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☆ Greek leftist leader Tsipras resigns as Syriza party leader
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ATHENS, June 29 (Reuters) - Alexis Tsipras, the one-time leftist firebrand who stormed to power on an anti-austerity agenda in Greece in 2015, stepped down from the helm of the Syriza party after 15 years on Thursday, following a heavy election defeat. At the height of Greece's deep economic crisis, Tsipras, known for sporting his no-tie look, rode a wave of anti-establishment anger to become the country's first leftist prime minister. "The time has come to start a new cycle," Tsipras said in a televised address announcing his resignation. Tsipras said he would not be a candidate at elections for a new party leader. Tsipras' decision to step down was "sudden", a party source said, but also "the right one for the party's reform and for his own legacy".

Persons: Alexis Tsipras, Syriza, Kyriakos Mitsotakis's, Tsipras, Renee Maltezou, Karolina Tagaris, Angeliki, Toby Chopra, Peter Graff Organizations: firebrand, Democracy, New Democracy, Communist, European Union, International Monetary Fund, Thomson Locations: ATHENS, Greece

☆ Satellite images appear to show build-up at Wagner base in Belarus
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 29 (Reuters) - Satellite images of a military base southeast of the Belarus capital Minsk appear to show new facilities set up in recent days, suggesting the swift construction of a base for Wagner, the Russian mercenary company behind an abortive mutiny. Russian media have reported that Wagner, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin arrived in Belarus on Tuesday, could set up a new base at a vacant military facility near the town of Asipovichi, about 90 km (50 miles) from Minsk. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko invited Wagner to set up operations in his country as part of a deal that ended the mutiny on Saturday. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Wagner fighters were free either to move to Belarus, join the Russian military or go home, following the mutiny, which he said had threatened to bring civil war to Russia. Reporting by George Sargent and Milan Pavicic, Writing by Peter Graff, Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin, George Sargent, Milan Pavicic, Peter Graff, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Minsk ., Agency's, Reuters, ESA, Thomson Locations: Belarus, Minsk, Russian, Asipovichi, Tsel, Russia, Ukraine

☆ Iraq plants mangrove forest to fight climate disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Essam Al-Sudani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BASRA, Iraq, June 29 (Reuters) - As Aymen al-Rubaye plants mangrove seedlings in the sprawling tidal flats of southern Iraq, the black smoke rising over the skyline behind him shows the ecological damage that he is toiling to undo. Rubaye, an agricultural engineer, is working for a project started by Iraqi government bodies and a United Nations agency to grow up to 4 million mangrove trees in the Khor al-Zubair mudflats region, located near major oil fields. The tidal flats south of Basra are a baking landscape of water, salt, mud and hazy sky, riven by channels that Rubaye and his team navigate by boat. [1/5]Engineer Ayman Al-Rubaie, 47, plants mangrove trees in the wooded areas of the Shatt Al-Arab River, in Basra, Iraq June 21, 2023. Mangrove plants "can resist these harsh conditions we are passing through" without needing irrigation water, Rubaye said.

Persons: pats, Ayman Al, Essam, Rubaye, Ahmed Albaaj, Angus McDowall, Peter Graff Organizations: United, World Bank, REUTERS, United Arab Emirates, Thomson Locations: BASRA, Iraq, United Nations, Khor, Basra, . Southern Iraq, Kuwait, United Arab

☆ Twin sisters among 11 killed in Russian attack on Ukraine's Kramatorsk
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Max Hunder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Sisters Anna and Yulia Aksenchenko would have turned 15 in September, Kramatorsk city council's education department said in a Facebook post under a picture of the two girls smiling for the camera. Asked about the attack on Kramatorsk, the Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia attacked only military targets, not civilian ones. A second missile hit a village on the fringes of Kramatorsk, wounding four people. Russia has frequently hit Ukrainian cities since its full-scale invasion in February 2022. A missile strike killed 63 people at a railway station there in April 2022, one of the worst single air strikes of the war.

Persons: Oleksandr Ratushniak, Anna, Yulia Aksenchenko, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Max Hunder, Anna Pruchnicka, Pavel Polityuk, Peter Graff, Timothy Organizations: REUTERS, Kremlin, Russia, Russia's Defence Ministry, Reuters, Timothy Heritage, Thomson Locations: Russian, Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Russia, KRAMATORSK, Ukrainian, Donetsk province

MOSCOW, June 28 (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin not to "wipe out" mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, in response to what the Kremlin cast as a mutiny that pushed Russia towards civil war. While describing his Saturday conversation with Putin, Lukashenko used the Russian criminal slang phrase for killing someone, equivalent to the English phrase to "wipe out". "I also understood: a brutal decision had been made (and it was the undertone of Putin's address) to wipe out" the mutineers, Lukashenko told a meeting of his army officials and journalists on Tuesday, according to Belarusian state media. Later Lukashenko told his military that "people fail to understand that we are approaching this in a pragmatic way ... Prigozhin halted what he called was "march of justice" on Moscow from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don within 200 kilometres of the capital after Lukashenko's intervention.

Persons: Alexander Lukashenko, Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin, Prigozhin, Lukashenko, Sasha, Wagner, They've, Guy Faulconbridge, Lidia Kelly, Nick Starkov, Andrew Osborn, Peter Graff Organizations: Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Russian, Russia, Belarus, Kremlin, Belarusian, Moscow, Rostov, Melbourne

Although only two people were expected to take part, the organisers said they would tear up and burn the Koran. Sweden sought NATO membership in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year. But alliance member Ankara has held up the process, accusing Sweden of harbouring people it considers terrorists and demanding their extradition. While Swedish police have rejected several recent applications for anti-Koran demonstrations, courts have overruled those decisions, saying they infringed on freedom of speech. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at a press conference on Wednesday he would not speculate about how the approved Koran burning could affect Sweden's NATO process.

Persons: Ulf Kristersson, Kristersson, Momika, Rasmus Paludan, Paludan, Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Marie Mannes, Johan Ahlander, Terje Solsvik, Peter Graff, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Police, NATO, Islam, Atlantic Treaty Organization, Swedish, Thomson Locations: STOCKHOLM, Stockholm, Turkey, Sweden, Ukraine, Ankara, Danish, Turkish, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Copenhagen

[1/5] Police officers intervene after people's reaction as demonstrators burn the Koran (not pictured) outside Stockholm's central mosque in Stockholm, Sweden June 28, 2023. "It's legal but not appropriate," he said, adding that it was up to the police to make decisions on Koran burnings. Representatives of the mosque were disappointed by the police decision to grant permission for the protest on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, mosque director and Imam Mahmoud Khalfi said on Wednesday. Up to 10,000 visitors attend Stockholm's mosque for the Eid celebrations every year, according to Khalfi. Turkey in late January suspended talks with Sweden on its NATO application after a Danish far-right politician burned a copy of the Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

Persons: Stefan Jerrevang, Hakan Fidan, Ulf Kristersson, Momika, Eid, Imam Mahmoud Khalfi, Khalfi, Louise Breusch Rasmussen, Marie Mannes, Johan Ahlander, Burcu Karakas, Terje Solsvik, Peter Graff, Angus MacSwan, William Maclean Organizations: Police, TT News Agency, REUTERS, NATO, Swedish, Islam, Atlantic Treaty Organization, Thomson Locations: Stockholm's, Stockholm, Sweden, REUTERS STOCKHOLM, Turkey, Ankara, Ukraine, Khalfi, Danish, Turkish, Copenhagen, Istanbul

☆ Are investors ignoring the Federal Reserve’s warning?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Stocks fell last week as several signs pointed to the Federal Reserve continuing to hike rates this year. The Cboe Volatility Index, known as the VIX, is derived from S&P 500 index options prices and measures volatility expectations. Meanwhile, the May Producer Price Index showed that inflation at the wholesale level cooled to below its pre-pandemic average. Tuesday: Case-Shiller home price index and new home sales. Friday: May Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index and University of Michigan June consumer sentiment and inflation expectations final reading.

Persons: CNN — Stocks, Jerome Powell, BoE, Tom Graff, Price, ”, Graff, it’s, Liz Young, Gina Bolvin, Bitcoin, Charles Schwab Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, CNN, Federal Reserve, Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Federal, Bank of England, Nvidia, Microsoft, Bolvin Wealth Management, “, Valley Bank, Signature Bank, BlackRock, EDX, Fidelity Digital Assets, Citadel, Index, University of Michigan

☆ Rebel Russian mercenaries halt advance on Moscow, Kremlin says fighters to face no action
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

On Saturday night, they began withdrawing from the Rostov military headquarters they had seized, a Reuters witness said. EX-CONVICTS IN WAGNER RANKSThe fighters led by Prigozhin, a former convict, include thousands of ex-prisoners recruited from Russian jails. Residents of the city had milled about calmly, filming on mobile phones as Wagner fighters in armoured vehicles and battle tanks took up positions. Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said an offensive was launched near a group of villages ringing Bakhmut, which was taken by Wagner forces in May after months of fighting. Tarnavskiy said the area had been under Russian control since separatist forces backed by Moscow seized it in 2014.

Persons: Prigozhin, Belarus Wagner, Vladimir Putin's, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Putin, Wagner, Dmitry Peskov, Alexander Lukashenko, Peskov, Lukashenko, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Zelenskiy, Sergei Shoigu, Valery Gerasimov, Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, Mark Milley, Hanna Maliar, Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, Tarnavskiy, Andrew Osborn, Kevin Liffey, Peter Graff, Frank Jack Daniel, Giles Elgood, Frances Kerry, Alexander Smith, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Kremlin, Reuters, Belarus, Defence Ministry, Russia's Southern Military District, Residents, Deputy, Thomson Locations: Belarus, Rostov, ROSTOV, VORONEZH, Russia, Russian, Moscow, Ukraine, Bakhmut, France, Germany, Britain, East, UKRAINE, Krasnohorivka, Donetsk

☆ Influencer Andrew Tate to stay under house arrest, court rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, June 23 (Reuters) - Internet personality Andrew Tate will remain under house arrest in Romania for another 30 days from the end of June pending trial on charges of human trafficking, a Bucharest court ruled on Friday. They are under house arrest pending an investigation into abuses against seven women whom prosecutors say were lured through false claims of relationships, accusations the suspects have denied. The four suspects were held in police custody from Dec. 29 until March 31 before a Bucharest court put them under house arrest, which prosecutors on Tuesday sought to extend. The court needs to approve preventative restrictive measures such as house arrest every 30 days. "We're not the first affluent wealthy men who have been unfairly attacked," Tate told reporters on Wednesday after the hearing.

Persons: Andrew Tate, Tate, Tristan, We're, Prosecutors, Luiza Ilie, Octav, Alan Charlish, Peter Graff Organizations: Thomson Locations: BUCHAREST, Romania, Bucharest, United States, Britain

☆ Sri Lanka set to start tea-for-oil barter with Iran next month
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Uditha Jayasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

COLOMBO, June 23 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka is set to start bartering tea to Iran next month in lieu of $250 million owed for oil, a Sri Lankan official told Reuters on Friday, as the crisis-hit country tries to lift sales to a key market and protect its forex reserves. "This is very timely for us because we get access to an important market and both Iran and Sri Lanka can trade without relying on dollars," Sri Lanka's Tea Board Chairman Niraj de Mel told Reuters. "The agreement was to send $5 million worth of tea each month for 48 months but we plan to start with about $2 million per month." Globally popular Ceylon Tea is Sri Lanka's highest foreign exchange-earning crop, brewing $1.25 billion for the cash-strapped country last year, according to government data. Iran has been one of Sri Lanka's main tea buyers but exports have fallen steadily from $128 million in 2018 to $70 million last year as U.S. sanctions on Iran hit trade.

Persons: Niraj de Mel, riyals, de Mel, Uditha, Krishna N, Das, Peter Graff Organizations: Sri, Reuters, Tea, United Arab Emirates, Ceylon Petroleum Corp, Tea Board, National Iranian Oil Company, International Monetary Fund, Thomson Locations: COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Iran, Ceylon, Sri Lanka's, Lanka's, UAE, Lankan

☆ Taliban official letter reinforces bar of female aid staff in southern Kandahar
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KABUL, June 23 (Reuters) - Taliban authorities in Afghanistan's Kandahar province ordered female aid workers this week to stop work on a refugee project, according to an official letter, reinforcing rules against women working despite exemptions sought by some organisations. The letter underscored the uncertainty of the operating environment in Afghanistan for aid agencies who say they intend to stay and deliver aid during a humanitarian crisis but seek exemptions to let female staff work, to reach female beneficiaries and avoid breaching UN charter principles. The Taliban administration signalled in January it would work on a set of written guidelines that could allow aid groups to operate with female staff in some cases, but it has not yet done so. The Norwegian Refugee Council, an international NGO, in May said it had received exemptions for many of its operations in Kandahar and was resuming work with female staff. The Taliban's restrictions on women aid workers and access to education have been widely criticized by the international community.

Persons: Haibatullah Akhundzada, Charlotte Greenfield, Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Peter Graff Organizations: Reuters, Department of Refugees, United Nations, Norwegian Refugee Council, NRC, Diplomats, Thomson Locations: KABUL, Afghanistan's Kandahar, Kandahar, Spin, Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States

In a video statement, Zelenskiy said Kyiv was sharing its information with international partners about the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine. "Intelligence has received information that Russia is considering the scenario of a terrorist act at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - a terrorist act with a release of radiation," he said. The Kremlin dismissed the allegation as "another lie", and said a team of U.N. nuclear inspectors had visited the plant and rated everything there highly. Zelenskiy made his statement two days after Ukraine's military intelligence chief accused Russia of "mining" the cooling pond that is used to keep the reactors cool at the Zaporizhzhia plant. In his video statement, Zelenskiy said intelligence agencies had gathered new evidence of how Russian forces blew up the dam and other structures at the hydroelectric plant.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Read, Zelenskiy, Anna Pruchnicka, Tom Balmforth, Timothy Heritage, Peter Graff Organizations: Conference, Kremlin, Kyiv, Intelligence, Thomson Locations: videolink, Ukraine, London, Britain, KYIV, Russia, Soviet Union, Chornbobyl, Dnipro

☆ New hearing due for U.S. reporter Gershkovich, Russia considers U.S. visit request
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 22 (Reuters) - U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich faced a new hearing in Moscow on Thursday over his detention for alleged espionage, and Russia said it was considering a request by the United States to visit him in prison. Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying the request was under consideration. The U.S. ambassador has been able to visit the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter only once since he was arrested in March and accused by the FSB security service of collecting military secrets in the city of Yekaterinburg. They are vehemently denied by the Wall Street Journal, by the U.S. government, by his family. "If I'm being perfectly honest, we don't expect anything to come of this but it's really, really important to go through the process," she said.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Sergei Ryabkov, Emma Tucker, Gershkovich, Tucker, Evan, Mark Trevelyan, Alexander Marrow, Peter Graff Organizations: Wall Street, U.S ., BBC, United, State Department, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, United States, U.S, Yekaterinburg, Washington, Ukraine, American, London

☆ Ukraine hits bridge linking Crimea to mainland
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Tom Balmforth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

It solves nothing as far as the special military operation is concerned," he said, vowing to repair the bridge and restore traffic. He threatened to retaliate by targeting a bridge linking neighbouring Moldova to NATO-member Romania: "A very serious response is coming very soon." The Chonhar bridge hit overnight is one of just a handful of access roads to Crimea, which is linked to the Ukrainian mainland by a narrow isthmus. Russian investigators said four missiles had been fired by Ukrainian forces at the bridge, the RIA news agency reported. He also described fierce fighting in the east, where Ukraine says it has been holding off Russian attacks.

Persons: Vladimir Saldo, Yuriy Sobolevsky, Andriy Kovaliov, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Zelenskiy, Peter Graff, Gareth Jones Organizations: Russian, NATO, Kyiv, Troops, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Russian, Ukraine's Kherson, Ukrainian, Kherson, Crimea Russian, Crimea, Ukraine, Kyiv, London, Moldova, Romania, Russia, France, Rivnopil, Moscow

☆ Ukraine offensive 'slower than desired', Zelenskiy says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends through video link as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looks on during the Ukraine Recovery Conference at the Intercontinental O2 Hotel in London, Britain, June 21, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis/PoolSummary Don't expect a 'Hollywood movie', Zelenskiy saysKyiv says troops consolidating earlier gainsKYIV, June 21 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that progress in Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russian forces was "slower than desired" but that Kyiv would not be pressured into speeding it up as its troops advance through dangerous minefields. Reuters has visited some villages recaptured by Ukrainian forces and confirmed an advance of several kilometres. The BBC quoted Zelensky as saying the military push was not going easily because 200,000 sq km (77,220 sq miles) of Ukrainian territory had been mined by Russian forces. Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the conference Kyiv was hoping for more than $6 billion from the event.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Rishi Sunak, Leah Millis, Zelenskiy, It's, Zelensky, Hanna Maliar, Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine's, Peter Graff, Angus MacSwan Organizations: British, Intercontinental O2 Hotel, REUTERS, Russian, Reuters, BBC, Kyiv, Washington, Ukraine's, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, London, Britain, Kyiv, Russia, Moscow, Pyatikhatky

☆ Russia says it downed three Ukrainian drones in Moscow region
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 21 (Reuters) - Russian air defences downed three drones in the Moscow region on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said, in what it called an attempted Ukrainian attack. The ministry said Russian defences had used electronic jamming to cause the drones to lose control and crash, without causing any casualties or damage. Reuters could not independently verify details of the incident or determine who had launched the drones. Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said two of the drones in Wednesday's incident were intercepted as they approached military warehouses. Self-styled partisan groups have reported frequent attacks on Russian rail infrastructure, sometimes resulting in derailments, during the 16 months since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Persons: Andrei Vorobyov, Sergei Aksyonov, Lidia Kelly, Felix Light, Mark Trevelyan, Andrew Osborn, Peter Graff Organizations: Defence Ministry, TASS, Taman Division, Russia's, Forces, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Ukrainian, Ukraine, Kalininets, Russian, Crimea, Feodosia, derailments, Russia

That threw a new curveball at UK markets, as just last week economists polled by Reuters had unanimously expected the BoE to raise by 25 basis points. I would not be surprised if we see a 50-bp rate rise from the Bank of England tomorrow." Other analysts said delivering a larger rate rise on Thursday risked further undermining the BoE's messaging. Bets on where BoE rate hikes might peak rose as high as 6% on Wednesday. The rise in yields hit UK housebuilders (.FTNMX402020), which were down as much as 3.1%.

Persons: BoE, Melanie Baker, Liz, Nick Rees, Richard McGuire, Rabobank's McGuire, Yoruk Bahceli, William Schomberg, Dhara Ranasinghe, Danilo Masoni, Alun John, Peter Graff Organizations: Bank of England, Reuters, Royal London Asset Management, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Wednesday's, MPC, FX, Monex, Rabobank, Sterling, Thomson Locations: Monex Europe

☆ World Cup women's soccer players 'at risk' from poor pitches
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Amy Tennery | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 20 (Reuters) - Women representing their nations to qualify for the soccer World Cup are risking their safety on poor quality pitches, and many are playing for no pay, according to a poll released on Tuesday by the global body that represents players. Nearly 30% of international women soccer players polled for the FIFPRO report said that they have been playing for nothing, while two-thirds said they had to take unpaid leave from their jobs to represent their country in confederation championships. "FIFPRO firmly calls on the industry to take a closer look at the qualification processes in each of the six Confederations." FIFPRO also called for all six confederations to hold separate qualifying matches for the Women's World Cup. Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York Editing by Peter Graff Editing by Peter GraffOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: FIFPRO, Mallory Swanson, Janine Beckie, Leah Williamson, Amy Tennery, Peter Graff Organizations: Confederations, UEFA, Thomson Locations: Australia, New Zealand, England, New York

☆ Ugandan students' parents submit DNA samples to ID massacre victims
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KAMPALA, June 20 (Reuters) - Parents of students missing after an attack on a school in western Uganda are flocking to the local police station to submit DNA samples that could identify their children among the 42 bodies that have been recovered. Assailants set a dormitory full of boys alight, then attacked a dormitory full of girls, hacking victims to death with machetes and knives. Regional police commander Tai Ramadhan said many of the dead bodies were charred beyond recognition, forcing investigators to use DNA samples from relatives to try to identify them. Simon Kule, who had come to Bwera Police Station to give a DNA sample, was still looking for his son, Philmon Mumbere. Authorities said on Monday that 20 suspected "collaborators" of the attackers, including the school's head teacher, had been detained for questioning.

Persons: Tai Ramadhan, Simon Kule, Philmon, Solomon Mulekya, Trephine, Elias Biryabarema, Aaron Ross, Peter Graff Organizations: Lhubirira Secondary, Islamic, Regional, Bwera Police, Authorities, Thomson Locations: KAMPALA, Uganda, Islamic State, Democratic Republic of Congo

☆ Ethics body accuses UK's Johnson of new breach for taking newspaper job without vetting
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, June 16 (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who quit parliament last week over a finding that he misled lawmakers about COVID lockdown parties, was accused on Friday of a new breach for taking a newspaper columnist job without waiting for required ethics vetting. He called it a "political assassination", in a blistering resignation statement in which he also appeared to take swipes at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Ministers and civil servants who leave office are required to consult an ethics body, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA), before taking up new jobs. ACOBA has no enforcement powers, but a new breach of rules could make it harder for Johnson to mount a political comeback. Johnson started his working life in journalism, sacked by the Times newspaper for making up a quote.

Persons: Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, Johnson, ACOBA, Elizabeth Piper, Alistair Smout, Peter Graff Organizations: British, Conservative Party, Conservative, Daily Mail, Business, Times, Daily Telegraph, Spectator, Thomson Locations: Westminster, Brussels, Union

☆ Russia tries to signal normalcy as Ukraine forces advance
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Vitalii Hnidyi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

But corpses of Russian soldiers and burnt-out armoured vehicles lining the roadside in villages newly recaptured by Ukrainian troops attested to Kyiv's biggest advances since last year. Several bodies of Russian soldiers lay in the streets of ruined and depopulated villages. Ukrainian troops in Storozheve told Reuters they had killed around 50 Russians and captured four there. Kyiv says any elections staged by Russians on Ukrainian territory would be invalid and illegal. Ukrainian troops have yet to reach the heaviest Russian defensive fortifications, which are set back from the front line.

Persons: Oleksandr Ratushniak, Moscow's, Oleksii Hromov, Vladimir Putin, Ella Pamfilova, Lloyd Austin, Austin, Vitalii, Pavel Polityuk, Peter Graff, Frances Kerry Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Ukrainian, Troops, TASS, Defence Ministry, Federal Security Service, U.S . Defense, Thomson Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Storozheve, Donetsk region, UKRAINE, Russia, Ukrainian, Neskuchne, Moscow, Mala Tokmachka, Bakhmut, Europe, Kyiv, Brussels, U.S, Washington

☆ New Zealand court sentences Megaupload coders to prison, Herald reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, June 15 (Reuters) - Two coders at the file-sharing website Megaupload were sentenced to prison by a New Zealand court on Thursday after pleading guilty in a deal in which they promised to testify against the site's founder Kim Dotcom, according to the New Zealand Herald. Mathias Ortmann was sentenced to two years and seven months in prison and Bram van der Kolk to two years and six months by the High Court in Auckland, the newspaper reported on its website. German-born Dotcom, who has a New Zealand residency, is fighting extradition to the United States relating to his Megaupload site, which was shut down in 2012 following an FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion. The sentences for Ortmann and van der Kolk were significantly lowered from 10 years as the court gave substantial discounts for the guilty pleas, assistance to the FBI and rehabilitation efforts, the NZ Herald said. U.S. authorities say Dotcom, Ortmann, van der Kolk and a fourth Megaupload executive who has since died had cost film studios and record companies more than $500 million and generated more than $175 million by encouraging paying users to store and share copyrighted material.

Persons: Megaupload, Kim Dotcom, Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk, Dotcom, van der, Praveen Menon, Peter Graff Organizations: SYDNEY, New Zealand Herald, High, FBI, NZ Herald, Twitter, Thomson Locations: New Zealand, Auckland, Zealand, United States

☆ Erdogan sees swift steps from new finance minister but says his own monetary views unchanged
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Some of our friends should not be mistaken, such as (asking) 'Is our president going for a serious change in interest rate policies?'" "But upon the thinking of our treasury and finance minister, we have accepted that he will take steps swiftly, comfortably with the central bank," Erdogan said. Analysts at leading investment banks now expect Turkey's central bank to start ramping up rates at its monetary policy committee meeting on June 22. Erdogan said he told the new central bank governor about his expectations. "God willing, neither our finance minister nor our central bank governor will embarrass us and I think we will hopefully obtain positive results."

Persons: Erdogan, Tayyip Erdogan, Mehmet Simsek, Hafize Gaye Erkan, Simsek, Orhan Coskun, Nevzat Devranoglu, Huseyin Hayatsever, Ali Kucukgocmen, Daren Butler, Peter Graff Organizations: stoke, Authorities, Wall Street, Toksabay, Thomson Locations: ANKARA, Azerbaijan, Turkish, Ankara

☆ Chechen leader says top commander 'alive and well' after reports he was wounded in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, June 14 (Reuters) - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Wednesday one of his senior commanders was alive and well, dismissing reports that he had been killed or wounded in Ukraine. The commander, Adam Delimkhanov, heads the Chechen division of the Russian national guard and is also a member of Russia's parliament. In a later posting on Telegram, Kadyrov mocked the Ukrainian media reports about Delimkhanov for "brazen lies about his elimination". Earlier on Wednesday, Russia's Zvezda television channel cited the parliamentary press service as saying Delimkhanov had been wounded in Ukraine. It followed rumours on Ukrainian social media channels that the Chechen commander had been killed in an artillery strike in southern Ukraine.

Persons: Ramzan Kadyrov, Adam Delimkhanov, Kadyrov, Vladimir Putin, Delimkhanov, Gareth Jones, Peter Graff Angus MacSwan, Ron Popeski Organizations: Russian, Caucasian, Russia's Zvezda, Chechen, Reuters, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, Ukraine, Chechnya, Ukrainian, Chechen, Moscow, Mariupol

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