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  • Centrist Republicans Warn Against Trump’s Partisan Shutdown Strategy

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s freezing of funds for Democratic-led states has raised concerns among some centrist Republicans in the U.S. Congress, who worry that leaning into these divisions could make it harder to end an ongoing government shutdown.

    “You’re going to create a bad faith environment here that could put us further out. They need to be very judicious,” Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who is involved in informal bipartisan talks to end the shutdown, told reporters in the U.S. Capitol this week.

    The government shutdown entered its fourth day on Saturday, making it the fifth longest in U.S. history.

    Trump warned Democrats earlier in the week that he could make “irreversible” cuts to the federal government during a shutdown and the White House has so far frozen $28 billion in infrastructure funds that had been headed to New York, California and Illinois – all home to sizable Democratic populations and critics of the president.

    Trump and his Republican allies have also taunted Democrats on social media with manipulated images of prominent lawmakers including House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries that drew on stereotyped images of Mexicans, despite the reality that Republicans will need the votes of at least seven Senate Democrats to pass a funding bill to reopen the government. Vice President JD Vance this week dismissed concerns about the images, calling them a joke.

    A small band of Republicans warned that the Trump administration could end up bearing the brunt of the blame for the shutdown, heading into next year’s midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

    Tillis, a North Carolina lawmaker who announced his retirement after clashing with Trump earlier this year, said he hoped the White House was coordinating its actions with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, who are trying to persuade their Democratic counterparts to support a short-term funding bill that would reopen federal agencies and fund government operations through November 21.

    Others disagree with Tillis’ concerns, including Johnson, who endorsed the president’s approach.

    “President Trump is just as anxious as we are to get the government back open, because real Americans are being harmed by the Democrat shenanigans. And is he trying to apply pressure to make that happen? He probably is, yeah. And I applaud that,” Johnson told reporters. 

    CONCERNS ABOUT CREDIBILITY OF COMPROMISES

    Senate Democrats, who are demanding a permanent extension of federal subsidies to help people afford healthcare insurance under the Affordable Care Act, have voted down the funding bill four times. Democrats also want protection against White House actions to withhold or cancel funding allocated by Congress.

    “If OMB goes about canceling things, just like the rescissions that were foundational to past compromises, you destroy the credibility of future compromises,” Tillis said, using the acronym for Vought’s Office of Management and Budget. “Trust, that’s how this place runs well, when it runs well.”

    The Senate left town after failing to pass a funding measure on Friday, setting the stage for the shutdown to last until at least Monday. There were no signs that Republicans and Democrats could reach a deal to reopen agencies anytime soon, raising the specter of a prolonged closure that could lead to an erosion of key government services including air traffic control.

    “We’re all Americans. We shouldn’t be targeting different areas in ways that would be viewed as punitive. That’s just not what we do,” said Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Trump critic who the president tried to oust from office in the 2022 election.

    “Let’s not further divide people, politically. This is already stressful enough, and we just don’t need to do that,” Murkowski added. 

    Democrats have been riled by Trump’s use of the shutdown to single out his opponents for mockery and insults.

    “Obviously I don’t agree with the insults. But there have been plenty of insults in both directions. Let’s be fair,” said Republican Senator Susan Collins, who said both sides need to stick with the facts and work to end the shutdown that becomes more harmful with each passing day.

    “Does it help when the Democrats are ridiculing and insulting the president?” she asked.

    (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Diane Craft)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Analysis-Did Trump’s Crime Crackdown in Washington Work? It’s Complicated

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    By Jack Queen, Brad Heath and Kripa Jayaram

    WASHINGTON, October 4 (Reuters) -After mobilizing hundreds of federal agents and thousands of soldiers to the nation’s capital, President Donald Trump has declared victory over what he called a “crisis” of crime in Washington, and floated the idea of using such deployments to U.S. cities as training grounds for the military. 

    “We have a very safe city now,” Trump said this week. “The country is going to be safe. We do it one at a time.” 

    Trump has ordered forces to Memphis, Tennessee and told a gathering of military officers that he plans to send troops to Chicago and other Democratic-controlled cities.

    What’s not clear is whether Trump’s show of force in Washington has had a significant, or lasting, effect on curbing crime.

    A Reuters review of public safety records and interviews with four experts on crime suggest that it is premature to draw sweeping conclusions about the impact of Trump’s deployments.  While some types of crime – especially gun offenses – have become less frequent since Trump ordered troops into the city, overall violent crime hasn’t changed that much.

    “To make a claim based on a very short-term intervention under highly unusual circumstances doesn’t make any sense,” Columbia Law School professor Jeffrey Fagan said. 

    A spokesman for Washington’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to comment. Bowser has credited the extra federal agents with helping to reduce crime but has said immigration raids and troop deployments did not. 

    White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in an email “it is an objective fact that crime in DC dropped dramatically during the President’s 30-day emergency.” 

    Here is what the data shows, and why it’s tricky to measure the impact of the crackdown.

    As in most cities, Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department measures crime by looking at the number of offenses reported to or observed by police. To measure violent crime, the department counts the number of homicides, assaults, robberies and sex offenses. City officials and the White House both rely on those reports to discuss the crime rate.

    The data are not perfect. Some offenses are reported days or weeks after they occur, or not at all. And reports can rise and fall based on people’s trust in police.

    Immigrants make up about one in seven Washington residents, according to census data, and Fagan said some could be wary of coming forward to report crimes while police were working with immigration enforcement agents brought in for the surge. 

    In the month before Trump’s surge, people in Washington reported an average of about seven violent crimes each day, according to police department records.

    That average dropped in mid-August after Trump’s show of force began, to between five and six such incidents a day. But the number of violent offenses went back up to an average of about seven each day over the two weeks that ended September 28.

    The number of violent crimes that involve firearms, however, has dropped more noticeably to 65 reports a day, from 97 in the four weeks before Trump’s surge.

    That’s too sudden of a change to be passed off as a coincidence, said Peter Moskos, a criminologist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York.

    CRIME WAS ALREADY DECLINING

    The Trump administration claims the crackdown worked because people reported fewer crimes during the surge than during the same period in 2024. Jackson, the White House spokeswoman, said that over 30 days, total crime dropped 17 percent, homicide dropped 50 percent, assaults with dangerous weapons dropped 16 percent and robberies dropped 22 percent from the same period last year.

    But crime levels in Washington – and many other cities – were falling before Trump ordered troops to D.C., according to reports from the city’s police force and the FBI. 

    “You really need months and months of this data to be able to draw a conclusion,” said crime analyst Jeff Asher of AH Datalytics. “If crime was already falling, you did the intervention and it kept falling, what does that show?” 

    Violent crime in Washington peaked in 2023, when the number of murders reached its highest point in more than two decades. Bowser responded with a new policing strategy which used data to target high-crime areas with extra patrols. The number of reported incidents has been dropping since then, according to police records. 

    The number of murders has also fallen in other cities.  Asher said reports from more than 500 police departments show homicides down about 20 percent through July compared to the first seven months of 2024. 

    Washington already has the nation’s highest ratio of officers to people,  according to an FBI report this year. 

    About 500 federal agents were sent to work with the city’s roughly 3,200 police officers, an increase of about 15%. More than 2,000 National Guard troops were stationed around the city, but they are generally prohibited by law from doing police work. 

    The total number of arrests rose by less than 2% between July and August, reaching 2,641 from 2,593, according to Washington police bulletins. Those bulletins are the most complete accounting available of arrests by the city’s police force and the vast array of other police agencies that work in the capital. They do not include arrests by immigration authorities.

    Similarly, the number of people held in the city’s jails increased by about 7% after the surge to an average of 2,150 people, according to daily counts published by the city’s corrections department. About 2,000 people were in jail each day before Trump’s crackdown began, a mix of those being held until their cases were heard and others serving misdemeanor sentences. 

    (Reporting by Jack Queen, Brad Heath and Kripa Jayaram, editing by Ross Colvin and Suzanne Goldenberg)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • US Border Patrol Raid Sweeps in Citizens, Families as Chicago Crackdown Intensifies

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    By Renee Hickman, Kristina Cooke and Ted Hesson

    CHICAGO (Reuters) -U.S. Border Patrol agents deployed to Chicago led a late-night raid on an apartment building this week, rappelling from helicopters onto rooftops and breaking down doors in an operation authorities said targeted gang members but which swept up U.S. citizens and families. 

    The show of force highlighted President Donald Trump’s unprecedented use of Border Patrol agents as a surge force in major cities, rerouting personnel who would normally be tasked with guarding America’s borders with Mexico and Canada.

    Naudelys, a 19-year-old Venezuelan woman, says she was in her apartment with her 4-year-old son and another couple with a baby when agents knocked down their door during the raid early Tuesday. Agents told them to put up their hands and pointed guns at them, she said. 

    Naudelys, whose husband was arrested and detained by immigration authorities three months ago, said she tried to record the scene but an agent knocked away her phone. 

    The Spanish-speaking agents told them to go back to their country and made a sexualized remark about Venezuelan women, she said. One of the agents hit a man in front of her son, and she begged him to stop, she said.

    “My son was traumatized,” said Naudelys, who requested her last name be withheld. 

    She said authorities alleged her friend’s partner is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, something she disputes.

    The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Naudelys’ account of the raid.

    As part of the raid, some U.S. citizens were temporarily detained and children pulled from their beds, according to interviews with residents and news reports. Building hallways were still littered with debris two days later.

    Trump, a Republican, has vowed to escalate immigration enforcement in Chicago and other Democratic strongholds that limit cooperation with federal operations. Border Patrol – staffed with some 19,000 agents and under less pressure with border apprehensions at historic lows – has increasingly taken on a new role in major cities, led by Gregory Bovino, the agency’s commander-at-large.

    The incident in the city’s South Side neighborhood, which authorities said resulted in dozens of arrests, was one of the highest-profile immigration actions in Chicago since the Trump administration launched “Operation Midway Blitz” in the city last month. Hundreds of agents swarmed the apartment building during the raid on Tuesday, including some rappelling down to the roof from Black Hawk helicopters, according to NewsNation.

    AGENTS TOOK CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS 

    A DHS spokesperson confirmed the operation, saying it focused on alleged members of Tren de Aragua and that border agents partnered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

    Authorities arrested at least 37 people on immigration violations, most of whom were Venezuelan, the spokesperson said.

    The spokesperson said two people arrested were alleged members of Tren de Aragua. The department identified six people with criminal histories, ranging from battery to marijuana possession and said two people were suspected of being involved in a shooting.

    The spokesperson declined to say whether agents had warrants to forcibly enter homes, saying that because Tren de Aragua has been labeled a terrorist organization “there are sensitivities on what we can provide without putting people at risk.”

    “This operation was performed in full compliance of the law,” the spokesperson said.

    Four U.S. citizen children were taken from their parents during the raid because the parents lacked legal status, DHS said, alleging that one of the parents was a Tren de Aragua member.

    “These children were taken into custody until they could be put in the care of a safe guardian or the state,” the spokesperson said.

    Naudelys said authorities released her and her son later that day because she has a pending asylum case. Her apartment was boarded up when she returned, she said. Workers opened it for her, but her possessions were gone, she said.

    Cassandra Murray, 55, a resident, said she heard loud blasts as the raids occurred. 

    She said her Venezuelan neighbors arrived about two years ago. At the time, thousands of Venezuelans who had recently crossed the U.S.-Mexico border were being bused to Chicago and other cities by the state of Texas.

    “They never made us feel unsafe,” said Murray. “They needed somewhere to live, too.”

    One resident, who asked not to be named, reported being made to lie down on the ground by agents during the raid and having his hands zip-tied.

    Gil Kerlikowske, who was commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 2014-2017 and a former Seattle police chief, said border agents have different training and protocols than local police and worries more aggressive tactics could erode trust.

    “Policing an urban environment is totally, completely different,” he said. 

    U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have also come under scrutiny over the use of tear gas against protesters at one of its Chicago facilities and the fatal shooting of a Mexican man.

    ‘WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE’

    In Los Angeles over the summer, Border Patrol agents conducted immigration sweeps in Home Depot parking lots and other public areas that contributed to a federal judge’s decision to block overt racial profiling in the area. The Supreme Court in September sided with the Trump administration, allowing it to resume the tactics.

    Bovino, who oversaw the L.A. operation, arrived in Chicago several weeks ago. He frequently posts to social media about his agency’s work, often in brash terms. 

    “We are here, Chicago, and we are not going anywhere,” Bovino said on X last month alongside a video of the arrest of a man he said was a Venezuelan gang member in a Home Depot parking lot, edited to a song by rapper Travis Scott. 

    A viral video this week showed masked and armed Border Patrol agents chasing a man on an e-bike in downtown Chicago after he taunted them and said he was not a U.S. citizen. 

    Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, criticized the deployment of armed Border Patrol agents and other personnel to the city, calling it “authoritarianism” at a press conference on Monday.

    “Gregory Bovino has been leading the disruption and causing mayhem while he gleefully poses for photo ops and TikTok videos,” he said.

    (Reporting by Renee Hickman in Chicago, Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken and Deepa Babington)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Japan’s Takaichi Vows Nordic Levels of Women in Cabinet. Can She Deliver?

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    TOKYO (Reuters) -In her campaign to become Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi made a bold promise to narrow the country’s wide gender gap in politics and lift the number of women in cabinet to a par with socially progressive Nordic countries.

    Now that she has shattered the glass ceiling to be chosen leader of the ruling party on Saturday – setting her on course to emulate her hero Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first female premier – Takaichi must try to deliver on promises her party has struggled to keep.

    “The emergence of a single female leader alone may not drastically improve women’s standing in politics,” said Tohko Tanaka, a gender studies professor at the University of Tokyo, noting it was 26 years after Thatcher’s premiership before Britain had its second female leader, Theresa May.

    FEW WOMEN LAWMAKERS FOR TAKAICHI CABINET

    Japan’s next prime minister “must tackle gender issues with a long-term perspective, amid severe labour shortages and the alarmingly inadequate inclusion of women,” Tanaka said.

    Japan ranked 118 out of 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap Report, the lowest among the Group of Seven industrial powers.

    While gender equality was not a top issue in the Liberal Democratic Party’s election campaign that focused on tackling inflation and rule-breaking foreigners, Takaichi’s promises to form a cabinet with women’s representation “not particularly lower than Nordic countries” stood out.

    “I wouldn’t appoint women just because they’re women,” she told a party rally last week. “But the plan is to pick far more women who are capable and willing to serve the nation.”

    Just 10% of outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s 20 cabinet members are women, while its highest female representation was just above a quarter. Nordic governments range from Denmark’s 36% to Finland’s 61% female ministers.

    To fill her cabinet, Takaichi has a relatively small pool of female lawmakers to draw from, although non-politicians are allowed to head government ministries. Only 13% of the LDP’s lawmakers across both houses are women, well short of the party’s target of 30% by 2033 – a goal already trailing a government target.

    Past initiatives to close Japan’s gender gap have delivered mixed results.

    Former premier Shinzo Abe, Takaichi’s mentor, pulled more women into the workforce through his “womenomics” initiatives, but critics say progress has been too slow, especially for executive roles.

    In 2020, the government pushed back its deadline of having women in at least 30% of leadership posts across society by a decade to 2030.

    Takaichi also proposes measures such as establishing women’s health centres nationwide, but her broader conservative policies have damaged her support among some women, polls show.

    For example, she has defended legal restrictions that married couples must use a single surname, which in practice means wives overwhelmingly take their husbands’ names and which critics say disproportionately affects women’s careers. Conservatives regard the current law as indispensable to family unity.

    The centre-right LDP faces a challenge from Sanseito, an upstart far-right party whose leader has criticised gender equality policies for contributing to Japan’s record-low birthrate, a claim resonating in some anti-establishment movements globally.

    (Reporting by Kantaro Komiya in Tokyo; Additional reporting by Louise Rasmussen in Copenhagen; Editing by John Geddie and William Mallard)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Israel’s Army Says It Will Advance Preparations for the First Phase of Trump’s Plan

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    TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s army said Saturday that it would advance preparations for the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza and return all the remaining hostages, after Hamas said it accepted parts of the deal while others still needed to be negotiated.

    The army said it was instructed by Israel’s leaders to “advance readiness” for the implementation of the plan. An official who was not authorized to speak to the media on the record said that Israel has moved to a defensive-only position in Gaza and will not actively strike. The official said no forces have been removed from the strip.

    This announcement came hours after Trump ordered Israel to stop bombing Gaza once Hamas said it had accepted some elements of his plan. Trump welcomed the Hamas statement, saying: “I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE.”

    Trump appears keen to deliver on pledges to end the war and return dozens of hostages ahead of the second anniversary of the attack on Tuesday. His proposal unveiled earlier this week has widespread international support and was also endorsed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    On Friday, Netanyahu’s office said Israel was committed to ending the war that began when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, without addressing potential gaps with the militant group. Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure from the international community and Trump to end the conflict. The official told the AP that Netanyahu put out the rare late-night statement on the sabbath saying that Israel has started to prepare for Trump’s plan due to pressure from the U.S. administration.

    The official also said that a negotiating team was getting ready to travel, but there was no date specified.

    A senior Egyptian official says talks are underway for the release of hostages, as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention. The official, who is involved in the ceasefire negotiations, also said Arab mediators are preparing for a comprehensive dialogue among Palestinians. The talks are aimed at unifying the Palestinian position towards Gaza’s future.

    On Saturday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful militant group in Gaza, said it accepted Hamas’ response to the Trump plan. The group had previously rejected the proposal days earlier.


    Progress, but uncertainty ahead

    Yet, despite the momentum, a lot of questions remain.

    Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — around 20 of them believed to be alive — within three days. It would also give up power and disarm.

    In return, Israel would halt its offensive and withdraw from much of the territory, release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and allow an influx of humanitarian aid and eventual reconstruction.

    Hamas said it was willing to release the hostages and hand over power to other Palestinians, but that other aspects of the plan require further consultations among Palestinians. Its official statement also didn’t address the issue of Hamas demilitarizing, a key part of the deal.

    Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general and chairman of Israel’s Defense and Security Forum, said while Israel can afford to stop firing for a few days in Gaza so the hostages can be released, it will resume its offensive if Hamas doesn’t lay down its arms.

    Others say that while Hamas suggests a willingness to negotiate, its position fundamentally remains unchanged.

    This “yes, but” rhetoric “simply repackages old demands in softer language,” said Oded Ailam, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs. The gap between appearance and action is as wide as ever and the rhetorical shift serves more as a smokescreen than a signal of true movement toward resolution, he said.


    Unclear what it means for Palestinians suffering in Gaza

    The next steps are also unclear for Palestinians in Gaza who are trying to piece together what it means in practical terms.

    Israeli troops are still laying siege to Gaza City, which is the focus of its latest offensive. On Saturday Israel’s army warned Palestinians against trying to return to the city calling it a “dangerous combat zone”.

    Experts determined that Gaza City had slid into famine shortly before Israel launched its major offensive there aimed at occupying it. An estimated 400,000 people have fled the city in recent weeks, but hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind.

    Families of the hostages are also cautious about being hopeful.

    There are concerns from all sides, said Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held in Gaza. Hamas and Netanyahu could sabotage the deal or Trump could lose interest, he said. Still, he says, if it’s going to happen it will be because of Trump.

    “We’re putting our trust in Trump, because he’s the only one who’s doing it. … And we want to see him with us until the last step,” he said.

    Magdy reported from Cairo

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Populist Billionaire Babis Seeks Comeback in Czech Election

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    PRAGUE (Reuters) -Czechs vote on Saturday in the final day of an election likely to return populist billionaire Andrej Babis to power on pledges to raise wages and lift growth, while reducing aid for Ukraine.

    The change from the current centre-right cabinet would boost Europe’s populist, anti-immigration camp and could harden opposition to the European Union’s climate goals.

    Czechs endured surges in inflation after the global pandemic and Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and have only slowly recovered from one of Europe’s worst drops in real incomes.

    That, as well as several corruption scandals, damaged Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s Spolu coalition and its liberal government allies, who focused during its term on a gradual reduction of the budget deficit.

    Babis, whose ANO party held double-digit leads in most opinion polls, is an ally of Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament.

    Babis, who was previously prime minister from 2017-21, has taken an ambivalent line on aid to Ukraine – a departure from Fiala’s government which has supported Kyiv throughout the war with Russia.

    Under Fiala, Prague set up the “Czech initiative” pulling together traders and defence officials to find millions of artillery rounds around the world for Ukraine with financing from Western countries.

    Babis has pledged to end the ammunition project, saying it is overpriced.

    ANO wants NATO and the EU to handle aid for Ukraine, and has abstained in some European Parliament votes supporting Kyiv and its bid for EU membership, which Babis publicly opposed in the past.

    Voting in the election started on Friday and was to resume from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. (0600 until 1200 GMT) on Saturday. Results are expected on Saturday afternoon.

    Opinion polls pointed to Babis’s ANO party winning more than 30% of the vote, about 10 points more than Fiala’s coalition but still well short of a majority.

    Given its poor relations with Spolu and its allies, ANO may need support from anti-EU and anti-NATO fringe parties – the far-right SPD and the far-left Stacilo! – for its preferred one-party cabinet.

    If some smaller parties fall below the 5% threshold to get into parliament, that could favour the government parties.

    Babis has rejected steps towards an exit from the EU or NATO, including calls for referendums, countering accusations by the current government that he would drag the country off its democratic pro-Western course.

    His ANO has promised faster growth, offering higher wages and pensions, and lower taxes and tax discounts for students and young families to draw supporters.

    Babis must overcome other hurdles to become prime minister, including conflict-of-interest laws as owner of a chemicals and food empire as well as long-running fraud charges related to drawing an EU subsidy over 15 years ago. He denies wrongdoing.

    (Reporting by Jan Lopatka; editing by Mark Heinrich)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Pope Leo to Release First Document, on World’s Poor, on Oct 9

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    VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Leo will publish the first document of his tenure on October 9, the Vatican said on Saturday, with a text that is likely to offer hints about the new pontiff’s priorities for the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church.

    The document, known as an apostolic exhortation, will take the name “Dilexi te” (He loved you), and was formally signed by the pope on Saturday ahead of its publication, the Vatican said.

    Several Vatican officials told Reuters in recent weeks that Leo’s text will focus primarily on the needs of the world’s poor.

    The Vatican did not give details about the document on Saturday but the title suggests Leo wants to signal continuity with the late Pope Francis, whose last major document, an encyclical, was issued in October 2024 with the name “Dilexit nos” (He loved us).

    Leo’s document completes a writing project first started by Francis but left uncompleted before the pontiff’s death in April, after 12 years leading the global Church, said the officials.

    Leo, the first U.S. pope, was elected to replace Francis by the world’s cardinals on May 8.

    Leo formally signed the text on Saturday, the Catholic feast day celebrating St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century Italian saint renowned for his vow of poverty and closeness to nature.

    Pope Francis, the first pontiff to take the saint’s name, shunned many of the trappings of the papacy. He often hosted meals with Rome’s homeless population and frequently criticised the global market system as not caring for society’s most vulnerable people.

    Francis’ last encyclical, “Dilexit nos,” took a different approach from many of his other writings, largely abstaining from talking about political issues and focusing on spiritual themes.

    In that text, Francis urged the world’s Catholics to abandon the “mad pursuit” of money and instead devote themselves to their faith.

    (Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Alvise Armellini and Susan Fenton)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Japan’s First Female Governing-Party Leader Is an Ultra-Conservative Star in a Male-Dominated Group

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    TOKYO (AP) — In a country that ranks poorly internationally for gender equality, the new president of Japan’s long-governing Liberal Democrats, and likely next prime minister, is an ultra-conservative star of a male-dominated party that critics call an obstacle to women’s advancement.

    Takaichi is the first female president of Japan’s predominantly male ruling party that has dominated Japan’s postwar politics almost without interruption.

    First elected to parliament from her hometown of Nara in 1993, she has served in key party and government posts, including minister of economic security, internal affairs and gender equality.

    Female lawmakers in the conservative Liberal Democratic Party who were given limited ministerial posts have often been shunned as soon as they spoke up about diversity and gender equality. Takaichi has stuck with old-fashioned views favored by male party heavyweights.

    Women comprise only about 15% of Japan’s lower house, the more powerful of the two parliamentary chambers. Only two of Japan’s 47 prefectural governors are women.

    A drummer in a heavy-metal band and a motorbike rider as a student, Takaichi has called for a stronger military, more fiscal spending for growth, promotion of nuclear fusion, cybersecurity and tougher policies on immigration.

    She vowed to drastically increase female ministers in her government. But experts say she might actually set back women’s advancement because as leader she would have to show loyalty to influential male heavyweights. If not she risks a short-lived leadership.

    Takaichi has backed the LDP policy of having women serve in their traditional roles of being good mothers and wives. But she also recently acknowledged her struggles with menopausal symptoms and stressed the need to educate men about female health to help women at school and work.

    Takaichi supports the imperial family’s male-only succession, opposes same-sex marriage and a revision to the 19th century civil law that would allow separate surnames for married couples so that women don’t get pressured into abandoning theirs.

    She is a wartime history revisionist and China hawk. She regularly visits Yasukuni Shrine, which Japan’s neighbors consider a symbol of militarism, though she has declined to say what she would do as prime minister.

    Political watchers say her revisionist views of Japan’s wartime history may complicate ties with Beijing and Seoul.

    Her hawkish stance is also a worry for the LDP’s longtime partnership with Komeito, a Buddhist-backed moderate party. While she has said the current coalition is crucial for her party, she says she is open to working with far-right groups.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Trump Administration Planning 7,500-Person Refugee Ceiling, Sources Say

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to set a refugee admissions cap at 7,500 people this fiscal year, a record low that prioritizes white South Africans of Afrikaner ethnicity, three people familiar with the matter said.

    If finalized, the planned cap would be a steep drop from the 125,000 put in place last year under former President Joe Biden and reflect Trump’s restrictive view of immigration and humanitarian protection.

    Trump, a Republican, slashed refugee levels during his 2017-2021 presidency as part of a broad crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration. After returning to office in January 2025, he froze refugee admissions, saying they could only resume if it was determined to be in the interest of the U.S.

    Weeks later, Trump issued an executive order prioritizing refugee entries from South Africa’s Dutch-descended Afrikaner minority, saying the white minority group suffered racial discrimination and violence in majority-Black South Africa. South Africa’s government has rejected those claims.

    The first group of 59 South Africans arrived in May, reaching a total of 138 by early September, Reuters reported previously.

    The White House, State Department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the planned 7,500-person refugee ceiling in fiscal year 2026, which began on Wednesday. The New York Times first reported the plans.

    John Slocum, executive director of Refugee Council USA, urged other elected officials to push Trump to bring in more refugees, saying in a statement that such a low limit would be “jeopardizing people’s lives, separating families, and undermining our national security and economic growth.”

    Trump officials had previously discussed annual refugee admissions ranging from 40,000 to 60,000, Reuters reported in recent months.

    At a side event at the United Nations General Assembly last week, top Trump administration officials urged other nations to join a global campaign to roll back asylum protections, a major shift that would seek to reshape the post-World War Two framework around humanitarian migration.

    (Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Kilmar Abrego May Have Been Vindictively Prosecuted by Trump Administration, US Judge Finds

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    (Reuters) -A federal judge ruled on Friday there was a realistic likelihood that the criminal charges the U.S. Department of Justice brought against Kilmar Abrego, the alleged gang member who was wrongly deported by President Donald Trump’s administration to El Salvador, amounted to a vindictive prosecution.

    U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Nashville, Tennessee, cited statements administration officials made celebrating the charges brought against Abrego as evidence the indictment may have been pursued in retaliation for a lawsuit he brought in Maryland challenging his wrongful deportation.

    Crenshaw pointed to “remarkable statements” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made on Fox News that prosecutors started investigating Abrego after a judge in Maryland questioned his removal and found the government “had no right to deport him.”

    Blanche during the June 6 interview said Abrego was not returned to the United States “for any other reason than to face justice.”

    Crenshaw said those statements could directly establish that the motivations for Abrego’s charges stem from the exercise of his rights to bring suit against the administration over his deportation, “rather than a genuine desire to prosecute him for alleged criminal misconduct.”

    Federal law allows for the dismissal of criminal charges if a judge determines they were brought to punish someone for exercising their due process rights. Such requests rarely succeed.

    But Crenshaw, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said Abrego had carried his burden of showing he was likely vindictively prosecuted. He said Abrego was entitled to obtain further evidence from the government and have a hearing to decide whether the case should be dismissed.

    Representatives for Abrego and the Justice Department declined to comment.

    Abrego, a native of El Salvador who had been living in Maryland, was deported and imprisoned in El Salvador in March despite a 2019 judicial ruling that he could not be sent there because of a risk of gang persecution.

    Abrego challenged that deportation in a civil lawsuit before a federal judge in Maryland. The U.S. Supreme Court in April upheld an order from the Maryland judge that the Trump administration facilitate Abrego’s return. 

    In June, Abrego was returned to the U.S. after prosecutors secured an indictment in Tennessee accusing him of transporting migrants in the U.S. illegally as part of a smuggling ring. Abrego has pleaded not guilty and has disputed that he was a gang member.

    (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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  • Senior US Senator Wants to Boost Pressure on China Over Taiwan

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    By Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Friday he will introduce legislation to deter aggression against Taiwan by identifying targets for economic measures that could be deployed rapidly if China acts against the island.

    Republican Senator Jim Risch of Idaho said his “Deter PRC Aggression Against Taiwan Act” would create a State and Treasury Department-led task force that would identify Chinese military and non-military targets for sanctions, export controls and other economic measures to use against Beijing in case of Chinese aggression against Taiwan.

    “Using lessons learned from the challenges in U.S. and partner country sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, this legislation will ensure America is prepared to hit China where it hurts should China follow through on its threats to use violent force against Taiwan,” Risch said in a statement.

    An aide said he planned to introduce the measure on Monday.

    News of the proposed bill comes ahead of an expected meeting this month between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, with the U.S. leader seeking to conclude a major trade deal with Washington’s biggest economic and geopolitical rival.

    China claims the democratically governed island as its own and has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Beijing has stepped up military and political pressure against the island in recent years.

        The U.S. is Taipei’s main foreign backer and some foreign policy experts and people in Taiwan are concerned that Trump may not be as committed to defense of the Chinese-claimed island as past U.S. presidents and might be willing to offer Beijing concessions to secure a significant trade deal.

    The U.S. State Department says the U.S. position on Taiwan has not changed and that Washington opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. 

    Analysts say China would particularly like the Trump administration to state explicitly that it opposes Taiwan’s independence rather than say, as did the Biden administration, that it did not support it.

        Risch’s bill is one of several legislative initiatives in the Senate and House of Representatives that supporters say underscore support in Congress for continuing to take a hard line against any Chinese moves on Taiwan.

    (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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  • US Supreme Court Lets Trump Strip Temporary Status From Venezuelan Migrants

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    (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court again cleared the way on Friday for Donald Trump’s administration to revoke a temporary legal protection for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants in the United States, backing a key priority of the Republican president as he pursues a policy of mass deportations. 

    The justices granted the administration’s request to put on hold a judge’s ruling that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lacked the authority to end the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, granted to the migrants under Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden while litigation proceeds.

    The Supreme Court previously sided with the administration in May to lift a temporary order that San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Edward Chen issued at an earlier stage of the case that had halted the TPS termination while the litigation played out in court. Chen issued a final ruling on September 5, finding that Noem’s actions to terminate the program violated a federal law that governs the actions of federal agencies. 

    The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, said in an unsigned order that although the litigation had advanced to a later stage, “the parties’ legal arguments and relative harms generally have not. The same result that we reached in May is appropriate here.”

    The court’s three liberal justices dissented.

    “I view today’s decision as yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket,” liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in a dissenting opinion.

    “We once again use our equitable power (but not our opinion-writing capacity) to allow this administration to disrupt as many lives as possible, as quickly as possible,” Jackson added.

    The judge also faulted Noem’s “discriminatory statements” concerning the Venezuelans, noting that her generalization of the alleged crimes of a few migrants “to the entire population of Venezuelan TPS holders, who have lower rates of criminality and higher rates of college education and workforce participation than the general population, is a classic form of racism.”

    Chen’s ruling meant that more than 300,000 Venezuelan TPS holders would be able to remain in the country for now, even though Noem had determined that to be “contrary to the national interest,” according to the administration. 

    Trump has made cracking down on immigration – legal and illegal – a central plank of his second term as president, and has moved to strip certain migrants of temporary legal protections, expanding the pool of possible deportees.

    The TPS program is a humanitarian designation under U.S. law for countries stricken by war, natural disaster or other catastrophes, giving recipients living in the United States deportation protection and access to work permits. 

    The U.S. government under Biden designated Venezuelans as eligible for TPS in 2021 and 2023. Just days before Trump returned to office in January, Biden’s administration announced an extension of the program to October 2026.

    Noem, a Trump appointee, rescinded that extension and moved to end the TPS designation for a subset of Venezuelans who had benefited from the 2023 designation.

    The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put Chen’s final ruling on hold, prompting criticism from the administration, which said it amounted to defiance of the Supreme Court given the prior action by the justices in the case. 

    “This case is familiar to the court and involves the increasingly familiar and untenable phenomenon of lower courts disregarding this court’s orders on the emergency docket,” the Justice Department told the Supreme Court in its filing. 

    Some lower courts have expressed confusion and frustration in recent weeks as they attempt to follow Supreme Court emergency orders that often are issued with little or no legal reasoning presented. 

    “This court’s orders are binding on litigants and lower courts. Whether those orders span one sentence or many pages, disregarding them – as the lower courts did here – is unacceptable,” the Justice Department said.

    In another case, the Supreme Court on May 30 let the administration revoke a different type of temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants. The justices put on hold another judge’s order that had halted the administration’s move to end the immigration “parole” granted under Biden to 532,000 of these migrants while a legal challenge played out.

    Immigration parole is a form of temporary permission under U.S. law to be in the country for “urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit,” allowing recipients to live and work in the United States. 

    The administration has repeatedly asked the justices this year to intervene to allow implementation of Trump policies impeded by lower courts. The Supreme Court has sided with the administration in almost every case it has been called upon to review since Trump returned to the presidency in January.

    (Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Additional reporting by John Kruzel in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Russian Drone Kills French Photojournalist in Eastern Ukraine, Military Says

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    (Reuters) -A Russian drone attack killed a French photojournalist on Friday in eastern Ukraine on the frontline of the 3-1/2-year-old war with Russia, the Ukrainian military said.

    The Fourth Separate Mechanised Brigade, writing on Facebook, said photojournalist Antoni Lallican was killed in a drone strike. A Ukrainian photographer accompanying him, Hryhory Ivanchenko, was injured in the incident.

    Both were wearing protective equipment and armoured vests clearly indicating that they were journalists, the statement said.

    The head of the Ukrainian Union of Journalists, Serhiy Tomilenko, told Ukrainian media that Lallican had been killed near the town of Druzhkivka, one of the hottest sectors of the 1,250-km (780-mile) front line in Ukraine’s Donbas region.

    The European Federation of Journalists said it was the first time a journalist had been killed by a drone in the conflict. It said 17 journalists had died in the combat zone since Russia invaded its smaller neighbour in February 2022.

    The federation said Lallican, who was based in Paris, was on assignment for France’s Hans Lucas photo agency and had his work published in various European media outlets. French media said he had also worked in the Middle East.

    “By targeting journalists, the Russian army is deliberately hunting those trying to document war crimes,” Tomilenko said in a statement. 

    “For journalists, every trip to the frontline zone is a deadly risk. Antoni Lallican took this risk again and again, coming to Ukraine, travelling to Donbas, documenting what many prefer not to see.” 

    French President Emmanuel Macron, in a post on X, expressed condolences to his family and to journalists placing themselves in danger while on assignment.

    (Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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  • 2 Million Rally in Italy for Gaza as General Strike Halts Key Services

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    ROME (AP) — More than 2 million people across Italy rallied in over 100 cities Friday for a one-day general strike to support the residents of Gaza and a humanitarian aid mission, Italy’s largest union said.

    Italian unions proclaimed the strike after the Global Sumud Flotilla that was trying to break Israel’s naval blockade to deliver aid to Gaza was intercepted by Israeli naval forces Wednesday night. Protests and demonstrations have sprung up all over Europe and globally since then, but they have been particularly strong in Italy.

    Italy’s conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had sharply criticized the strike. She anticipated it would cause widespread disruption across the country and said it was politically motivated and targeted her right-wing government.

    According to the CGIL union, 300,000 people marched through the streets of Rome alone, while the national average participation in the general strike stood at around 60%, halting all the main services in key sectors including transportation and schools.

    Italy is scheduled to host Israel in Udine on Oct. 14. But UEFA is considering suspending Israel over the war. The players were not at the Coverciano training center in Florence, but the squad will convene there on Monday.

    Protesters appeared to behave peacefully on the opposite side of the street from the soccer complex, holding aloft a banner that read in Italian, “Let’s stop Zionism with the resistance.”

    On Friday morning, around 100,000 people participated in a rally in the northern city of Milan. Clashes there briefly erupted after a group of protesters blocking the city’s highway started throwing bottles at police, who responded with smoke bombs.

    Isolated scuffles also happened in Turin, Bologna and Naples but the majority of the protests were peaceful.

    “I still believe that all this brings no benefit to the Palestinian people. On the other hand, I understand that it will cause a lot of problems for the Italian people,” Meloni told reporters Thursday, condemning the strike. “Revolutions and long weekends don’t go well together.”

    The Italian leader has been facing mounting pressure to change Italy’s stance as a longtime supporter of Israel in the Gaza conflict, as growing calls have emerged to stop the massive humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.

    Associated Press journalists Paolo Santalucia and Silvia Stellacci contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Social Media Star Fontenoy Breaks World Record Cycling up Eiffel Tower

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    PARIS (Reuters) -Cyclist and social media sensation Aurelien Fontenoy became the fastest athlete ever to climb to the second floor of France’s Eiffel Tower on an all-terrain bike, the monument’s operator said on Friday.

    Fontenoy on Thursday climbed 686 steps of the monument to reach the second-floor platform, the last accessible by stairs, in 12 minutes and 30 seconds, the Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel said in a statement.

    He broke the previous record by almost seven minutes. In order to claim the title, Fontenoy’s feet were not allowed to touch the ground.

    “I did not expect to take this little time,” Fontenoy said after the feat. The Eiffel Tower “is really a symbol, it is really the monument that I wanted to climb,” he added.

    As part of his project “The Climb”, Fontenoy cycled in 2021 to the top of the 140-metre high Trinity Tower, also in Paris, and this year he climbed Tallinn’s TV Tower in Estonia.

    (Reporting by Alessandro Parodi and Manuel Ausloos, editing by Ken Ferris)

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  • Hotel Prices Lead Countries to Consider Skipping COP30 Climate Summit

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    BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Dozens of countries have yet to secure accommodation at next month’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil and some delegates are considering staying away as a shortage of hotels has driven prices to hundreds of dollars per night.

    Small island states on the frontline of rising sea levels are confronted with having to consider reducing the size of delegations they send to Belem, while two European nations said they were considering not attending at all.

    COP30 organisers are racing to convert love motels, cruise ships and churches into lodgings for an anticipated 45,000 delegates.

    Brazil chose to hold the climate talks at Belem, which typically has 18,000 hotel beds available, in the hope its location on the edge of the Amazon rainforest would focus attention on the threat climate change poses to this ecosystem, and its role in absorbing climate-warming emissions.

    LATVIA SAYS ROOMS ARE TOO EXPENSIVE

    Latvia’s climate minister told Reuters the country has asked if its negotiators could dial in by video call.

    “We already basically have a decision that it’s too expensive for us,” Melnis said. “It’s the first time it’s so expensive. We have a responsibility to our country’s budget.”

    A second eastern European country, Lithuania, also said it may stay away after being quoted prices for accommodation exceeding $500 per person per night.

    A spokesperson for Lithuania’s energy ministry, which covers climate affairs, said the legitimacy and quality of negotiations would suffer if governments could not attend because of the costs.

    A spokesperson for Brazil’s COP30 presidency said the decision was up to each government.

    COP30 HOTEL PRICES LEAVE DELEGATIONS OUT OF POCKET

    Days after Brazil opened a booking platform in early August, the website showed rates from $360 to $4,400 a night. Prices this week started at $150 per night, the platform showed. 

    The host country has dismissed calls to relocate the summit and said it would provide 15 rooms priced below $220 per day for each developing country delegation, and below $600 for each wealthy nation delegation. The United Nations has also increased its subsidy to help low-income countries attend.

    Less than six weeks out from COP30, 81 countries remain in negotiations over hotel rooms while 87 countries have reserved accommodation, according to Brazil’s COP30 Presidency.

    Evans Njewa, chair of the Least Developed Countries group that represents the world’s poorest nations in U.N. climate talks, said it was still assessing countries’ attendance plans.

    “We’re receiving a high volume of concerns … and numerous requests for support,” Njewa told Reuters. “Regrettably, our capacity is limited, which may affect the size of delegations.”

    CLIMATE ACTION UNDER THREAT

    This year’s COP summit takes place after U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to lead a shift away from climate action and Europe’s priorities change as economies struggle.

    Ilana Seid, chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, said the lack of affordable accommodation placed its members at a “severe disadvantage”. Small island countries have used previous COPs to secure more funding to adapt to climate change.

    Smaller delegations would leave island nations “lacking expertise needed to effectively participate in the negotiations which decide our future,” Seid said.

    (Reporting by Kate Abnett in Brussels; Additional reporting by Jason Hovet, Luiza Ilie, Manuela Andreoni; Editing by Richard Lough and Barbara Lewis)

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  • Pro-Palestinian Protesters Reach Italy’s Soccer Training Center to Oppose Game Vs. Israel

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    FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Pro-Palestinian Protesters approached the gates of the Italy soccer team’s training center on Friday to demand its upcoming World Cup qualifier against Israel is not played because of the war in Gaza.

    The protest was part of a national strike also reacting to an aid mission blocked by Israeli forces.

    Italy is scheduled to host Israel in Udine on Oct. 14. But UEFA is considering suspending Israel over the war. The players were not at the Coverciano training center in Florence, but the squad will convene there on Monday.

    Dozens of protests have erupted across Italy since Wednesday night, after the Israeli navy intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, detaining its activists.

    On Friday, workers and students took to the streets after the country’s largest unions called for a one-day general strike in solidarity with the Palestinians and the flotilla. Hundreds of trains were cancelled or delayed, as were several domestic flights, and many private and public schools closed.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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  • Rolex-Loving Daughter Defies Cameroon’s Aged Leader on TikTok

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    DAKAR (Reuters) -Cameroon’s 92-year-old President Paul Biya faces an unexpected challenge as he runs for an eighth term in office: a viral TikTok video by his daughter Brenda Biya saying she will not vote for him.

    Previously known for posting images of herself posing on top of a Rolls-Royce, flashing a diamond-studded Rolex or boarding a private jet, the 27-year-old stunned the nation with her defiant message in the run-up to the October 12 vote.

    “Do not vote for Paul Biya, not because of me, but because he has made too many people suffer,” she said, looking deeply into the camera in an oversized hoodie and pink-tinted hair. 

    “I hope we will have another president,” she added, saying she was renouncing her family and their financial support. 

    In power for 42 years, Biya has presided over economic stagnation and political repression in his nation of 30 million people. Transparency International lists his government as one of the most corrupt in the world.

    The average Cameroonian lives on less than $5 a day, World Bank data shows, while GDP per capita is lower than it was at its peak in 1986.

    Clashes between troops and armed separatists in Cameroon’s Anglophone region have killed over 6,500 people since 2017 but received little attention abroad.

    DAUGHTER UNLIKELY TO CHANGE CAMEROON ELECTION OUTCOME

    Brenda Biya has benefited from her father’s rule. 

    She attended a prestigious high school in Switzerland and studied in California, where she posted about paying $400 for one-way trips to class in luxury cars.

    Her mid-September video on TikTok has been viewed by millions and was replayed by local news networks across West Africa, but is unlikely to sway the outcome given her father’s enduring grip.

    Another victory as expected for Paul Biya would extend his mandate until he is almost 100 years old. He has not named a potential successor, though local media speculate his son Franck is being groomed for the role.

    “The more corrupt a country is, the more difficult it is to change the regime,” said Muna Akera, a former official at Transparency International now part of a coalition seeking to unseat Biya.

    “The infrastructure is in bad shape. The roads are in bad shape. Yaounde looks like an open air dustbin with rubbish everywhere,” he told Reuters. 

    Paul Biya has not responded to his daughter’s video and his office did not answer a request for comment. Brenda Biya, speaking through her U.S. lawyer Emmanuel Nsahlai, declined to discuss the election.

    Paul Biya has previously said his office takes the fight against corruption seriously, introducing new measures to improve governance last year. He says boosting economic development is a key priority for his campaign.

     The U.N. has warned that arrests and threats targeting civil society and political opponents meant the election was unlikely to be free and fair. Paul Biya’s main political rival, Maurice Kamto, was disqualified by the electoral commission in July.

    BRENDA BIYA HAD ALREADY SHOWN DEFIANCE OVER HOMOSEXUALITY

    Brenda Biya quickly deleted her viral post, but it was too late to stop its spread.

    She has since issued an apology video, calling her father a great man and urging followers to form their own opinions, but without saying she would vote for him. She appeared to be reading from a document reflected in huge sunglasses that hid much of her face.

    Viewers joked that her father had cut off her allowance, or that she spoke under duress. “Take off your glasses if you’re in danger” and “blink twice” were among the reactions.

    The original video was her second public act of defiance after she came out as lesbian last year by posting an intimate photo of herself with a Brazilian model. In Cameroon, homosexuality is punishable by up to five years in jail.

    “It was really a blessing for the LGBT community, the best way to give her father a slap in the face,” said Shaqiro, a transgender woman and social media influencer who was arrested for homosexuality in Cameroon in 2021.

    Shaqiro, who fled Cameroon while on bail and now lives in Brussels, struck up an online friendship with Biya after she came out.

    “For me, God is paying Paul Biya back by giving him a very stubborn child,” she said.

    SWISS TRIAL REVEALS CAREER CHANGES, LIFE IN FIVE-STAR HOTEL

    Details of Brenda Biya’s life emerged from a trial in Switzerland this year in which she was convicted of defaming an online influencer.

    She told the court she had made no money from business ventures including a hair company in Beverly Hills and a hotel in Yaoundé, but was supported by her parents.

    The trial revealed that she had Swiss residency and appeared to live at the five-star Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva where rooms are booked for her all year round. The hotel did not respond to a request for comment. 

    In 2017, the OCCRP, a global network of investigative journalists, reported that the Biya family had spent about $65 million on luxury hotel stays in Switzerland since coming to power in 1982.       

    (Additional reporting by Amindeh Blaise Atabong; Editing by Estelle Shirbon and Andrew Cawthorne)

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  • Myanmar’s Reclusive General Turns Jet-Setter in Quest for Election Backing

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    (Reuters) -Myanmar’s junta chief is becoming a frequent flier.

    In the last six months, Min Aung Hlaing has flown to more countries than he did in the years after he grabbed power in a 2021 coup that ousted an elected civilian government.

    His travels – part of a diplomatic push by Min Aung Hlaing to win support for a controversial December election – include two trips each to key allies China and Russia, and one each to Thailand, Belarus and, this week, to Kazakhstan.

    Together, they have yielded bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, building on momentum that started in the wake of a deadly March earthquake.

    “Min Aung Hlaing’s frequent foreign trips this year are a reflection of his increased confidence – less elite threats against him, an improved battlefield situation, and eased international diplomatic isolation,” said Richard Horsey, senior Myanmar adviser at Crisis Group, referring to the military winning back control of some towns.

    A junta spokesperson did not respond to calls seeking comment but state media has featured Min Aung Hlaing’s international trips prominently on their front pages, describing them as positive developments for the country.

    “To summarise all the trips, all three countries welcomed Myanmar’s election,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told state media referring to Min Aung Hlaing’s most recent trips to China, Russia and Kazakhstan.

    After the coup, and the military’s crackdown on protesters, Myanmar became a pariah in many capitals, with some countries imposing sanctions on the generals. In an unprecedented move, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Myanmar, banned Min Aung Hlaing and top junta ministers from their summits. 

    Last November, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced he would seek an arrest warrant against the 69-year-old general for crimes against humanity, limiting his travel options.

    Battling an unprecedented nationwide armed uprising against the coup, the junta leader’s domestic movements were also minimal.

    After four years of extended emergency rule, Myanmar’s military in late July announced the formation of an interim government to hold a multi-phase election starting on December 28.

    As fighting continues, voting is likely to take place in only around half the country, and dozens of opposition political groups have been banned, leaving only vetted, pro-military parties in the fray – drawing criticism from Western nations that the polls are an exercise to perpetuate Min Aung Hlaing’s hold on power.

    ‘JAMBOREE OF AUTHORITARIAN STATES’

    In nearly all of his meetings with foreign leaders over the past six months, Min Aung Hlaing has emphasised the military’s preparations for the upcoming election, according to state media reports.

    During a week-long visit to China in September to attend events including a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Min Aung Hlaing met Xi and India’s Modi and shook hands and exchanged a few words with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

    “Min Aung Hlaing’s visit was certainly a boost for his international acceptance, joining what was a jamboree of authoritarian states, and it certainly suggested a closer relationship with Beijing,” said David Mathieson, an independent analyst who monitors Myanmar, referring to the summit.

    In a statement issued after Xi and the Burmese general met in late October, China’s Foreign Ministry said that it “supports Myanmar in unifying all domestic political forces as much as possible and restoring stability and development.”

    China remains one of the most important foreign partners of Myanmar’s military, maintaining close ties with top generals and supplying equipment such as drones.

    Beijing has also invested in projects in Myanmar under its Belt and Road Initiative, including an oil and gas pipeline that cuts across the country, and planned infrastructure such as a deep-sea port.

    “China has opted to extend a degree of legitimacy to the junta,” said independent analyst Ye Myo Hein.

    “Beijing’s backing could give the military the diplomatic cover and material support it needs to press ahead with this charade.”

    (Reporting by Shoon Naing; Editing by Devjyot Ghoshal and Kate Mayberry)

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  • Factbox-What Do We Know About Indonesia’s Radioactive Contamination?

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    JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia has detected radioactive contamination at a sprawling industrial zone near the capital Jakarta, found to have high levels of Caesium-137 (Cs-137), a manmade radionuclide.

    Here are some facts about what we know so far:

    – In August, two sites were found to be contaminated with high levels of Cs-137. Indonesia’s environment minister now says the contamination was found in about 10 locations at the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate, host to various industries. 

    – Cs-137 is used in medical devices and gauges, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say. It is also one of the byproducts of nuclear fission processes in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons testing. Indonesia has no nuclear reactors or weapons.

    – The radiation reading in some locations in the Indonesian industrial estate is 1,000 microSievert (or one milliSiervert) per hour, the environment minister said. 

    – Sieverts, the units in which radiation is measured, quantify the amount of radiation absorbed by human tissues. People are exposed to natural radiation of 2 milliSievert to 3 milliSiervert per year.

    – Exposure to 100 mSv a year is a level at which any increase in cancer risk is clearly evident. A cumulative 1,000 milliSiervert (1 Sievert) would probably cause a fatal cancer many years later in five of every 100 persons exposed to it.

    – At least nine people have been treated for exposure to the contamination at the Indonesian industrial estate. It is unclear how long they were exposed and how much they absorbed while working or living in the vicinity of the highest levels.

    – Authorities believe the source of the contamination is a metal factory on the estate.

    – The estate was first investigated for contamination after a batch of shrimp exported from Indonesia to the United States was found by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August to be contaminated with Cs-137. The shrimp was processed in the industrial estate. 

    – The FDA said the shrimp did not enter U.S. commerce. The level of Cs-137 detected in the shipment was about 68 Bq/kg, which is below the FDA’s derived intervention level for Cs-137. 

    – The FDA said the product would not pose an acute hazard to consumers, but issued an advisory against eating or selling shrimp imported by the company. It said avoiding products with such levels reduces exposure to low-level radiation that could have health impacts with continued exposure.

    – The Indonesian industrial estate is still operating, but is being closely monitored by authorities, who are taking decontamination steps. 

    – In a similar incident five years ago, the Indonesian nuclear agency detected Cs-137 contamination in January 2020, near a residential area in Serpong in the city of South Tangerang.

    (Reporting by Indonesia bureau; Editing by Martin Petty and Clarence Fernandez)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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