troops in the town seemed to have left by Friday evening, he said. A second aid worker said hundreds of Eritrean vehicles had left Shire but that some soldiers remained in the town.

☆ New Zealand farmers sour on Ardern’s Labour, complicating new PM's path
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Rural voters say reforms by Ardern's Labour Party, meant to improve the environmental impact of farming, are costly and ineffective. Farmers worry that the extra costs and work will make their products more expensive and less competitive in foreign markets. The government has proposed an unpopular plan for farmers to pay for methane emissions from their sheep and cows. New Zealand farmers are some of the most efficient in the world. Andrew Hoggard, national president of Federated Farmers, said many Labour regulations were impractical and made farming difficult.

☆ Protests in Stockholm, including Koran-burning, draw condemnation from Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. The Turkish ministry urged Sweden to take necessary actions against the perpetrators and invited all countries to take concrete steps against Islamophobia. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that Islamophobic provocations were appalling. "Saudi Arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance, and coexistence, and rejects hatred and extremism," the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We will continue our opposition to the Swedish NATO application," Thomas Pettersson, spokesperson for Alliance Against NATO and one of organizers of the demonstration, told Reuters.

☆ New Zealand's Ardern leaves legacy of kindness, disappointments
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Praveen Menon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"Be strong, be kind," New Zealand's youngest prime minister in more than a century repeated through her eventful tenure, but her empathetic leadership and crisis management skills often masked her government's shortcomings. Ardern made global headlines in 2020, presiding over New Zealand's most diverse parliament, with more than half the members women and the highest number of indigenous Maori lawmakers. Ardern said it was "totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace". Less than three months later, Ardern brought the baby, Neve Te Aroha, to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “I wonder whether or not anyone ever asked Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were of similar age,” Ardern said, in reference to the former U.S. president and New Zealand prime minister.

☆ Most big Japanese firms heed prime minister's call to raise wages this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Rocky Swift | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

That push was boosted last week when Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing Co (9983.T) said it would raise wages by as much as 40%. Another 29% said they would carry out regular pay increases only, while 38% were undecided. "Prime Minister Kishida has been saying raise wages, raise wages, but the decision to hike pay isn't done on the words of a prime minister or president," said Masayuki Kubota, chief strategist at Rakuten Securities. Smaller firms generally cannot increase pay, business owners, economists and officials say, because they often struggle to pass on higher costs out of fear of losing customers. The Reuters Corporate Survey, conducted for Reuters by Nikkei Research between Dec. 23 and Jan. 13, canvassed 495 big non-financial Japanese firms on condition of anonymity, allowing them to speak more freely.

☆ Turkey's foreign minister to discuss F-16s and NATO during U.S. visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Humeyra Pamuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

For its part, Turkey demands Washington not support the Syrian Kurdish militia that it sees as terrorists. Turkey now hopes to buy F-16 jets from the United States, a sale that some top members of Congress oppose despite support from the Biden administration. But recently, Ankara's refusal to ratify NATO membership of Sweden and Finland is emerging as a more central reason in their opposition. The two Nordic states applied for NATO membership last year following Russia's invasion of Ukraine but their bids need approval from all 30 NATO member states. He added he hoped the F-16 deal would not become "hostage" to the NATO memberships of Sweden and Finland.

☆ Israel Supreme Court tells Netanyahu he must fire minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Maayan Lubell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Interior and Health Minister Aryeh Deri gestures as he sits next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, January 8, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/PoolJERUSALEM, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Israel's Supreme Court ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to remove a senior minister over a past tax fraud conviction, in a setback for the new right-wing coalition government. The 10-to-one ruling on Shas party leader Aryeh Deri looks likely to further stoke tensions between the Cabinet and Israel's Supreme Court over government reform plans which aim to rein in the top court. "Most of the judges have determined that this appointment is extremely unreasonable and thus the prime minister must remove Deri from office," said a court summary of the ruling. Political watchdogs had appealed to the Supreme Court to order Netanyahu to strike down Deri's appointment given his recent conviction as well as past offences.

☆ Qatar backpedals on energy minister's comment that Europe would be able to 'forgive and forget' Russia for invading Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Qatar's energy minister said Europe would be able to "forgive and forget" Russia for the Ukraine war. And I think things get mended with time," Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Qatar's energy minister, said during an energy forum in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, according to an official transcript. "I don't think that — this war and this situation will not last forever." "We don't accept threatening by force or the use of force, we don't accept civilians to be hurt. Qatar's energy and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ Yellen to meet China's vice premier Liu He in Zurich on Wednesday -U.S. Treasury
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Shelby Tauber/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Switzerland on Wednesday to exchange views on economic developments and deepen communication between the world's two largest economies, a Treasury official said. But some African countries, including Zambia, have soured on Chinese lending and are looking for alternatives, economic analysts said. Liu is in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos, which Yellen does not plan to attend. Yellen has met virtually three times with Liu since taking office, and met in Bali with Chinese central bank governor Yi Gang. Liu will step down this year as part of an overhaul of China's economic leadership disclosed in September.

☆ Russian gas will eventually return to Europe as nations 'forgive and forget,' Qatari energy minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

On Friday, Russian energy supplier Gazprom said it would not resume its supply of natural gas to Germany through the key Nord Stream 1 pipeline, blaming a malfunctioning turbine. Hannibal Hanschke | ReutersThe European Union's rejection of Russian energy commodities following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine won't last forever, Qatar's Energy Minister said during an energy conference over the weekend. EU countries have dramatically cut down their imports of Russian energy supplies, imposing sanctions in response to Moscow's brutal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "But Russian gas is going back, in my view, to Europe," al-Kaabi said. Italy has dramatically reduced its reliance on Russian gas by replacing it with energy sources from alternative producers, such as Algeria.

REUTERS/Shelby Tauber/File PhotoWASHINGTON/DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Switzerland on Wednesday to exchange views on economic developments and deepen communication between the world's two largest economies, a Treasury official said. Yellen and Liu will also discuss global challenges like the possibility of a world recession, the corresponding risks, and how to enhance cooperation, the official said. Yellen does not plan to attend the World Economic Forum. Yellen has met virtually three times with Liu since taking office, and met in Bali, Indonesia with Chinese central bank governor Yi Gang. Liu will step down this year as part of an overhaul of China's economic leadership disclosed in September.

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