The Fiji TimesWorld Archives

France strains to avert power cuts as cold snap tests Europe’s energy resolve

PARIS (Reuters) -France expects to avoid electricity cuts on Monday but faces a difficult week as the first cold snap of the winter tests Europe’s resolve to save energy and mitigate the economic impact of the Ukraine war. Leaders across the region have said eveyone needs to get serious about using less fuel after unusually...

EU parliament member, Gulf state probed over suspected graft

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Belgium launched an investigation on Friday into possible corruption involving an unidentified Gulf state and at least one member of the European Parliament, the federal prosecutor said. The prosecutor said 16 houses were searched in Brussels on Friday as part of a major investigation into alleged offences of criminal organisation, corruption and money...

Peru’s new president says she is open to early election talks

LIMA (Reuters) -Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Friday said she was willing to discuss early elections with the country’s political and civil organizations, but ruled out kick-starting constitutional changes for the time being. Boluarte, who took office on Wednesday hours after her predecessor Pedro Castillo was ousted, said she was calling for calm as protests...

Canada adds sanctions on Russia, Iran, Myanmar over human rights

(Reuters) – Canada on Friday imposed fresh sanctions on Russia, Iran and Myanmar, citing alleged human rights violations by their governments. The measures included sanctions against 33 current or former senior Russian officials and six entities involved in alleged “systematic human rights violations” against Russian citizens who protested against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Canadian...

Australian court dismisses suit against Google over personal data use

(Reuters) -Australia’s competition regulator said on Friday its lawsuit against Alphabet Inc’s Google that alleged consumers were misled about expanded use of personal data for targeted advertising had been dismissed by a court. The proceedings, initiated by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission in July 2020, alleged Google did not explicitly take consent from users...

Griner seems in good health and spirits, White House says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Basketball star Brittney Griner appeared in good health and in good spirits after landing at a Texas airport on Friday, White House spokesman John Kirby told MSNBC in an interview. Griner, who was released on Thursday after 10 months in Russian detention as part of a prisoner swap with Moscow, is headed...

UN human rights chief vows to follow up with China on abuse concerns

GENEVA (Reuters) – U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said on Friday he wanted to engage with Beijing over the findings of a report issued by his predecessor that said China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslims in its Xinjiang region may constitute crimes against humanity. Grappling with the human rights record of China, a...

Climate activists from France and Italy block Mount Blanc tunnel

PARIS (Reuters) – French and Italian climate activists on Friday were blocking entrances to the Mont Blanc tunnel in Chamonix on the French side and in Courmayeur on the Italian side to raise awareness about climate change. The action that started at 1130 GMT was carried out by some 20 activists from Derniere Renovation (France)...

Nearly 10% of marine life threatened with extinction -Red List

GENEVA (Reuters) – The effects of human activity from climate change to pollution are “devastating” marine life, with nearly a tenth of underwater plants and animals assessed so far threatened with extinction, the latest Red List of Threatened Species showed on Friday. The report’s release coincides with a U.N. summit on nature in Montreal where...

UN Secretary-General calls on Nigeria to investigate report of forced abortions

(Reuters) -United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Nigerian authorities to investigate allegations of systemic and coerced abortions reportedly perpetrated by the Nigerian army, U.N spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Friday. Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast since at least 2013....

Iran holds first execution over anti-government protests

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran hanged a man on Thursday convicted of injuring a security guard with a knife and blocking a street in Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said, the first such execution over recent anti-government unrest. Nationwide protests that erupted after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16 represent...

Nigerian military rejects Reuters report of secret mass abortion programme

ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria’s Defence Chief, General Lucky Irabor, said on Thursday that the military will not investigate a Reuters report that it ran a secret mass abortion programme because the report was not true. Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country’s northeast...

India rates Mumbai’s ‘very poor’ air quality as worse than smog-filled Delhi

MUMBAI (Reuters) – Air quality in India’s financial hub of Mumbai on Thursday was worse than smog-filled national capital New Delhi, raising concerns of long-term health risks to people living in the country’s two highly populated cities. Mumbai’s air quality was “very poor” and is expected to remain the same for the next two or...

Migrants flee plane after forcing emergency landing in Barcelona

BARCELONA (Reuters) -A commercial airplane flying from Morocco to Turkey made an emergency landing at Barcelona’s El Prat airport early on Wednesday after a reported medical event and 28 of the passengers fled across the tarmac, the Spanish government said. Police initially detained 14 people, including a pregnant woman who officials claim pretended that her...

Uganda receives 1,200 doses of Ebola vaccine candidates for trials

KAMPALA (Reuters) – A shipment of Ebola vaccine candidates set to be used in a clinical trial have arrived in Uganda, where an outbreak has infected 142 people and killed at least 56, health authorities said on Thursday. Last week Uganda said it had discharged its last Ebola patient from hospital, raising hopes for the...

Disappearing plants jeopardize a green future

(Reuters) – Nearly 800 plant species have disappeared since the 18th century, while thousands more are considered functionally extinct – no longer playing a role in their environment, or are so rare they are no longer able to reproduce. Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the United Kingdom estimate undocumented extinctions could put...

Biden admin tells Supreme Court law protecting social media companies has limits

(Reuters) – The Biden administration argued to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday that social media giants like Google could in some instances have responsibility for user content, adopting a stance that could potentially undermine a federal law shielding companies from liability. Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice made their argument in the high...

Malaria deaths dip in 2021 after rising in first year of COVID, says WHO

(Reuters) – Malaria-related deaths fell slightly in 2021 after a significant increase in the first year of COVID-19, but remained higher than the pre-pandemic estimated toll, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report on Thursday. Estimated deaths from malaria globally declined to 619,000 last year from 625,000 in 2020 as healthcare services stabilized after...

FDA approves first oral treatment for cats with a type of diabetes

(Reuters) -The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday approved Elanco Animal Health Inc’s drug for cats with a type of diabetes, making it the first oral drug to be approved for the disease in animals. Bexacat helps improve glycemic control in otherwise healthy cats with diabetes mellitus not previously treated with insulin. The...

IMF says poor countries need nearly $500 billion in external financing through 2026

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Low-income countries will need nearly $500 billion in external financing during the 2022-2026 period, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday, an increase of about $57 billion from a year-ago estimate due largely to spillovers from Russia’s war in Ukraine. The IMF said in a new policy paper that the Ukraine war,...

Harry and Meghan decry “pain and suffering” of women brought into UK royal family

LONDON (Reuters) -Prince Harry said the British royal family had dismissed race-related hounding of his wife Meghan by the press as a rite of passage as the couple delivered a fierce attack on the media in their Netflix documentary series released on Thursday. Harry also drew comparisons between how papers had treated Meghan and the...

‘She is coming home!’: Sports world cheers Griner’s release

(Reuters) -Brittney Griner’s Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team mates, fellow athletes and sport luminaries cheered her release from Russian custody on Thursday, months after she was first detained in a Moscow airport. The twice Olympic champion pleaded guilty to charges of possessing and smuggling illegal drugs but insisted she had made an “honest mistake”....

Celine Dion reveals she has rare neurological disorder, postpones shows

(Reuters) – Canadian singer Celine Dion said she has been diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called Stiff-Person Syndrome that causes muscle spasms and has led her to postpone some European shows. The 54-year-old posted a video to Instagram on Thursday revealing the diagnosis and explaining that her “Courage World Tour” has been rescheduled from...

Stolen data of 600,000 Indians sold on bot markets so far – study

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Around five million people globally have had their data stolen and sold on the bot market till date, of which 600,000 are from India, making it the worst affected country, according to one of the world’s largest VPN serice providers NordVPN. Bot markets are used by hackers to sell stolen data from...

Indigenous people seek stronger land rights at COP15 nature talks

MONTREAL (Reuters) -Negotiations on a deal to protect 30% of the Earth by 2030 are woefully behind in addressing the concerns of native people, whose land holds the majority of the world’s remaining biodiversity, indigenous advocates told Reuters at the U.N. nature summit in Montreal. Indigenous participation is seen as key to reaching that so-called...

Netanyahu requests extension on forming Israeli government

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu requested a 14-day extension on Thursday to a deadline for forming a government, citing hold-ups in agreeing on roles for coalition partners, his Likud party said. The request was made in a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who gave Netanyahu a 28-day period to form a...

Germany expects more arrests after coup plot swoop

BERLIN/BAD LOBENSTEIN, Germany (Reuters) -German authorities on Thursday ordered 23 people to be held for questioning as they investigate a far-right group that prosecutors say wanted to overthrow the state and install a former member of a German royal family as national leader. Investigators have said the group, many of whom were members of the...

Condoms to be free for young people in France, Macron says

PARIS (Reuters) – Young people in France will be able to get condoms free of charge from next year in an effort to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday. “In pharmacies, condoms will be free for those aged 18 to 25 from January 1,” Macron told reporters...

U.S. FDA authorizes bivalent COVID shots for kids as young as 6 months old

(Reuters) -The U.S. health regulator has authorized COVID-19 shots from Moderna and Pfizer and its partner BioNTech that target both the original coronavirus and Omicron sub-variants for use in children as young as 6 months of age. The amended authorization on Thursday from the Food and Drug Administration allows use of Moderna’s bivalent shot as...

World

Colombia, U.S. to hold conference on migration in 2023