The Fiji Times

British Steel collapses after failing to secure extra funding

LONDON (Reuters) – British Steel, the country’s second largest steel producer, has collapsed and put 25,000 jobs at risk after failing to secure emergency government funding, Britain’s Official Receiver said on Wednesday. The High Court ordered the compulsory liquidation of the company, although staff will remain employed for now as the liquidator oversees the operation...

UK expats say slow mail service prevents them from casting EU-vote

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Numerous British expatriates say they are being prevented from voting in this week’s European election because they didn’t receive their ballot papers in time. Europeans go to the polls on May 23-26 to elect members of the European Parliament. Britain will vote on Thursday, and Britons living abroad who registered in advance...

Indonesia curbs social media, blaming hoaxes for inflaming unrest

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia has introduced curbs on social media in a bid to prevent the spread of hoaxes, some calling for violent post-election attacks, and quell two days of protests in the capital. Fact-checkers say hoaxes and calls for violence on social media networks have spiked since Tuesday when an official election count confirmed...

Divided Britain heads to the polls for EU elections it was not meant to hold

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will hold European Parliament elections on Thursday, a vote which is expected to show growing frustration on both sides of the Brexit divide nearly three years after the country voted to leave the European Union. The election, which Britain did not expect to have to take part in, is a result...

Gabon president fires VP, forests minister over hardwood scandal

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) – Gabon’s President Ali Bongo has fired his vice president and his forests minister, his office said on Wednesday, after hundreds of containers of illegally logged kevazingo wood that had been seized went missing. The statement gave no reason for their removal, but said forests would be managed under the office of the...

U.S. measles outbreak spreads to Maine, 25th state to report case

(Reuters) – Maine became the 25th U.S. state to confirm a case of measles amid the country’s worst outbreak of the disease in a quarter century, as state medical officials on Wednesday reported that a child was infected but is now fully recovered. The afflicted school-aged child from Somerset County, whose measles case was confirmed...

China’s big three airlines seek Boeing compensation over 737 MAX grounding

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s three biggest airlines have asked U.S. planemaker Boeing Co to compensate them for losses caused by the grounding and delayed deliveries of 737 MAX jets, just as regulators gather to discuss design changes for the troubled aircraft. The triple compensation requests come at a sensitive time in Sino-U.S. relations, with a...

New Genoa bridge expected to be completed by April 2020

REGGIO EMILIA, Italy (Reuters) – Rebuilding work on a bridge that collapsed in the Italian city of Genoa last year killing 43 people is expected to be completed by next April despite demolition works running late, the special commissioner for the reconstruction said on Wednesday. The demolition of the Morandi bridge, which gave way last...

Pope denounces ‘hardships and trials’ facing Catholics in China

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis paid tribute on Wednesday to Chinese Catholics for holding on to their faith despite “hardships and trials”, an apparent reference to Beijing’s restrictions on religion. His comments to tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience came as the Vatican and China...

U.S. south ‘still under the gun’ after deadly storms

(Reuters) – A storm system that blasted the U.S. South was weakening on Tuesday but another was on its way after thunderstorms and tornadoes left a swath of destruction, killed at least two people and tore up a NASCAR grandstand. More than 30 tornadoes struck on Monday and Tuesday from Texas, Oklahoma and across the...

Cambodia’s royal oxen predict plentiful rice harvest amid EU tariffs

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Cambodia’s royal oxen predicted a plentiful harvest of rice, the country’s biggest crop, at an ancient plowing ceremony on Wednesday. King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the televised annual ritual in which two oxen are given offerings after plowing a field, marking the start of the rice-growing season in the Southeast Asian...

Thai economy faces heightened political uncertainties – central bank minutes

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Heightened political uncertainties in Thailand after an election meant to herald a return to democracy have clouded the outlook for economic policy, the central bank said in minutes of a meeting earlier this month that left interest rates unchanged. No clear winner emerged from the March 24 election, the first since a...

Jakarta governor says six dead after unrest following Indonesia election result

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Six people have died and 200 injured in civil unrest in the Indonesian capital, its governor, Anies Baswedan, said on Wednesday after the election commission confirmed President Joko Widodo had won last month’s election. “As per 9 o’clock this morning, there were 200 people hurt being brought to five hospitals,” the governor...

McDonald’s faces 25 new sexual harassment complaints from workers

(Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp was accused on Tuesday in 25 new lawsuits and regulatory charges of condoning sexual harassment in the workplace and retaliating against employees who speak up. The cases announced by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the labor group Fight for $15, and the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund cover alleged misconduct...

Will Smith goes from fear to joy as Aladdin’s new genie

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Will Smith was initially worried about playing the genie in Disney’s live action version of “Aladdin” after the celebrated performance by the late Robin Williams more than 25 years ago, but says it eventually became a joy. “What Robin Williams did with this character – he just didn’t leave a lot...

Debut Dutch green bond lures more than 20 billion euros of orders

LONDON (Reuters) – Investors piled into the Netherlands’ inaugural, triple-A rated sovereign green bond on Tuesday, placing 21.2 billion euros ($23.7 billion) of orders for the environmentally friendly paper. The Dutch debt agency said it had given preference to investors that could prove their ecological credentials. Thirty-two investors had registered as green before the 20-year...

French widow sues Boeing for at least $276 million over Ethiopian crash

PARIS (Reuters) – A French woman whose husband died in the crash of a Boeing 737 MAX airliner in Ethiopia has filed a U.S. lawsuit against the planemaker, seeking at least $276 million (217 million pounds) in damages. The crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in March killed all 157 passengers and crew aboard and...

Risk of nuclear war now highest since WW2, U.N. arms research chief says

GENEVA (Reuters) – The risk of nuclear weapons being used is at its highest since World War Two, a senior U.N. security expert said on Tuesday, calling it an “urgent” issue that the world should take more seriously. Renata Dwan, director of the U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), said all states with nuclear weapons...

Mexico to auction Lamborghini, other seized assets to help poor

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s government will auction a Lamborghini, homes and other assets seized from gangsters and at least one former politician, officials said on Tuesday, part of a “Robin Hood” programme to use millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains to aid the poor. The first auction, set for Sunday, will seek bids for...

Syrians detained, killed in southern cradle of revolt – U.N.

GENEVA (Reuters) – At least 380 civilians have been arrested in Syria’s south and 11 civilians serving on local councils and former fighters have been killed or attacked there since the government retook the area, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The U.N. human rights office said the incidents took place in the province of...

Jamie Oliver shutters most UK restaurants, 1,000 jobs go

LONDON (Reuters) – British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chain went into administration on Tuesday, leaving 1,000 people without jobs as the majority of branches ceased trading immediately in the latest blow for Britain’s high street. Oliver, 43, a well-known figure in Britain and beyond for his popular TV shows and top-selling cookery books, founded...

Belgian monks resurrect brewery after two century break

GRIMBERGEN, Belgium (Reuters) – Belgian monks at the Grimbergen abbey are on the verge of brewing beer again after a break of more than 200 years. The abbey, whose emblem is a phoenix with the Latin motto “Ardet nec consumitur”, meaning “Burned but not destroyed”, was ransacked and had its brewery smashed in 1795 by...

Vaccine doubts spread like disease, must be taken offline: vaccine chief

GENEVA (Reuters) – Doubts about vaccines have spread across social media like a disease and false information that “kills people” should be taken down by the companies running digital platforms, the head of global vaccine alliance Gavi said on Tuesday. Speaking at a U.S.-sponsored event on the sidelines of the World Health Organization’s annual assembly...

Turkish Airlines chairman expects Boeing 737 compensation, to meet Friday

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Airlines expects compensation from Boeing Co for losses over the grounding of 12 737 Max aircraft, the chairman of Turkey’s flagship carrier was quoted as saying, adding that he would meet Boeing’s chief executive on Friday. Turkish Airlines grounded all commercial flights by Boeing 737 Max models on March 13 until...

U.S. must ensure access to safe abortions: U.N. rights office

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations human rights office called on U.S. authorities on Tuesday to ensure that women have access to safe abortions, saying bans lead to risky underground abortions that can endanger a woman’s life. Missouri’s Republican governor, Mike Parson, could sign a bill into law as early as this week that prohibits...

Polish sextuplets surprise parents and doctors expecting five

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s first sextuplets on record, two boys and four girls, were born in the southern city of Krakow on Monday to the surprise of parents and doctors who had expected five babies. “Imagine this: we were prepared from early in the morning to help deliver five tiny citizens. So we are in...

Canada sends delegation to China to press for release of citizens

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada has sent a parliamentary delegation to China to press for the release of two Canadian citizens formally arrested for espionage last week, Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday. Businessman Michael Spavor, who worked with North Korea, and former diplomat Michael Kovrig were picked up separately in December, shortly after Canada...

EU border guards start Albania migration watch

TIRANA (Reuters) – The European Union’s Frontex border agency deployed on Tuesday for the first time outside the EU, setting up on Albania’s border with Greece to help fight illegal migration and crime. Supervised by an Albanian team leader, the Frontex officers are empowered to act as Albanian officers to spot illegal crossings, check them...

Soldiers held hostage, villagers killed: the untold story of Venezuelan aid violence

KUMARAKAPAY, Venezuela (Reuters) – At dawn on February 22, as Venezuela’s opposition was preparing to bring humanitarian aid into the country, a convoy of military vehicles drove into the indigenous village of Kumarakapay on its way to the Brazilian border. Members of the Pemon community, a tribe whose territory includes the road to Brazil, wanted...

World

Unexpected monarch in bagging area? Queen Elizabeth pops down to Sainsbury’s