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  • Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 72 in the Philippines as Survivors Recall Moment When Tragedy Struck

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    BOGO, Philippines (AP) — When firefighters brought out the body of his 4-year-old son in a bag from a budget hotel demolished by a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in the central Philippines, Isagani Gelig stooped down and gently stroked the black cadaver bag for several minutes, trying to feel his child’s remains inside for the last time.

    A bag containing the body of Gelig’s wife, the Condor Pension House’s receptionist, was carried out next. She had worked there at night while taking care of their son, John. A rescuer handed him a cellphone found with her body and he nodded a confirmation that it was hers.

    Gelig and his family had frantically called after the powerful earthquake shook the city of Bogo in Cebu province Tuesday night, but she never picked up.

    “I went around the rubble and kept calling out their names,” Gelig told The Associated Press beside the hotel ruins, where he and rescuers discovered their remains pinned together in the first-floor rubble.

    The death toll from the earthquake rose to at least 72 people Thursday with nearly 300 injured. Disaster officials said there have not been reports of additional missing people. More than 170,000 people were affected, including many who have refused to return home because they were traumatized and fearful of aftershocks.

    The earthquake damaged or destroyed 87 buildings and nearly 600 houses in Bogo, a relatively new and progressive coastal city of about 90,000, and outlying towns. Bridges and concrete roads were damaged and a seaport in Bogo collapsed.

    The quake was triggered around 10 p.m. by a shallow undersea fault line that Filipino seismologists said has not moved for at least 400 years.

    President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. flew to Bogo Thursday to assess the damage and offer aid and support to survivors while mourning with families of the victims. Just days ago, the president was in the central region after a fierce storm left at least 37 people dead and lashed more than half a million people, including in Cebu province.


    Countries offer condolences and support

    The United States, a longtime treaty ally of the Philippines, offered assistance following the earthquake. Several other countries, including China and Japan, expressed condolences.

    “Japan always stands with the Philippines in overcoming this time of difficulties,” Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in a message to Marcos.

    One of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, the Philippines is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

    The archipelago also is lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms each year, making disaster response a major task of the government and volunteer groups.


    Victims and survivors share harrowing stories

    Shortly after the earthquake ravaged Bogo, the Red Cross tried to call up one of its full-time volunteers who lived in the city.

    Ian Ho, 49, was a highly trained first responder. When he did not answer, a Red Cross team was deployed. His house had crumbled and he was found inside, buried in the rubble while embracing his 14-year-old son, who was injured. The teen survived, Red Cross Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang said.

    “He chose to be the shield of his son,” Pang said. “This is the kind of people that we have, lifesavers with an innate instinct to help other people. In this case, the last person that he saved was his son.”

    While most people were at home when when the quake struck, Bryan Sinangote was watching a basketball game with less than 100 spectators in San Remigio town, just outside Bogo. Everybody froze. When the up-and down shaking became intense, everybody dashed out of the gym in panic, the 49-year-old driver said.

    A gymnasium ceiling collapsed, killing three coast guard personnel and a firefighter. Sinangote said he tried to roll away but was partly trapped. He was later pulled free by members of the coast guard and treated for face and arm injuries.

    It was not his first brush with death. He recalled how Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones on record, destroyed his house in San Remigio in 2013. Haiyan left more than 7,300 people dead or missing, flattened entire villages and caused ships to run aground and smash into houses in the central Philippines.

    “It’s heartbreaking to hear what happened to Bogo city,” Sinangote said, adding that Filipinos have no option but to learn to live side by side with calamities. “After Typhoon Haiyan destroyed my house, I built it back in one year. We just have to be prepared for anything.”

    Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, 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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  • Papua New Guinea Approves Defence Treaty With Australia

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    SYDNEY (Reuters) -The Papua New Guinea cabinet has approved a defence treaty with Australia, Prime Minister James Marape said on Thursday, as Canberra seeks to block China from expanding its security presence in the Pacific.

    Under the Pukpuk defence treaty, Australia and Papua are obliged to come to each other’s aid if attacked.

    “Australia has only one other mutual defence treaty of this type and at our request Papua New Guinea will now sign this treaty,” Marape said in a statement.

    “This reflects the depth of trust, history, and shared future between our two nations.”

    The treaty would also allow as many as 10,000 Papua New Guineans to serve with the Australian Defence Force, under dual arrangements, the statement said.

    The landmark treaty still requires ratification from both nations’ parliaments.

    The agreement was supposed to have been approved when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in Port Moresby during celebrations of PNG’s 50th independence anniversary two weeks ago.

    The two countries agreed a joint communique on the text of the pact, after a meeting of PNG’s cabinet lacked the quorum required to ratify it.

    Albanese also travelled to Vanuatu last month but failed to secure a A$500 million ($330.70 million) security partnership because a coalition partner in the Vanuatu government called for further scrutiny.

    Australia has sought to use the security deals to block Chinese influence in the region, after China struck a security pact with the Solomon Islands.

    The United States struck a defence pact with PNG in 2023 to counter China’s security ambitions.

    The Pukpuk treaty also recognises that both PNG and Australia can maintain defence relationships with other nations, Marape said. “Provisions are in place to respect third-party relationships,” he said.

    ($1 = 1.5119 Australian dollars)

    (Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Praveen Menon and Kate Mayberry)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Typhoon Bualoi Death Toll Rises to 36 in Vietnam

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    HANOI (Reuters) -The death toll in Vietnam from Typhoon Bualoi and the floods it triggered has risen to 36, according to a Thursday report from the government’s disaster management agency.

    Bualoi made landfall on Monday in northern central Vietnam, bringing huge sea swells, strong winds and heavy rains that also left 21 people missing and injured 147 others, according to the report.

    The agency also raised its estimate of property damage caused by the typhoon and its flooding to 11.5 trillion dong ($435.80 million), up from $303 million in a previous report released on Wednesday.

    The typhoon severely damaged roads, schools and offices, and caused power grid failures that left tens of thousands of families without electricity, the report said.

    More than 210,000 houses were damaged or inundated, and more than 51,000 hectares of rice and other crops were destroyed, it said.

    (Reporting by Khanh Vu; Editing by David Stanway)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Rescuers Chip Away Debris With Hand Tools to Save Those Trapped in Indonesia School Collapse

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    SIDOARJO, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers wearing hard hats crawled into tight passages of concrete rubble, chipping away debris with hand tools to try to reach survivors days after they were trapped in Monday’s collapse of an Islamic school’s prayer hall in Indonesia.

    Some of the survivors were communicating with the rescuers working to free them.

    “How old are you, son?” a team of rescuers asked a student who was trapped.

    “Sixteen,” he replied, in a video released Wednesday by Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency.

    The student confirmed to the rescuers that he was not hurt but his torso was stuck in the debris of the collapsed building.

    “Be patient, OK? Haikal… where are you?” the rescuers reassured the older student while calling out to a 13-year-old boy.

    “Yes! I’m here,” Haikal responded. When asked what hurt, he said: My whole body.”

    “Be patient, son… we’re trying to get you out now,” the rescuers said.

    The 16-year-old and 13-year-old, along with three other students, were rescued Wednesday after a tunnel was dug about 70 centimeters (27.5 inches) below the base of the building to their location.

    “Their conditions were better as they were detected yesterday. They can communicate since yesterday while their bodies are covered by concrete. We have been able to provide food and drink support since Tuesday,” said Yudhi Bramantyo, deputy chief of operations at the National Search and Rescue Agency.

    The search has been complicated by the instability of the debris, and heavy equipment was not being used due to concerns it could cause further collapse.

    Rescuers were racing the clock to find survivors, with the number of missing people, mostly teen boys, continuing to be revised.

    National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said in a statement Thursday morning that 59 people are still buried in the rubble. The revisions were due to various factors, such as some people listed as missing confirmed to have survived or to have not been at the scene when the collapse occurred.

    The death toll was also confirmed Thursday to be five, not six, after data from hospitals were verified, Muhari said.

    Of about 105 injured, more than two dozen are still hospitalized, with many said to have suffered head injuries and broken bones.

    The students were mostly boys in grades seven to 12, between ages 12 and 19.

    Authorities have said the building was two stories but two more were being added without a permit. Police said the old building’s foundation was apparently unable to support two floors of concrete and collapsed during the pouring process.

    On Wednesday evening, hundreds of family members who anxiously awaited news of their loved ones at the boarding school since they heard the incident on Monday. They filled the school’s corridors with mattresses to sleep provided by local government with sufficient food, snacks and drinks.

    “I can’t give up, I have to believe that my son is still alive, he is a hyperactive boy… he is very strong,” said Hafiah, who uses one name.

    Her son, Muhammad Abdurrohman Nafis, is 15 and in the ninth grade.

    She recalled that he ate his favorite satay rice with gusto when she visited him Sunday, a day before his friends told her Nafis had been hit in the collapse.

    She said Nafis is to graduate from al Khoziny’s junior high school in a few months and wants to continue his education at a mechanical engineering high school.

    “I couldn’t get close to him… maybe he was starving, in pain, but I couldn’t help him,” Hafiah said, “ ”I can’t give up as the rescue team is currently trying to help our children out.”

    Associated Press journalists Fadlan Syam and Achmad Ibrahim in Sidoarjo, Indonesia, 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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  • Anti-Foreigner Sentiments and Politicians Are on the Rise as Japan Faces a Population Crisis

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    TOKYO (AP) — Outside a train station near Tokyo, hundreds of people cheer as Sohei Kamiya, head of the surging nationalist party Sanseito, criticizes Japan’s rapidly growing foreign population.

    As opponents, separated by uniformed police and bodyguards, accuse him of racism, Kamiya shouts back, saying he is only talking common sense.

    “Many Japanese are frustrated by these problems, though we are too reserved to speak out. Mr. Kamiya is spelling them all out for us,” said Kenzo Hagiya, a retiree in the audience who said the “foreigner problem” is one of his biggest concerns.

    The populist surge comes as Japan, a traditionally insular nation that values conformity and uniformity, sees a record surge of foreigners needed to bolster its shrinking workforce.

    In September, angry protests fueled by social media misinformation about a looming flood of African immigrants quashed a government-led exchange program between four Japanese municipalities and African nations.

    Even the governing party, which has promoted foreign labor and tourism, now calls for tighter restrictions on foreigners, but without showing how Japan, which has one of the world’s fastest-aging and fastest-dwindling populations, can economically stay afloat without them.


    Kamiya says his platform has nothing to do with racism

    “We only want to protect the peaceful lives and public safety of the Japanese,” he said at the rally in Yokohama, a major residential area for foreigners. Japanese people tolerate foreigners who respect the “Japanese way,” but those who cling to their own customs are not accepted because they intimidate, cause stress and anger the Japanese, he said.

    Kamiya said the government was allowing foreign workers into the country only to benefit big Japanese businesses.

    “Why do foreigners come first when the Japanese are struggling to make ends meet and suffering from fear?” Kamiya asked. “We are just saying the obvious in an obvious way. Attacking us for racial discrimination is wrong.”


    Kamiya’s anti-immigrant message is gaining traction

    All five candidates competing in Saturday’s governing Liberal Democratic Party leadership vote to replace outgoing Shigeru Ishiba as prime minister are vowing tougher measures on foreigners.

    One of the favorites, former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, a hardline ultra-conservative, was criticized for championing unconfirmed claims that foreign tourists abused deer at a park in Nara, her hometown.

    Takaichi later said she wanted to convey the growing sense of anxiety and anger among many Japanese about ”outrageous” foreigners.

    During the July election campaign, far-right candidates insulted Japan’s about 2,000 Kurds, many of whom fled persecution in Turkey.

    A Kurdish citizen, who escaped to Japan as a child after his father faced arrest for complaining about military hazing, said he and his fellow Kurds have had to deal with people calling them criminals on social media.

    Japan has a history of discrimination against ethnic Koreans and Chinese, dating from the colonialist era in the first half of the 20th century.

    Some of that discrimination persists today, with insults and attacks targeting Chinese immigrants, investors and their businesses.

    Hoang Vinh Tien, 44, a Vietnamese resident who has lived in Japan for more than 20 years, says foreigners are often underpaid and face discrimination, including in renting apartments. He says he has worked hard to be accepted as part of the community.

    “As we hear about trouble involving foreigners, I share the concerns of the Japanese people who want to protect Japan, and I support stricter measures for anyone from any country, including Vietnam,” Hoang said.


    Rising foreigner numbers, but not nearly enough to bolster the economy

    Japan’s foreign population last year hit a new high of more than 3.7 million. That’s only about 3% of the country’s population. Japan, which also promotes inbound tourism, aims to receive 60 million visitors in 2030, up from 50 million last year.

    The foreign workforce tripled over the past decade to a record 2.3 million last year, according to Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare statistics. An increase of 300,000 from a year earlier was twice the projected pace. Many work in manufacturing, retail, farming and fishing.

    Even as the foreign population surged, only about 12,000 foreigners were arrested last year, despite alarmists’ claims that there would be a crimewave, National Police Agency figures show.

    The pro-business ruling Liberal Democratic Party in 1993 launched a foreign trainee program and has since drastically expanded its scope in phases. But the program has been criticized as an exploitive attempt to make up for a declining domestic workforce. It will be renewed in 2027 with more flexibility for workers and stricter oversight for employers.

    Many Japanese view immigrants as cheap labor who speak little Japanese, allow their children to drop out of school and live in high-crime communities, says Toshihiro Menju, a professor at Kansai University of International Studies and an expert on immigration policies.

    He says the prejudice stems from Japan’s “stealth immigration system” that accepts foreign labor as de facto immigrants but without providing adequate support for them or an explanation to the public to help foster acceptance.

    A Sanseito supporter in her 50s echoed some of these views but acknowledged that she has never personally encountered trouble with foreigners.

    Meanwhile, Japan faces real economic pain if it doesn’t figure out the immigration issue.

    The nation will need three times more foreign workers, or a total of 6.7 million people, than it currently allows, by 2040 to achieve 1.24% annual growth, according to a 2022 Japan International Cooperation Agency study. Without these workers, the Japanese economy, including the farming, fishing and service sectors, will become paralyzed, experts say.

    It is unclear whether Japan can attract that many foreign workers in the future, as its dwindling salaries and lack of diversity makes it less attractive.


    A growing party that’s part of a changing political landscape

    Sanseito started in 2020 when Kamiya began attracting people on YouTube and social media who were discontent with conventional parties.

    Kamiya, a former assembly member in the town of Suita, near Osaka, focused on revisionist views of Japan’s modern history, conspiracy theories, anti-vaccine ideas and spiritualism.

    Kamiya said he’s “extremely inspired by the anti-globalism policies” of U.S. President Donald Trump, but not his style. He invited a conservative activist and Trump ally Charlie Kirk to Tokyo for talks days before his assassinationhas been also connecting with far-right parties such as the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) and Britain’s Reform UK.

    His priority, he said in an interview with The Associated Press, is to further expand his support base, and he hopes to field more than 100 candidates in future elections.

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

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  • Britain Plans Tougher Settlement Rules for Refugees

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    LONDON (Reuters) -Britain will no longer automatically extend settlement and family reunion rights to migrants who have been granted asylum, the government announced on Wednesday in a further effort to curb immigration.

    The Labour government has been tightening its immigration policies in a bid to curb support for the populist Reform UK party, and is particularly focused on reducing the number of people arriving illegally from France in small boats.

    Migrants with refugee status can currently qualify for permanent residence after five years. The new proposal will mean permanent residence is not guaranteed, and will be subject to a longer process that includes showing a contribution to Britain.

    “The changes will bring an end to the unfair system that sees those crossing the channel in a small boat having greater rights to settlement and family reunion than those who arrive through proper legal routes and even British citizens,” the government said in a statement.

    The plans build on tougher settlement rules for all migrants set out by interior minister Shabana Mahmood on Monday.

    Those included requiring applicants to make social security contributions, have a clean criminal record, not claim benefits, speak English and volunteer in their communities. The government has also said it will double qualifying periods for permanent residence to 10 years.

    Wednesday’s announcement also said refugees would also lose the automatic right to bring their families to Britain. The government had suspended such family reunion applications in September.

    The government said refugees would not be returned to their home countries and would be entitled to what it called “core protections”. It did not spell out how long refugees meeting the conditions would need to wait to qualify for residence.

    Further details on the changes would be set out later this year, the government said.

    (Reporting by Yoruk Bahceli; editing by William James)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • South Korea Foreign Minister Says Rough Agreement on Security Reached With US

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    SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said his country and the United States had reached a rough agreement on security in tandem with ongoing tariff negotiations, Yonhap news agency reported.

    In an interview published on Thursday, Cho also said the U.S. was reviewing a currency swap deal, which was a key demand from South Korea in tariff talks, but signalled it was not optimistic.

    Washington had agreed to lower tariffs on imports from South Korea in return for a $350 billion investment package, but follow-up negotiations to hammer out details, including the structure of the investment package, have stalled.

    Meanwhile, Seoul and its ally Washington have also been looking at a deal in security areas such as an increase in South Korean defence spending, which is part of the broader package aimed to push down U.S. tariffs.

    U.S. President Donald Trump has said South Korea should be paying for its own military protection and suggested it needed to pay more for the U.S. troop presence there.

    South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Monday that the country would boost next year’s defence budget by 8.2%, highlighting the importance of stronger self-defence.

    “In the security field, an agreement has already been reached in general, which allows us to increase our national defence capabilities in necessary areas,” Cho told Yonhap.

    Working towards the security deal, top South Korean officials have said the two countries are making progress on giving more rights to South Korea on nuclear fuel processing for industrial purposes.

    That is currently not allowed under an existing agreement between the two countries.

    Cho said in the interview that he did not rule out a possibility of Trump meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as some “speculative” media reports suggested.

    Trump is expected to attend the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group in Gyeongju, South Korea in late October, and Lee suggested the U.S. president try to meet with Kim during the trip.

    Last month, Kim said he was open to talks with the U.S. if Washington stopped insisting his country give up nuclear weapons, North Korean state media reported.

    (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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  • Strike Called in Italy, Protests Flare Over Interception of Gaza Aid Ships

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    ROME (Reuters) -Italian unions called a general strike for Friday in solidarity with the international aid flotilla for Gaza, while protests sprang up in a number of cities late on Wednesday after reports that the ships had been intercepted by military personnel.

    In the southern city of Naples, demonstrators got into the main railway station and halted train traffic, while police surrounded the Termini railway station in Rome after protesters gathered close to entrances.

    The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which consists of more than 40 civilian boats carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists, includes an Italian contingent. It has been trying to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza with medicine and food, despite repeated warnings from Israel to turn back.

    “The aggression against civilian ships that were carrying Italian citizens is an extremely serious matter,” the CGIL union said, calling the strike which other smaller unions said they would join.

    The announcement comes after a previous general strike in support of Gaza and the GSF called by the grassroots Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) on September 22 which turned violent in Milan.

    In the northwestern city of Genoa, the USB announced that it intended to block the port and called on all protesters to gather at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT) at one of the main entrances.

    Over the past two weeks, protesting Italian dockworkers have prevented various ships from docking and loading, targeting vessels they say were involved in trade with Israel.

    Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said earlier that his Israeli counterpart had assured him the Israeli armed forces would not use violence against activists on board the flotilla.

    (Reporting by Emilio Parodi and Anna UrasWriting/editing by Keith Weir)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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  • Trump Order Pledges That US Will Defend Qatar in Event of Attack

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    By Simon Lewis and Trevor Hunnicutt

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to treat any armed attack on Qatar as a threat to the United States’ own security, according to a document published on Wednesday that says U.S. forces could step in to defend the Middle Eastern nation.

    The executive order – which appears to significantly deepen the U.S. commitment to its Middle East ally – comes after Israel last month attempted to kill leaders of Hamas with an airstrike on Doha.

    That strike, launched with little advance notice to the Trump administration, caused consternation in Washington given the close U.S. relationship with Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. military base in the region.

    The document was dated Monday, the day Trump hosted Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House and presented a proposal for ending the war in Gaza. Qatar has been a key mediator between the U.S. and Israel and Hamas over the war.

    “The United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States,” the order said.

    “In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures — including diplomatic, economic and, if necessary, military — to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar and to restore peace and stability.”

    The document said top U.S. defense and intelligence officials will maintain contingency planning with Qatar to ensure a rapid response to any attacks.

    Neighboring Saudi Arabia has long sought similar guarantees as part of Washington’s efforts to normalise relations between Riyadh and Israel, but such a deal has not materialised. Last month, Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defence pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan.

    While the president can negotiate collective defense treaties like the one that created NATO, it requires Senate confirmation to become law. An executive order can be repealed by any U.S. president in the future and it is unclear what would compel the U.S. to fulfill the commitment.

    Trump’s order goes beyond a 2022 order by his predecessor Joe Biden that designated Qatar as a major non-NATO ally, allowing increased military cooperation but falling short of promising to defend Qatar if attacked.

    There was no U.S. military response when Qatar came under attack by Iran in June after a U.S. strike on nuclear facilities in Iran.

    The Trump administration in May officially accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jetliner as a gift from Qatar and the military is working to prepare it for use as a new Air Force One to transport President Donald Trump. Trump dismissed legal and ethical concerns over the plane’s transfer.

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Doha after the Israeli strike, and said an enhanced defense cooperation agreement was being finalized with Qatar.

    (Reporting by Simon Lewis and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Don Durfee)

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  • Russian, North Korean Defence Ministers Meet

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    MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov met with his North Korean counterpart No Kwang Chol, Russian state-run news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.

    The two officials unveiled a memorial in Russia’s Moscow region commemorating Korean partisans who fought alongside Soviet forces during World War Two. TASS did not provide details on any other topics discussed during the meeting.

    (Reporting by ReutersWriting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Peter Graff)

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  • Polish Court Says Ukrainian Wanted in Nord Stream Case Must Remain in Custody

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    WARSAW (Reuters) -A Polish court decided on Wednesday that the Ukrainian diver wanted by Berlin over his alleged involvement in explosions which damaged the Nord Stream gas pipeline, must be kept in custody while a decision is made on whether to transfer him to Germany.

    Described by both Moscow and the West as an act of sabotage, the explosions marked an escalation in the Ukraine conflict and squeezed energy supplies on the continent. No one has taken responsibility for the blasts and Ukraine has denied any role.

    Volodymyr Z. was detained near Warsaw on Tuesday. He will now be kept in custody for seven days.

    Germany’s top prosecutors’ office said Polish police had acted upon a European arrest warrant that it had issued.

    Its statement said the diver was one of a group of people who were suspected of renting a sailing yacht in the German Baltic Sea port of Rostock and planting explosives on the pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany, near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.

    He faces accusations of conspiring to commit an explosives attack and of “anti-constitutional sabotage”, the German prosecutors added.

    In August, Italian police arrested a Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the attacks. That man, identified only as Serhii K., plans to take his fight against extradition to Italy’s highest court after a lower court ordered his transfer to Germany, his legal team said.

    (Reporting by Anna Koper, writing by Alan Charlish, Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

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  • Kyrgyz Leader Seeks Death Penalty for Worst Crimes Against Children and Women

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    BISHKEK (Reuters) -Kyrgyzstan’s populist President Sadyr Japarov has ordered the drafting of a bill to reinstate the death penalty for the most serious crimes against children and women.

    His move followed the killing of a 17-year-old girl, which sparked public outrage in the mountainous former Soviet republic of around seven million people. Her body was found on September 27, and a suspect has been detained.

    Kyrgyzstan was ranked the most dangerous country for women in Central Asia in the previous two years, according to the global Women, Peace and Security Index.

    According to the presidential administration, the proposed legislation would reinstate the death penalty for rape of children and for rape followed by murder of women.

    Kyrgyzstan has observed a moratorium on the death penalty since 2007, meaning its return would require major constitutional and legal changes.

    In a post on Facebook, Japarov’s press secretary said that the president was backing the bill in response to the murder of the girl, who has been named only as Aisuluu. He said that Japarov believed that “crimes against women and children must not go unpunished”.

    The country holds a parliamentary election on November 30, with parties loyal to Japarov aiming to stay dominant. 

    Since coming to power on a wave of protests in 2020, Japarov has tightened his grip on Kyrgyzstan, traditionally Central Asia’s most democratic country, where three presidents have been ousted by mass demonstrations since independence in 1991.

    According to Kyrgyz independent media outlet Kloop, 20–30 gender-targeted femicides are recorded annually, with overall 1,109 women killed between 2010 and 2023.

    According to rights group Amnesty International, 113 nations had abolished the death penalty by the end of 2024 with 1,518 executions recorded worldwide that year, mostly in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen.

    (Reporting by Aigerim Turgunbaeva; Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

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  • Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill at Least 16 as the World Awaits Hamas’ Response to Trump’s Peace Plan

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    DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel pressed its offensive in Gaza on Wednesday, with at least 16 Palestinians reported killed across the strip as the world awaited Hamas’ response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the embattled territory.

    The dead included people who had sought refuge in a school sheltering the displaced in Gaza City. Al-Falah school in the city’s eastern Zeitoun neighborhood was hit twice, minutes apart, according to officials at Al-Ahli Hospital.

    Among the casualties were first responders, they said. Five Palestinians were killed later on Wednesday morning, when a strike hit people gathered around a drinking water tank on the western side of Gaza City, the same hospital said.

    Also in Gaza City, the Shifa Hospital said it received the body of a man killed in a strike on his apartment west of the city.

    Israeli strikes also hit the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing a husband and wife, the Al-Awda hospital said. Another man was killed in a separate strike in the Bureij refugee camp, according to the same hospital.

    A funeral was planned for Yahya Barzaq, a journalist working for Turkish broadcast outlet TRT who was killed in a strike in Gaza on Tuesday, according to the broadcaster.

    The Israeli army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the killed journalist or Wednesday’s strikes.

    Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 170,000 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half of the dead.

    The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others. Most of the hostages have been freed under previous ceasefire deals, but 48 are estimated to be still held in Gaza — 20 believed by Israel to be still alive.

    The comments by Qatar, a key mediator, appeared to reflect Arab countries’ discontent over the text of the 20-point plan that the White House put out after Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced they had agreed on it Monday.

    The plan, which has received wide international support, requires Hamas to release hostages, leave power in Gaza and disarm in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting. The plan guarantees the flow of humanitarian aid and promises reconstruction in Gaza, placing it and its more than 2 million Palestinians under international governance. However, it sets no path to Palestinian statehood.

    The Palestinian government in the occupied West Bank said earlier it welcomed the plan, as did the governments of Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.


    More roadblocks and a flotilla headed to Gaza

    The Israeli military said that starting at midday Wednesday, it would only allow Palestinians to travel south along the only north-south route still open in the coastal strip — meaning, people fleeing the intensifying fighting in Gaza City can continue to head south but they could not go north.

    While the military did not offer more details on the closure, the road carries great symbolism for Palestinians. Earlier this year, when Israel opened access to the north — Gaza’s most heavily destroyed area — hundreds of thousands of Palestinians crowded it, seeing their return as an act of steadfastness and defiance.

    Hundreds of thousands remain displaced across Gaza, and finding food is a daily struggle.

    A widely watched flotilla of activists carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid is sailing toward Gaza, in what organizers have described as the largest attempt to date to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the strip.

    The activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla of about 50 vessels say they expect Israeli authorities to intercept them, as has happened in past flotilla attempts to reach Gaza. On Wednesday, they said two of the vessels were harassed by an Israeli warship overnight, though it stopped short of intercepting them.

    Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Giovanna Dell’Orto in Jerusalem and Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, 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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  • Factbox-Myanmar’s Food Crisis and Growing Hunger in Rakhine State

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    (Reuters) -Hunger is rising in Myanmar, the impoverished Southeast Asian country that has been ravaged by conflict since a 2021 military coup ousted an elected civilian government.

    Some 3.6 million people are displaced across the war-torn nation, according to the United Nations, and a lack of funding has left millions of vulnerable people without life-saving humanitarian support.

    Myanmar is one of the world’s most underfunded aid operations, with only 12% of required funds received, the U.N. says. 

    WHAT IS THE HUNGER SITUATION NATIONWIDE?

    More than 16 million people across Myanmar, about a third of the population, are acutely food insecure, meaning that their lack of food threatens lives and livelihoods, according to the World Food Programme.

    They are the fifth-largest group needing aid anywhere in the world, making Myanmar “a hunger hotspot of very high concern,” the agency said.

    More than 540,000 children across the country are expected to suffer this year from acute malnutrition – life-threatening wasting that can have severe and lifelong effects – a 26% increase from last year, WFP said.

    One in three children under the age of five is already suffering from stunted growth, according to WFP.

    HOW BAD IS IT IN RAKHINE?      

    The western coastal state of Rakhine, where conflict is raging, has been hit particularly hard by the food crisis, with restrictions on aid delivery and the movement of people.

    In central Rakhine, the WFP estimates that 57% of families cannot afford basic food, up from 33% in December 2024, while the situation in the hard-to-reach north is probably even worse, it says.

    Food prices are as much as four times higher than before the conflict, while many markets are empty and people are unable to travel freely or find jobs to support themselves, according to a WFP official.

    The crisis is driving more Rohingya families from Rakhine into Bangladesh, where more than 1 million members of the Muslim minority group already live in crowded refugee camps after a brutal Myanmar military crackdown in 2017 triggered a mass exodus.

    Many newly arrived Rohingya refugees are suffering from acute malnutrition, especially children and pregnant and lactating women, the International Rescue Committee says.

    Hospital admissions for severe wasting increased by 12% between January and June this year compared to the same period in 2024, and UNICEF treated 1,028 severely wasted children among new arrivals between October 2024 and June 2025, it said.

    (Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Kate Mayberry)

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  • Israel Ramps up Gaza City Offensive as Hamas Weighs Trump Plan

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    CAIRO (Reuters) -Hamas’s review of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan stretched into a third day on Wednesday, a source close to the militant group said, as other Palestinian factions rejected the proposal and as Israel again bombed Gaza City.

    Trump on Tuesday gave Hamas “three or four days” to respond to the plan he outlined this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has backed the proposal to end Israel’s almost two-year-old war with the Palestinian militant group.

    “Accepting the plan is a disaster, rejecting it is another, there are only bitter choices here, but the plan is a Netanyahu plan articulated by Trump,” a Palestinian official, familiar with Hamas’ deliberations with other factions, told Reuters.

    “Hamas is keen to end the war and end the genocide and it will respond in the way that serves the higher interests of the Palestinian people,” he said, without elaborating.

    Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued new orders for people to leave for the south and said it would no longer allow those to return to the north, as Gaza City came under heavy bombing.

    GAZA CITY STRIKE KILLS 17, HEALTH AUTHORITIES SAY

    Israeli planes and tanks pounded residential neighbourhoods throughout the night, residents in Gaza City said. Local health authorities said that at least 17 people across Gaza had been killed by the military on Wednesday, most of them in Gaza City.

    A strike on the old city in northwestern Gaza City killed seven people, while six people sheltering in a school in another part of the city were killed in a separate strike, medics said.

    In a new development, the Israeli military said that starting on Wednesday it would no longer allow people to use a coastal road to move from the south to communities in the north.

    It would remain open for those fleeing south, it said.

    In recent weeks, few people have moved from the south to the north as the military has intensified its siege on Gaza City. However, today’s decision will put pressure on those who are yet to leave Gaza City and also prevent hundreds of thousands of residents who have fled south from returning to their homes, likely deepening fears in Gaza of permanent displacement.

    It would also stop the transfer by local merchants of goods from south to the north, which could worsen food shortages in Gaza City.

    The military had taken similar measures in the early months of the war, completely separating north and south, before later easing those measures in January during a temporary ceasefire.

    HAMAS UNDER PRESSURE ON PLAN, AS OTHER GROUPS REJECT IT

    Hamas is yet to publicly comment on Trump’s plan, which demands that the militant group release the remaining hostages, surrender its weapons and have no future role in running Gaza.

    The plan sees Israel making few concessions in the near-term and does not lay out a clear path to a Palestinian state, one of the key demands of not only Hamas but the Arab and Muslim world.

    The plan states that Israel would eventually withdraw from Gaza but does not define a time frame. Hamas has long demanded that Israel must fully withdraw from Gaza for the war to end.

    Three smaller Palestinian militant factions in Gaza have rejected the plan, including two that are allies of Hamas, arguing that it would destroy the ‘Palestinian cause’ and would grant Israel’s control of Gaza international legitimacy.

    Many world leaders have publicly supported Trump’s plan.

    A source who is close to Hamas told Reuters on Tuesday the plan was too heavily weighted towards Israel’s interest and did not take significant account of the militant group’s demands.

    Many elements of the 20-point plan have been included in numerous ceasefire proposals previously backed by the U.S., including some that have been accepted and then subsequently rejected at various stages by both Israel and Hamas.

    (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Editing by William Maclean)

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  • Greece General Strike Disrupts Services Across the Country

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    ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A nationwide general strike in Greece left ferries tied up in port and disrupted public transportation across the capital on Wednesday, as public and private sector workers protest changes to the country’s labor laws.

    No taxis in Athens or trains will run for the duration of the 24-hour strike, while buses and the city’s subway, tram and trolley services were operating on a reduced schedule.

    The strike was disrupting services across the country, including in schools, courts, public hospitals and municipalities. Two protest marches were planned in central Athens, with demonstrations also set for other cities.

    Unions representing civil servants and private sector workers called the strike to protest labor law changes that will introduce more flexibility, including allowing overtime that could stretch shifts to 13 hours in a day. Under the new regulations, working hours that include overtime would be capped at 48 hours per week, with a maximum 150 overtime hours allowed per year.

    Unions argue the new rules leave workers vulnerable to labor abuses by employers.

    “We say no to the 13-hour (shift). Exhaustion is not development, human tolerance has limits,” the private sector umbrella union, the General Confederation of Workers of Greece, said in a statement. The union called for a 37½-hour working week and the return of collective bargaining agreements.

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  • Swiss Glaciers Melted Sharply After Light Snowfall and Heatwave, Scientists Say

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    By Cecile Mantovani and Denis Balibouse

    OBERGOMS, Switzerland (Reuters) -Switzerland’s glaciers melted considerably over the past 12 months to log their fourth-largest reduction in ice volume on record, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Wednesday.

    A winter with little snow, especially in the northeastern part of the Swiss Alps, followed by heat waves in June, caused the glaciers to lose 3% of their total ice mass, according to this year’s report by GLAMOS and the Swiss Commission for Cryosphere Observation.

    “This is really a lot,” said Matthias Huss, the director of GLAMOS, whose reports cover the October-September hydrological year.

    Although the ice melt was not as extreme as in 2022 and 2023, when the glaciers lost 5.9% and 4.4% respectively, the trend is clear.

    Switzerland has had its worst decade of ice melt on record, with one quarter of glacier volume lost since 2015, Huss added, speaking with Reuters during a visit to the Rhone Glacier in Valais canton.

    The Rhone Glacier was the biggest glacier in Europe during the Ice Age, but has rapidly shrunk, losing on average about 1.5 meters in thickness this year.

    According to GLAMOS, about one hundred glaciers in Switzerland have vanished between 2016 and 2022, and it says that most could disappear by the end of the century.

    “Unfortunately, there is not much we can do to save the glaciers … They will continue retreating anyway, even if the climate is stabilised today,” said Huss.

    But if carbon dioxide emissions were to fall to zero globally over the next 30 years, then up to 200 Swiss glaciers at high elevation could be saved, he added.

    Swiss glaciers below 3,000 metres above sea level suffered in particular this year. The once healthy Silvretta Glacier in northeastern Switzerland had a huge ice melt following the lowest amount of snowfall for the area since measurements began some 100 years ago, the report found.

    Huss also warned that the shrinking of glaciers contributes to the destabilisation of mountains. That can trigger avalanches of rock and ice, such as the devastating glacier collapse that destroyed the village of Blatten in Valais in May of this year.

    (Reporting by Cecile Mantovani and Denis Balibouse; Writing by Olivia Le Poidevin in Geneva; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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  • Activists From Sudan, Myanmar, Pacific Islands, and Taiwan Receive Human Rights Award

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    STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Right Livelihood Award was awarded Wednesday to activists from Sudan and Myanmar, where military and political violence devastates communities, to the Pacific Islands, where climate disaster threatens entire nations, and to Taiwan, which is the frequent target of threats and disinformation.

    “As authoritarianism and division rise globally, the 2025 Right Livelihood Laureates are charting a different course: one rooted in collective action, resilience and democracy to create a livable future for all,” the Stockholm-based foundation said about the winners. It considered 159 nominees from 67 countries this year.

    The youth-led organization Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change and Julian Aguon were awarded the prize “for carrying the call for climate justice to the world’s highest court, turning survival into a matter of rights and climate action into a legal responsibility.”

    Justice for Myanmar was awarded “for their courage and their pioneering investigative methods in exposing and eroding the international support to Myanmar’s corrupt military.” The covert group of activists is working to expose the financial architecture and global corporate complicity sustaining the military government, Right Livelihood said.

    Audrey Tang from Taiwan won the prize “for advancing the social use of digital technology to empower citizens, renew democracy and heal divides.” Tang is a “civic hacker and technologist who rewires systems for the public good,” the organization said.

    In Sudan, the Emergency Response Rooms network was awarded for “for building a resilient model of mutual aid amid war and state collapse that sustains millions of people with dignity.” The Sudanese community-led network has become the backbone of the country’s humanitarian response amid war, displacement and state collapse. They helps includes health care, food assistance, and education, where many international aid organizations cannot reach, according to the foundation.

    Created in 1980, the annual Right Livelihood Award honors efforts that the prize founder, Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, felt were being ignored by the Nobel Prizes.

    “At a time when violence, polarization and climate disasters are tearing communities apart, the 2025 Right Livelihood Laureates remind us that joining hands in collective action is humanity’s most powerful response,” said Ole von Uexkull, the nephew of the prize founder and the organization’s executive director.

    “Their courage and vision create a tapestry of hope and show that a more just and livable future is possible,” he added.

    Previous winners include Ukrainian human rights defender Oleksandra Matviichuk, Congolese surgeon Denis Mukwege and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. Matviichuk and Mukwege received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 and 2018, respectively.

    The Right Livelihood Award comes just a week before the Nobel Prizes. The 2025 laureates will be given their awards on Dec. 2 in Stockholm. The size of the prize amount was not announced.

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  • Ukraine Rescuers Battle Weather Havoc That Kills Nine in Odesa

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    (Reuters) -Rescuers worked through the night, battling havoc from severe weather and floods in Ukraine’s southern city of Odesa and the surrounding district that killed nine people, a child among them, the state emergency service said on Wednesday.

    The workers helped evacuate people from water traps, shift cars, pump water from buildings, and trace a missing girl who was found in the early hours, the service said on the Telegram messaging app.

    It posted pictures of passengers being taken off a flooded bus and cars pulled from the water.

    “In just seven hours, almost two months’ worth of rain fell in Odesa,” Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov said on Telegram earlier. “No stormwater drainage system can withstand such a load.”

    A total of 362 people were rescued in the continuing effort, the emergency service added.

    (Reporting by Lidia Kelly and Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Kim Coghill and Clarence Fernandez)

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  • Munich Police Say No Danger to Public After Major Road Cordoned Off

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    BERLIN (Reuters) -Police and firefighters were out in large numbers along Munich’s Lerchenauer Strasse arterial road on Wednesday morning, but there is currently no danger to the public in the city known for Oktoberfest, according to a police spokesperson.

    The road has been widely cordoned off due to the major police and firefighter operations, said the spokesperson.

    The Bild newspaper reported that explosions and gunshots had been heard, and one body had been found and one person had gunshot wounds, but the circumstances were unclear.

    (Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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