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Reuters —Germany plans to halve its military aid to Ukraine next year, despite concerns that US support for Kyiv could potentially diminish if Republican candidate Donald Trump returns to the White House. German aid to Ukraine will be cut to €4 billion ($4.35 billion) in 2025 from around €8 billion in 2024, according to a draft of the 2025 budget seen by Reuters. Germany has faced criticism for repeatedly missing a NATO target of spending 2% of its economic output on defense. Days after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a “Zeitenwende” – German for historic turning point - with a €100 billion special fund to bring the military up to speed. The defense budget is set to receive a meagre €1.3 billion more than in 2024, far below the €6.7 billion requested by Pistorius.
Persons: Donald Trump, Christian Lindner, Trump, JD Vance, Olaf Scholz, Kay Nietfeld, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Boris Pistorius, Pistorius . Scholz, Zelensky, John MacDougall, , , Ingo Gaedechens Organizations: Reuters, House, Group, German, Washington, Ukraine, Trump, NATO, Social Democrats, Greens, Defense, Getty, CDU Locations: Germany, Ukraine, , Europe, United States, Russia, Irpin, Kyiv, Berlin
Reuters —Vietnam’s President To Lam has taken over the duties of Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong who is focusing on an unspecified treatment for his health, the party said on Thursday. The party’s powerful Politburo has tasked him with presiding over “the work of the Party Central Committee, the Politburo and the Secretariat,” according to a statement from the party’s central office. Though Vietnam officially has no paramount ruler, the party chief holds the most powerful position in the Communist-ruled nation. Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the Communist Party of Vietnam Headquarters in Hanoi, Vietnam on September 10, 2023. In a surprise move, the Politburo awarded Trong on Thursday with the Gold Star medal, the country’s highest honor for public officials.
Persons: Reuters —, Lam, Nguyen Phu Trong, Trong, Evelyn Hockstein, , Lam’s, Organizations: Reuters, Communist Party, Party Central Committee, Vietnam's Communist Party General, Communist Party of, Marxist, Gold Locations: Vietnam, Communist, Communist Party of Vietnam, Hanoi , Vietnam, China, Hanoi, Western
Rome Reuters —The remains of what appears to be a medieval palace where popes lived before they made the Vatican their home have been excavated in Rome prior to renovations for the 2025 Catholic Holy Year, or Jubilee, the Italian Culture Ministry said on Wednesday. The walls of the complex may have protected the Patriarchio, a monumental basilica envisaged by Emperor Constantine in the square outside the Archbasilica of St John Lateran. Italian Ministry of Culture/Reuters“This is an extraordinarily important find for the city of Rome and its medieval history, as no extensive archaeological excavations have ever been carried out in the square in modern times,” the ministry said. The area around St John Lateran is being spruced up ahead of the Jubilee, a year-long event starting in December that is expected to attract more than 30 million pilgrims and tourists to the Italian capital. During a Jubilee, Catholics can obtain special indulgences, or remission of their sins, if they fulfill certain conditions and do good works or make pilgrimages.
Persons: Rome, St John Lateran, Emperor Constantine, Emperor Caligula Organizations: Rome Reuters, Italian Culture Ministry, Ministry of Culture, Reuters, CNN Locations: Rome, Roman, Avignon, France, St
Kagame has won more than 93% of the vote at each of the three previous elections. Eight candidates had applied to run against him, but only two were retained in the final list validated by the electoral commission. The others, including Kagame’s most vocal critics, were barred for various reasons that included prior criminal convictions. At the Rwandexco polling center in the capital Kigali, people started queueing 90 minutes before polls opened. Kagame won nearly 99% of the vote in the 2017 poll, which followed a constitutional change removing term limits that would have prevented him from standing again.
Persons: Paul Kagame, Kagame, Pheneas, , ” Pheneas, ” Kagame, Frank Habineza, Philippe Mpayimana, Karangwa Vedaste, ” Vedaste Organizations: Rwanda Reuters — Voters, Motorcycle Locations: Kigali, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo
Ralf Schumacher comes out as gay in social media post
  + stars: | 2024-07-15 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +1 min
Reuters —Former Formula One driver Ralf Schumacher, younger brother of seven times world champion and Ferrari great Michael, announced on Sunday he was in a same-sex relationship. Ralf Schumacher won six F1 races during his career. Ralf Schumacher, 49, won six grands prix in an 11-year career that ended in 2007. German actress Carmen Geiss, a close friend, named Schumacher’s partner as Etienne and published a photograph of the couple on her own Instagram account. Ralf's brother, Michael (left), won seven world championships.
Persons: Ralf Schumacher, Michael, , Michael Cooper, Mike Beuttler, Cora, David, , ” David, Carmen Geiss, Etienne, Alex Grimm, Ralf Organizations: Reuters, Formula, Ferrari, Hulton Locations: German
Reuters —A court in Ecuador on Friday handed down prison sentences for five people found guilty of murdering presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. Journalist and former legislator Villavicencio was shot while leaving a rally in August 2023, becoming the most prominent victim of Ecuador’s spiraling violence. Both Angulo and Castillo were sentenced to 34 years and eight months. One of the hitmen died at the scene of Villavicencio’s murder and seven other suspects - mostly Colombian citizens - were murdered in October while being held in prisons on pre-trial detention. Villavicencio’s friends and family have decried multiple delays and urged investigation into who ordered the killing.
Persons: Reuters —, Fernando Villavicencio, Villavicencio, Milton Maroto, Daniel Noboa, Carlos Edwin Angulo Lara, Laura Dayanara Castillo, Angulo, Castillo, Erick Ramirez, Victor Flores, Alexandra Chimbo, Veronica Sarauz Organizations: Reuters, Prosecutors, Los Locations: Ecuador, Los Lobos
Niger: Inmates escape prison holding militants
  + stars: | 2024-07-12 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +1 min
Reuters —Niger’s interior ministry said it had ordered search units to be on alert after inmates escaped on Thursday from the high-security Koutoukale prison whose inmates include Islamist militants. The ministry statement did not say how many prisoners had escaped Koutoukale, which lies 50 km (30 miles) northwest of the capital Niamey, or how they had done so. The prison’s inmates include detainees from the West African country’s conflict with armed groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State and suspected Boko Haram insurgents. Local authorities imposed an overnight curfew in the urban commune of Tillaberi, which is in the same region as the prison, but did not give further details. Thousands have been killed in the insurgencies and more than three million displaced, fueling a deep humanitarian crisis in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Persons: Boko, al Organizations: Reuters, West, Islamic Locations: Niamey, al Qaeda, Islamic State, Tillaberi, Niger, Mali
Finland has accused neighboring Russia of weaponizing migration by encouraging scores of migrants from countries such as Syria and Somalia to cross the border, an assertion the Kremlin denies. Helsinki believes Moscow is promoting the crossings in retaliation for Finland joining NATO, which backs Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. Finnish border guards and migrants with bicycles are pictured at the international border crossing at Salla, Finnish Lapland on November 21, 2023. Orpo urged migrants who were considering coming to Europe through Russia not to embark on the journey. The access to the borders orchestrated by Russia will not lead to access to Finland or Europe.”Moscow has denied such an intention.
Persons: Reuters —, Petteri Orpo, ” Orpo, Jussi Nukari, Mari Rantanen, Finland’s, Orpo, “ Don’t, , ” Moscow Organizations: Reuters, Helsinki, NATO, Russia’s, Getty, Finnish Border Guard, Locations: Russia, Helsinki, Finland, Syria, Somalia, Moscow, Ukraine, EU, Salla, Finnish Lapland, AFP, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Europe, Russian
Reuters —Mali’s military junta has lifted a suspension on political party activities meant to safeguard public order, the council of ministers said late on Wednesday. “By taking this deterrent measure, the government was able to contain all the threats of public disorder that hung over this major event,” the council said in a statement. Given the focus was now on implementing the recommendations of the April 13-May 10 peace dialogue, the government will allow political parties to resume their activities, it said. Mali’s junta, which seized power in a second coup in 2021, reneged on a promise to hold elections in February, postponing the vote indefinitely for technical reasons. Political parties and civil society groups at the time reacted with anger to the junta’s decision not to hold the vote and called for a return to constitutional order.
Persons: Reuters — Organizations: Reuters, , Islamic Locations: West, Central Africa, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, al Qaeda, Islamic State
Reuters —The daughter of Cameroon’s president said she hoped that by coming out as a lesbian she can help change laws that ban homosexuality in the country. Brenda Biya, who lives between the United States and Switzerland, came out in an Instagram post on June 30. Her father, Paul Biya, 91, who has led Cameroon for four decades, has not publicly commented on the matter. Brenda Biya said the law punishing gay sex existed before her father came into power in 1982, and she hopes her story will lead to change in the legislation. “However, it highlights a harsh reality: anti-LGBT laws in Cameroon disproportionately target the poor,” she said.
Persons: Brenda Biya, Le, , ” Brenda Biya, Paul Biya, Bandy Kiki, Biya Organizations: Reuters Locations: United States, Switzerland, Cameroon, Britain
Archaeologists find marble god in ancient Roman sewer
  + stars: | 2024-07-08 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +1 min
Rupite, Bulgaria Reuters —Bulgarian archaeologists stumbled upon unexpected treasure this week during a dig in an ancient Roman sewer — a well-preserved, marble statue depicting the Greek god Hermes. Archaeologists pictured with the statue, which was covered with soil in an ancient Roman sewer. There are a few fractures on the hands,” said Lyudmil Vagalinski, who led the team of archaeologists, adding that the statue was a Roman copy of an ancient Greek original. Heraclea Sintica was a sprawling city founded by the ancient Macedonian king Philip II of Macedon, between 356 B.C. After the earthquake, the Heraclea Sintica fell into a rapid decline and was abandoned by around A.D. 500.
Persons: Hermes, Sergieva, Reuters “, , Lyudmil Vagalinski, Heraclea Sintica, Philip II of Macedon Organizations: Bulgaria Reuters —, Archaeologists, Reuters, CNN Locations: Rupite, Bulgaria, Heraclea Sintica, Heraclea, Bulgarian, Pirin Macedonia, Roman
Shanghai — It’s less furry than a traditional companion, but a six-legged Chinese robot “guide dog” could one day help vision impaired people live with more independence, according to its research development team in Shanghai. The robot dog, which is currently being field-tested, is able to navigate its physical environment via cameras and sensors, including recognizing traffic light signals, which traditional guide dogs are unable to do. “If this robot guide dog comes onto the market and I could use it, at least it could solve some of my problems in traveling alone,” Li said. In China, there are just over 400 guide dogs for almost 20 million blind people, Gao said. “I think this could be a very large market, because there might be tens of millions of people in the world who need guide dogs.”
Persons: , Gao Feng, Jiao, Li Fei, Zhu Sibin, Li, Zhu, ” Li, Gao, Organizations: Shanghai, Jiao Tong University’s, of Mechanical Engineering, Jiao Tong University Locations: Shanghai, Australia, Britain, China, Labrador
Reuters —Police in Australia’s Northern Territory said on Wednesday that a missing 12-year-old child was reportedly attacked by a crocodile and a search and rescue operation was underway. The child was reported missing on Tuesday evening after swimming in a creek in Palumpa, also known by its Aboriginal name Nganmarriyanga, a remote town of around 350 people, seven hours by road from the territory capital, Darwin. “Local officers are on scene and our thoughts are with the family and the community,” senior sergeant Erica Gibson said in a statement. “Officers are currently searching a large section of the creek via boat and we thank the community for their ongoing assistance.”There are more than 100,000 crocodiles – which can grow up to six meters (20 feet) long – in the vast Northern Territory, though fatal attacks are relatively rare.
Persons: , Erica Gibson Organizations: Reuters — Police Locations: Australia’s Northern Territory, Palumpa, Darwin, , Northern Territory
Reuters —Unidentified armed men have killed around 40 people in an attack on a village in insurgent-plagued central Mali, local officials said on Tuesday. “It was a very serious attack, armed men surrounded the village and shot at people,” said Bankass Mayor Moulaye Guindo by phone. He was not able to share a death toll, but two local officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said around 40 people were killed. Violence has spiraled in West Africa’s central Sahel region since the insurgencies took root in Mali and spread into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, killing thousands of people and displacing millions more. The insecurity has helped spur two coups in Mali, one in Burkina Faso, and one in Niger since 2020.
Persons: , Moulaye Guindo Organizations: Reuters, Islamic Locations: Mali, Djiguibombo, Mopti, Mali’s, al Qaeda, Islamic State, West Africa’s, Sahel, Burkina Faso, Niger
Sierra Leone outlaws child marriage with new bill
  + stars: | 2024-07-03 | by ( Story Reuters | ) edition.cnn.com   time to read: +1 min
Sierra Leone officially banned child marriage on Tuesday with President Julius Maada Bio signing into law a bill to end the practice that remains widespread. Advocates hope the new legislation will better protect girls in Sierra Leone, around a third of whom are married before they turn 18, increasing the maternal death rate due to the physical risks they face from pregnancy, according to the health ministry. Parents or those attending such marriage ceremonies could also face fines. The legislation should “break the cycle of early marriage and its devastating consequences,” said Human Rights Watch researcher Betty Kabari. “It also sets a pathway forward for other African nations, such as Tanzania and Zambia, to revoke laws that permit child marriage.”
Persons: Julius Maada, , Betty Kabari Organizations: Sierra, U.S . Bureau, African Affairs, UNICEF, Sierra Leonean, Reuters, Rights Locations: Sierra Leone, Central Africa, Tanzania, Zambia
Kathmandu, Nepal — A Nepali court sentenced a man who thousands believed was a reincarnation of the Buddha to 10 years in jail on Monday for child sexual abuse, a court official said. As a teenager, Ram Bahadur Bamjon had drawn international attention when in 2005 tens of thousands of people turned up to see the “Buddha Boy” sitting cross-legged under a tree in a dense forest in southeastern Nepal for nearly 10 months. Court official Sikinder Kaapar of the Sarlahi district court in southern Nepal said a judge had also ordered Bamjon, 33, to pay $3,750 in compensation to the victim. Bamjon could not be reached for comment by Reuters, but his lawyer, Dilip Kumar Jha, said he would appeal in a higher court. Bamjon was arrested at a house on the outskirts of Kathmandu in January.
Persons: Ram Bahadur Bamjon, Boy ”, Bamjon, Dilip Kumar Jha, laud him, Siddhartha Gautama, CNN’s Sugam Pokharel, Tara John Organizations: Reuters Locations: Kathmandu, Nepal, Sarlahi
McDonald’s has cut breakfast service timings by 90 minutes, the company said, after a shortage of eggs caused by bird flu outbreaks that have led to the slaughter of about 1.5 million chickens. Australia is battling outbreaks of several strains of highly pathogenic avian influenza that have struck 11 poultry facilities, most of them egg farms, in its southeast since May. None of the strains are the H5N1 variant of bird flu that has spread through bird and mammal populations worldwide, infecting billions of animals and a small number of humans. “Consumers can be assured there’s still over 20 million hens under the care of hundreds of egg farmers across Australia that will continue to work hard to ensure there’s eggs on shelves,” he added. Bird flu spreads to farmed animals from wild birds.
Persons: McDonald’s, ” McDonald’s, Rowan McMonnies, there’s Organizations: Good, Facebook Locations: Canberra, Australia
Greek judicial authorities have jailed the captain and first officer of a yacht ahead of a trial on charges of arson over a forest fire on the island of Hydra believed to have been sparked by fireworks, legal sources said. The two men and the entire crew of the yacht have denied any wrondoing. Eleven other crew members were freed on bail and with restrictions. Flames engulf the Greek island of Hydra, on June 21. The 13 Greek crew members of the yacht, which was moored 350 meters (383 yards) from the shore when the fire erupted, were arrested on Sunday at a marina near Athens and charged with starting the blaze.
Persons: , Organizations: Volunteer Fire, Hydra, Wednesday, Salaminia Yachting, Athens News Agency, Reuters Locations: Greece, Hydra, Athens, Piraeus
Montenegro’s energy minister said the shutdown was caused by a sudden increase in power consumption brought on by high temperatures, and by the heat itself overloading systems. “This was just waiting to happen in this heat,” Gentiana, a 24-year-old student in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, told Reuters. Suppliers in the four countries said they started restoring supply by mid-afternoon and power was largely back by the evening. Power in Albania was restored within half an hour, but the country remained at a high risk of further shutdowns as power usage and heat levels were still high, he said. Western Balkan nations have seen a boom in solar energy investment, meant to ease a power crisis that had threatened a shift away from coal.
Persons: , Sasa Mujovic, Belinda Balluku, Balluku Organizations: CNN, Reuters, Suppliers, Air, HRT, Albanian Energy, North Macedonia’s Energy Regulatory Commission Locations: Montenegro, Bosnia, Albania, Croatia’s, Balkans, Montenegro’s, Podgorica, European, Bosnia’s, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Mostar, Croatian, Split, Greece, Croatia
CNN —China on Friday threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases for “diehard” Taiwan independence separatists, a ratcheting up of pressure even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the democratically governed island. The guidelines are being issued in accordance with laws already on the books, including the 2005 anti-succession law, Xinhua said. That law gives China the legal basis for military action against Taiwan if it secedes or seems about to. Sun Ping, an official from China’s Ministry of Public Security, told reporters in Beijing the maximum penalty for the “crime of secession” was the death penalty. Such punishments have little practical effect as Chinese courts do not have jurisdiction in Taiwan, whose government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Persons: Lai Ching, , Lai, Sun Ping, Hsiao Organizations: CNN, diehard, Xinhua, China’s Ministry of Public Security, Reuters, Senior Locations: China, Taiwan, Beijing, United States
Reuters —A fire at a military ammunition depot in Chad’s capital N’Djamena triggered a series of blasts on Tuesday night, Foreign Affairs Minister Koulamallah Abderaman said, with witnesses saying at least one person was killed and several wounded. Another resident said his neighbor, a shopkeeper, was killed after a shell hit him. Then we saw a big fire at the military camp and smoke and things exploding in the air,” he said. “We could see artillery fly over us.”A Reuters witness saw flames and heard explosions for about an hour and said smoke was spreading around the city. The fire broke out just a few kilometers away from Chad’s main international airport, which authorities said was not affected.
Persons: Koulamallah Abderaman, Moustapha Adoum Mahamat, , Organizations: Reuters, Foreign, Media Locations: Chad’s, N’Djamena, people’s
Reuters —An heiress who has denounced the absence of taxes on wealth and inheritance in Austria has given the bulk of her money, 25 million euros ($27 million), to 77 organizations, including social and climate groups, as well as prominent left-wing ones. A spokesman said the 25 million euros was “the overwhelming bulk” of her wealth, though she retains an undisclosed sum. Engelhorn is a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, who founded German chemicals giant BASF in 1865. When Engelhorn-Vechiatto died in 2022, Marlene inherited a large sum. “Now, it is up to the political actors to do justice to what this group representative of the Austrian population has embodied,” Engelhorn said, calling for more debate on these issues.
Persons: Marlene Engelhorn, ” Engelhorn, , Engelhorn, Friedrich Engelhorn, Gertraud Engelhorn, Vechiatto, Marlene, Joe Klamar, Elisabeth Klein Organizations: Reuters, BASF, Concordia, Getty, Momentum Institute, Austrian Nature Conservation Federation Locations: Austria, Austrian, , Vienna, AFP
Stockholm Reuters —Sweden and Iran carried out a prisoner exchange on Saturday, officials said, with Sweden freeing a former Iranian official convicted for his role in a mass execution in the 1980s while Iran released two Swedes being held there. “Iran used them both as pawns in a cynical negotiations game with the purpose of getting the Iranian citizen Hamid Noury released from prison in Sweden. Noury was freed in a prisoner swap with Iran, Sweden said on Saturday. Swedish-Iranian dual national Saeed Azizi was arrested in Iran in November 2023 on what Sweden called “wrongful grounds.”Another Swedish-Iranian dual national, Ahmadreza Djalali, arrested in 2016, remains in an Iranian jail. An emergency medicine doctor, Djalali was arrested in 2016 while on an academic visit to Iran.
Persons: Hamid Noury, Noury, Ulf Kristersson, Johan Floderus, Saeed Azizi, ” Kristersson, Kristersson, Anders Humlebo, Ahmadreza Djalali, Djalali Organizations: Stockholm Reuters —, Swedish, TT, Agency, AFP, Getty, National Council of Resistance, Islamic, European Union Locations: Stockholm, Stockholm Reuters — Sweden, Iran, Sweden, Oman, Tehran, , “ Iran, Karaj, Islamic Republic, Floderus, Israel, Iranian, Swedish
Reuters —The African National Congress has agreed to form a government of national unity for South Africa with three other parties including its largest rival, the pro-business Democratic Alliance, public broadcaster SABC reported on Friday. The SABC report came as the newly elected parliament was convening for the first time and lawmakers were in the process of being sworn in. The chamber will later elect its speaker, deputy speaker and the country’s president. SABC said the unity government would include the ANC, the DA, the socially conservative Inkatha Freedom Party and the right-wing Patriotic Alliance. The session was taking place in a Cape Town convention centre as the parliament complex was damaged by fire in 2022.
Persons: , Sihle Zikalala, John Steenhuisen, Cyril Ramaphosa, Raymond Zondo, Helen Zille, Ramaphosa, , Jacob Zuma Organizations: Reuters, African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, SABC, ANC, DA, Freedom Party, Patriotic Alliance, National Assembly, Fighters, Party, IFP, The Patriotic Alliance, Capital Economics, EFF, MK, , Economics Locations: South Africa, Cape Town, London, policymaking
CNN —Thousands of dead fish have blanketed the surface of a lagoon in Mexico’s northern state of Chihuahua, with local officials blaming an intense drought. Chihuahua state has been hit particularly hard with most of its territory engulfed by the most extreme levels of dryness. Mass fish deaths in the area have happened in previous years when the lagoon dried up, stranding fish. A municipal worker spreading quicklime over dead fish to reduce the stench, at the dry bed of the Bustillos Lagoon on June 7, 2024. At the lagoon, local authorities are racing to cover the dead fish with quicklime, concerned their rapid decomposition under the baking sun could endanger public health by attracting insects and spreading disease.
Persons: Irma de la Pena, , De la Pena, Jose Luis Gonzalez, , Jesus Maria Palacios, Saul Sausameda Organizations: CNN, Ecology Department, Reuters, Reuters Livestock Locations: Chihuahua, Anahuac, Mexico, Cuauhtemoc
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