The Fiji Times

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth attends opening of London train line

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, whose public engagements have been limited in recent months due to mobility issues, made a surprise appearance on Tuesday at a ceremony to mark the completion of a long-awaited London train line named in her honour. Elizabeth, wearing a bright yellow hat and coat and using a walking stick, was...

Biden approves redeployment of under 500 ground troops to Somalia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden has authorized the redeployment of fewer than 500 American troops into Somalia, U.S. officials said on Monday, after Donald Trump ordered their withdrawal during his presidency. Prior to Trump’s withdrawal, the United States had about 700 troops in Somalia focused on helping local forces defeat the al Qaeda-linked al...

Burkina Faso rescuers find no survivors in flooded mine’s rescue chamber

OUGADOUGOU (Reuters) -Rescue workers have found no survivors in a rescue chamber deep inside a flooded zinc mine in Burkina Faso, the government and the mine owner said on Tuesday, all but extinguishing hope that eight missing miners could still be alive after a month. The Perkoa mine, owned by Canadian firm Trevali Mining Corp...

Depp lawyer questions Heard about drugs, love notes in defamation case

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Johnny Depp’s attorney grilled the actor’s ex-wife Amber Heard on Tuesday, producing affectionate notes she wrote during their short-lived marriage to challenge her accounts of frequent violence and bolster the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star’s case for defamation. Depp, 58, is suing Heard for $50 million, saying she defamed him when she...

Australian PM touts fiscal discipline in final election campaign lap

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s ruling coalition on Tuesday pledged to fund A$2.3 billion ($1.60 billion) worth of its election promises by curbing public sector spending over the next four years, which it said would also further reduce the budget deficit. With the national election just four days away on Saturday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said...

First draft of Chile’s new constitution set, fine-tuning to begin

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Commissions in charge of fine-tuning a draft of Chile’s new constitution and mapping out the transition from a free-market doctrine to a focus on rights and social programs take over on Monday before it is put to a vote in September. The constitutional assembly finished approving new articles over the weekend, with...

U.S. sanctions Guatemala’s attorney general over accusations of corruption

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The U.S. government has sanctioned Guatemalan Attorney General Maria Porras over accusations of “involvement in significant corruption,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.

China’s COVID controls will impact foreign investment for years – U.S. lobby

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – China’s strict COVID-19 controls will hamper foreign investment into the country for years to come as limits on travel block the pipeline for projects, the President of the American Chamber of Commerce warned on Tuesday. There are few signs that American companies are leaving the China market, but the years-long process...

Sandstorm closes schools, offices and halts flights in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A heavy sandstorm in Iraq, the latest of what Iraqis say is an unprecedented number to hit the country in recent weeks, closed some state schools and offices and halted flights at Baghdad International Airport on Monday. Authorities in Baghdad, including the Education Ministry, declared a day off for local government institutions,...

AFL-CIO says lawmakers should remove ‘pro-China’ provisions from chips bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The largest U.S. labor organization said on Monday it wants lawmakers negotiating a measure to boost funding for semiconductor chips production and U.S. competitiveness to remove “pro-China provisions.” The AFL-CIO trade federation, representing 12.5 million workers, took aim at the Senate version of the bill in a letter to lawmakers, saying it...

Beijing reports 43 new symptomatic COVID cases, 9 asymptomatic cases

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s capital Beijing reported 43 new symptomatic coronavirus cases for May 16, up from 39 a day earlier, state media reported on Tuesday. The city also reported nine asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 for May 16, down from 15 a day earlier.

Key moments in the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial

(Reuters) – Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are suing each other for defamation, each claiming they were abused before and during their roughly two-year marriage. A Virginia jury is hearing the case, which is expected to run through late May. Below are key moments in the trial so far: — Depp testified that he...

Greek man gets life sentence for killing British wife

ATHENS (Reuters) – A Greek man, who confessed to killing his young British wife in front of their 11-month-old child last year, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday in a case which has prompted widespread public outrage. Babis Anagnostopoulos, 34, the only witness in the case, had initially claimed that thieves broke into...

Taliban dissolve Afghanistan’s Human Rights Commission, other key bodies

KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban authorities in Afghanistan dissolved five key departments of the former U.S.-backed government, including the country’s Human Rights Commission, deeming them unnecessary in the face of a financial crunch, an official said on Monday. Afghanistan faces a budget deficit of 44 billion Afghanis ($501 million) this financial year, Taliban authorities said on...

Coronavirus may be linked to cases of severe hepatitis in children

(Reuters) – The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. SARS-CoV-2 could be at root of mysterious hepatitis in kids A chain of events possibly triggered by unrecognized infection with the...

Indigenous Canadians make a painful plea on eve of British royal visit

(Reuters) – As Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla prepare to visit Canada this week, some members of the indigenous community are calling on the British royal family to formally acknowledge the harm colonization did to First Nations people. The royal couple will arrive in St. Johns, Newfoundland on Tuesday on a three-day trip...

U.S. announces $6 billion in natural relief payments for farmers

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Agriculture Department announced on Monday $6 billion in emergency relief payments for farmers impacted by natural disasters in 2020 and 2021. The funding can help cover damage to crops, trees, bushes, and vines from wildfires, hurricanes, floods, drought and extreme temperatures and comes from a bill President Joe Biden signed...

Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra feted on return home after Eurovision win

KRAKOVETS, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra returned to their homeland on Monday after an emotional Eurovision Song Contest victory, greeted at the border with Poland by servicemen and women whose cause the band had championed in Turin. Frontman Oleh Psiuk was presented with a bouquet of yellow and blue flowers – the colours of...

Poor workers bear the brunt of India’s heatwave

NOIDA, India (Reuters) – For construction worker Yogendra Tundre, life at a building site on the outskirts of the Indian capital New Delhi is hard enough. This year, record high temperatures are making it unbearable. As India grapples with an unprecedented heatwave, the country’s vast majority of poor workers, who generally work outdoors, are vulnerable...

Shanghai aims for return to normal life from June 1

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Shanghai aims to reopen broadly and allow normal life to resume from June 1, a city official said on Monday, after declaring that 15 of its 16 districts had eliminated cases outside quarantine areas. Deputy Mayor Zong Ming, speaking at a daily online news conference, gave the clearest timetable yet for a return to...

UK’s Johnson sees room for a deal on N.Ireland post-Brexit trade

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted to resolve a standoff with the European Union over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trade rules, but he kept open the option of unilateral action that the EU says could start a trade war. Johnson was due to travel to Belfast on Monday to urge local...

Ex-Somali leader Mohamud wins presidency to face war and drought

MOGADISHU (Reuters) -Former Somali leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud won the presidency again in voting by parliamentarians on Sunday in an airport hangar protected by blast walls from Islamist insurgents whom he must now fight for a second time. The 66-year-old, who ruled from 2012 to 2017, reversed the previous election to defeat incumbent President Mohamed...

Opponents of Jerusalem cable car plan lose Supreme Court case

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli and Palestinian opponents of an Israeli plan to run a cable car over Jerusalem to the walls of the Old City lost on Sunday their Supreme Court case against a project they argued would alter its ancient landscape. A unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel disseminated by the Justice Ministry showed...

Large convoy from Mariupol reaches safety, refugees talk of ‘devastating’ escape

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (Reuters) – A large convoy of cars and vans carrying refugees from the ruins of Mariupol arrived in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday after waiting days for Russian troops to allow them to leave. Mariupol, now mostly Russian-controlled, has been flattened during the 80-day-old war. Ukraine has gradually been evacuating civilians...

Australia PM, trailing in election polls, announces housing policy

(Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a housing policy on Sunday aimed at boosting home ownership and curbing high prices, as his government lags the opposition Labor Party days before a general election. Australians will vote for a government on Saturday, with recent polls showing Morrison’s Liberal-National coalition on track to lose to...

Somalia’s new president to be chosen by politicians behind barricades

MOGADISHU (Reuters) -Somali parliamentarians met on Sunday in a heavily-fortified airport hangar to choose a new president in a vote required to keep foreign aid coming to the impoverished nation tortured by three decades of civil war. In a crowded field of 35 aspirants, former presidents Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud were the...

Pope declares 10 new saints, including Dutch priest killed by Nazis

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Sunday declared 10 people saints of the Roman Catholic Church, including an anti-Nazi Dutch priest murdered in the Dachau concentration camp and a French hermit monk assassinated in Algeria. The 85-year-old pope, who has been using a wheel chair due to knee and leg pain, was driven to...

Lebanon holds first parliament election since financial collapse, blast

BEIRUT (Reuters) -Lebanese voted on Sunday in the first parliamentary election since the country’s economic collapse, with many saying they hoped to deal a blow to ruling politicians they blame for the crisis even if the odds of major change appear slim. The election, the first since 2018, is seen as a test of whether...

Thousands in Tunisia protest against president, demand democratic return

TUNIS (Reuters) -Thousands of Tunisians protested on Sunday against President Kais Saied, demanding a return to the normal democratic order and rejecting his replacement of the independent electoral commission with one he named himself. “The people want democracy” and “Saied has led the country to starvation” were two slogans chanted by the protesters at the...

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Ethiopia, World Bank agree $300 million grant for reconstruction