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  • US Energy Department Cancels $7.6 Billion in Funding Meant for Projects

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday said it planned to cancel $7.56 billion in financing for hundreds of energy projects that it said would not provide sufficient returns to taxpayers.

    The department’s announcement came hours after White House budget director Russell Vought said in a post on X that the administration would terminate nearly $8 billion in climate-related funding in 16 Democratic-led states, including California and New York.

    The move was part of a broader, $26 billion funding freeze that was unveiled on Wednesday as President Donald Trump followed through on a threat to use the federal government shutdown to target Democratic priorities.

    In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the DOE said it would cancel 321 financial awards supporting 223 projects. It did not list the projects, but said the grants had been issued by six agency offices responsible for clean energy, efficiency, grid deployment, advanced research, manufacturing and fossil fuels.

    “President Trump promised to protect taxpayer dollars and expand America’s supply of affordable, reliable, and secure energy,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “Today’s cancellations deliver on that commitment. Rest assured, the Energy Department will continue reviewing awards to ensure that every dollar works for the American people.”

    Earlier, Bloomberg reported that the planned cancellations included funding for proposed hydrogen hubs in California and the Pacific Northwest.

    California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, criticized the administration for canceling its $1.2 billion commitment to fund his state’s hydrogen hub.

    “We’ll continue to pursue an all-of-the-above clean energy strategy that powers our future and cleans the air, no matter what DC tries to dictate,” Newsom said in a statement.

    (Reporting by Jasper Ward, Nichola Groom and Tim Gardner; Editing by Chris Reese and Thomas Derpinghaus.)

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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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  • Nirvana Again Defeats Child Pornography Lawsuit Over ‘Nevermind’ Cover

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    (Reuters) -A federal judge again threw out a lawsuit by a man who accused iconic grunge rock band Nirvana of distributing child pornography by using a photograph of him as a naked, swimming baby on the cover of its breakthrough 1991 album “Nevermind.” 

    U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin tossed out the lawsuit filed by plaintiff Spencer Elden for a second time after finding that no reasonable jury would consider the picture pornographic.

    “Other than the fact that plaintiff was nude on the album cover,” nothing “comes close to bringing the image within the ambit of the child pornography statute,” Olguin said.

    Attorneys for Elden did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Nirvana’s attorney Bert Deixler said they were “delighted that the court has ended this meritless case and freed our creative clients of the stigma of false allegations.”

    The defendants included surviving Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, late lead singer Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love and photographer Kirk Weddle.

    The lawsuit stemmed from Nirvana’s use of a photo taken by Weddle at the Pasadena Aquatic Center in California that depicted Elden swimming naked toward a dollar bill on a fishhook. Elden, now 34, first sued the band and its label Universal Music Group in 2021, accusing them of sexually exploiting him through his depiction on the cover and causing him continuing personal harm.

    Olguin dismissed the case in 2022 after finding Elden’s claims were time-barred without addressing the substance of his allegations. The 9th Circuit reversed that decision in 2023.

    Olguin determined on Tuesday that the image could not be considered child pornography, comparing it instead to a “family photo of a nude child bathing.”

    (Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by David Bario and Sergio Non)

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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)

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  • FBI Cuts Ties With Anti-Defamation League

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The FBI has cut ties with advocacy group Anti-Defamation League, Kash Patel, the bureau’s director, said on Wednesday.

    “This FBI won’t partner with political fronts masquerading as watchdogs,” Patel said in a post on X.

    (Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Katharine Jackson)

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  • Fired Rail Board Member Sues Trump Over Removal

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    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A member of the Surface Transportation Board fired by President Donald Trump in August filed suit on Wednesday, challenging his removal.

    Robert Primus called his firing an “illegal removal” and said Trump “did not identify a reason, let alone one that satisfies the statutory requirement of inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office” and asked a U.S. district judge in Washington to reinstate him. The U.S. rail regulator is considering the proposed $85-billion merger of Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern.

    The ouster is the latest in a series of dismissals by President Donald Trump’s administration from independent agencies and commissions.

    (Reporting by David Shepardson)

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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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  • Ford’s Third-Quarter US Auto Sales Rise 8.2%

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    (Reuters) -Ford Motor Co reported an 8.2% rise in its third-quarter U.S. auto sales on Wednesday, aided by steady SUV and pickup truck demand.

    The Detroit automaker reported sales of 545,522 units during the quarter compared with 504,039 units a year earlier.

    (Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru; Editing by Sharon Singleton)

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  • UnitedHealth to Exit Medicare Advantage Plans in 16 US Counties

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    NEW YORK (Reuters) -UnitedHealth said it will stop offering Medicare Advantage plans in 16 U.S. counties in 2026, impacting 180,000 members, as the company balances higher costs with reimbursement pressure in the insurance program.

    “The combination of (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) funding cuts, rising healthcare costs and increased utilization have created headwinds that no organization can ignore,” said Bobby Hunter, who runs the company’s government programs.

    UnitedHealth is leaving the counties but will continue to operate in most states, he said in a Tuesday press briefing.

    The government pays private insurers to operate the Medicare Advantage plans for people 65 and older or with disabilities. The company’s UnitedHealthcare insurance business has the most enrolled members, ahead of rivals CVS Health and Humana.

    UnitedHealth suspended its full-year guidance this year, after missing earnings for the first time since 2008. The company attributed the first-quarter earnings miss to unexpected costs in its Medicare Advantage business as members increased use of medical services.

    UnitedHealth in a second-quarter earnings call said regulatory changes set to decrease payments the company receives for certain conditions would present a $4 billion risk to insurance profits in 2026.

    It flagged in its second-quarter earnings release that closing certain plans with about 200,000 members could help mitigate the impact.

    When compared with 2023, Hunter said government funding will have dropped in 2026 by about 20%.

    The company will cease operating over 100 plans representing about 600,000 members in all, largely comprised of preferred provider organizations or those that allow members to see providers outside of a plan network, Hunter said.

    The exits will likely steer patients toward health maintenance organizations, or plans which require more frequent referrals and limit patients to a network of providers, Hunter said.

    Most plan closures will occur in rural areas said Hunter, where UnitedHealthcare is still working to streamline operations: “We need a model that is sustainable and allows us to bring care to folks in those areas in a cost-effective way.”

    (Reporting by Amina Niasse; Editing by Caroline Humer and Jane Merriman)

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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Gaza Flotilla Says Unlit Vessels Approached Its Boats, Prompting Security Measures

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    (Reuters) -The international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza said on Wednesday that several of its boats were approached by unidentified vessels, some navigating without lights.

    The Global Sumud Flotilla said in post on Telegram that the vessels have departed, and participants implemented security protocols in anticipation of a possible interception.

    (Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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  • South Korea to Increase Defence Budget by 8.2% Next Year, President Lee Says

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    By Ju-min Park and Heejin Kim

    SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Wednesday the country’s defence budget for next year would rise by 8.2% to 66.3 trillion won ($47.1 billion), adding that peace would only be possible on a strong foundation of security.

    Lee made the comments on South Korea’s Armed Forces Day, highlighting the importance of self-defence capabilities.

    “The momentum for cooperation and shared prosperity is weakening across the world, and we are entering an era of increased conflict, where it’s every man for himself,” Lee said.

    “To ensure peace and prosperity for the Republic of Korea, we must not depend on anyone else but strengthen our own power,” said Lee, using South Korea’s official name.

    Lee said next year’s defence budget, with its “significant” increase, would be focused on investing in cutting-edge technology like drones and robots.

    The South Korean leader, who is pursuing engagement with North Korea, said that peace would only be possible on a strong foundation of security. He said the country’s defence spending was already 1.4 times North Korea’s gross domestic product.

    Lee took office in June after a snap election, which followed the fall of Yoon Suk Yeol, who imposed a short-lived martial law order that prompted troops and military helicopters to be deployed to parliament and other buildings.

    Lee said the military’s reputation had suffered an “endless decline” and called for the military to regain public trust.

    “An army meant to protect the people must never repeat pointing its guns at them,” he said.

    (Reporting by Ju-min Park, Heejin Kim; Editing by Tom Hogue and Michael Perry)

    Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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