The Fiji Times

Food insecurity in Africa should be overcome in 5 years

By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) – Programs supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB) in over 30 African countries have helped produce some $12 billion worth of food, and the bank’s $25 billion objective is “well on track,” AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina said on Friday. “As far as I’m concerned, we shouldn’t be talking...

Lockheed Martin F-35A fighter jets land on motorway

OSLO (Reuters) – A pair of F-35A Lockheed Martin fighter jets have landed on a motorway for the first time, footage from the Norwegian military showed, a step that enables them to reduce vulnerable time on the ground in times of war. The two Royal Norwegian Air Force aircraft landed in Tervo, central Finland, on...

Cattle graze in dry reservoirs as drought grips Istanbul

By Ali Kucukgocmen ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Cattle now graze and sunflowers grow in the dried lakebed of the Terkos Dam outside Istanbul, where a drought this year has reduced water levels in the reservoirs of Turkey’s largest city to their lowest in nearly a decade. In the 11 months to September, Turkey’s northwest received 23%...

Abbott India warns of laxatives shortage in tussle with Goa regulator

By Rishika Sadam HYDERABAD (Reuters) – Abbott Laboratories’ Indian unit has warned of potential supply shortages of two popular laxative syrups after production was prohibited in India’s Goa state, where drug inspectors have found lapses at a company factory, a letter shows. Goa, where Abbott has one of its two India plants, asked the company...

US finalizes rules to prevent China from benefiting from $52 billion in chips funding

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday is issuing final rules to prevent semiconductor manufacturing subsidies from being used by China and other countries deemed to pose American national security concerns. The regulation is the final hurdle before the Biden administration can begin awarding $39 billion in subsidies for semiconductor...

DeSantis embraces risky abortion stance to draw contrast with Trump

By James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As Ron DeSantis’ path to the Republican presidential nomination appears to be narrowing, the Florida governor has decided to go all-in on perhaps his most divisive and potentially toxic policy stance: support of a six-week abortion ban. A hardline position on abortion is fraught with political risk. Polls show...

Morocco earthquake affected 2.8 million people, says minister

RABAT (Reuters) – Morocco’s earthquake damaged 2,930 villages in the High Atlas mountains with a total population of 2.8 million people, the minister in charge of the budget said on Friday. The 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on Sept. 8 killed more than 2,900 people, most of them in hard-to-reach mountainous areas. At least 59,674...

Asylum seekers in Italy told to pay to avoid detention

By Crispian Balmer ROME (Reuters) – Asylum seekers in Italy will have to pay 4,938 euros ($5,259) to avoid detention while their request for protection is being processed, the government said on Friday, in a measure apparently aimed at deterring migrants. Facing a surge in new arrivals, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition announced this week...

Spain sentences ex-ETA member to 30 years in jail for 2001 killing

MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s High Court has convicted Mikel Carrera Sarobe, an ex-militant of the now disbanded Basque separatist group ETA, of shooting dead a prominent politician in 2001 and sentenced him to 30 years in prison, a court document showed. Carrera, 51, who is already serving a long prison sentence in France for multiple...

California lets insurers factor wildfire risks in rates to widen coverage

(Reuters) – California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara took steps on Thursday to allow property insurers to factor in climate risks including wildfires in rate prices, if they increase underwriting in at-risk areas to wean consumers off state-funded coverage. Since 2022, seven of the state’s top 12 insurers have paused or restricted new business, including State...

Peter Hawkings offers slinky designs in Tom Ford debut at Milan Fashion

MILAN (Reuters) – British designer Peter Hawkings made his Tom Ford debut at Milan Fashion Week late on Thursday, offering an array of sleek suits, slinky dresses and towering stilettos for women next summer. Models wore fitted trouser suits as well as jackets paired with tiny matching shorts, figure-hugging long frocks and short leather dresses....

India releases Kashmir separatist leader from four-year house arrest

By Fayaz Bukhari and Rupam Jain SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A prominent Kashmir separatist leader led Friday prayers at the region’s grand mosque after he was released by Indian authorities from four years under house arrest. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the chairman of the moderate faction of Kashmir’s main separatist political alliance, was one of several...

More bumps in the road to wiping out polio

By Jennifer Rigby LONDON (Reuters) – The global effort to end polio is likely to miss two key targets this year on the path towards defeating the virus, according to an independent strategic review. The aim in 2023 was to interrupt the transmission of wild polio in the two countries where it is still endemic,...

Refrigerated trucks may give Singapore startup edge into China EV market

By Kevin Krolicki and Chen Aizhu SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Fully electric refrigerated trucks for delivering food and pharmaceuticals are expected to give a Singapore-based startup the edge to crack into the crowded Chinese electric vehicle (EV) market. Singauto Technology will unveil its first EV cold storage truck model at an event in Beijing on Tuesday...

Alabama seeks to execute prisoner using nitrogen gas asphyxiation

By Jonathan Allen (Reuters) – The Supreme Court of Alabama is weighing whether to allow the state to become the first to execute a prisoner with a novel method: asphyxiation using nitrogen gas. Last month, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall asked the court to allow the state to proceed with gassing Kenneth Smith, who was...

Exclusive-At least 40% of Colombia’s ELN rebels seen rejecting peace deal

By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) – At least 40% of fighters from Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels could reject a potential peace deal being negotiated with the government, three high-level security sources told Reuters, citing reluctance to surrender profits from drug smuggling and illegal mining. The estimate puts at risk ambitious plans by...

England had 4,500 heat-related deaths during record-breaking 2022

LONDON (Reuters) – There were an estimated 4,507 heat-related deaths in England in 2022, according to an official study on climate-related mortality published on Friday which showed some signs of an increase in deaths linked to hot weather. Britain recorded its hottest day ever in July 2022, when temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius as part...

In Washington, Zelenskiy courts Congress, Biden on military aid

By Andrea Shalal, Makini Brice and Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday that strong U.S. support for his war to repel Russian invaders will be maintained despite opposition from some Republican lawmakers to sending billions more in aid. Biden and Zelenskiy held a war council...

Britain’s Superdrug to stop selling single-use vapes

LONDON (Reuters) – British pharmacy chain Superdrug will stop selling single-use vapes, the company announced on Friday, citing the environmental impact caused by their disposal and the popularity of the products among young people. Nearly five million disposable vapes are thrown away every week in Britain according to research by non-governmental organisation Material Focus and...

Argentina wheat sales stall as farmers wait for election, rains

By Maximilian Heath BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s sales of the upcoming wheat crop are the slowest in seven years, delayed by farmers waiting for heavier rainfall and gambling on the result of the country’s Oct. 22 presidential election, with some candidates pledging tax cuts on grains exports. Argentina, a major exporter of wheat, along...

Karabakh Armenians: no agreement yet with Azerbaijan on guarantees or amnesty

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The ethnic Armenian leadership of breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh said on Friday that there were no concrete results yet from talks with Azerbaijan on possible security guarantees or an amnesty that Baku is proposing. “These questions must still be resolved,” David Babayan, an adviser to Samvel Shahramanyan, the president of the self-styled Republic of...

Brazil favela activist plants green roofs to combat heat wave

By Ricardo Moraes RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Luis Cassiano climbs a ladder and gently places small bundles of plants on a tin rooftop in a poor Rio de Janeiro neighborhood. The 53-year-old Brazilian environmental activist is planting “green roofs” to grow atop the Rio homes in an effort to lower the sweltering temperatures inside....

Spain’s Catalonia region to provide period products for free at pharmacies

BARCELONA (Reuters) – Catalonia will provide reusable menstrual cups, period pants and pads for free at pharmacies to counter so-called “period poverty”, as the Spanish region follows Scotland with one of the first initiatives of its kind. The products are due to become available during the first quarter of 2024 and will benefit around 2.5...

Nigeria’s Tinubu urges UN to help curb exploitation of Africa’s resources

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Nigerian President Bola Tinubu urged the United Nations to become more proactive in addressing his African nation’s poverty and security issues and helping to fight illicit resource extraction, his spokesman said on Thursday. Tinubu raised the issues when he met U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday on the sidelines of the...

Israel says its tanks hit two structures used by Syrian army in Golan area

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s military said on Thursday that its tanks had struck two “temporary structures” used by the Syrian army in the area of the Golan Heights in violation of a 1974 disengagement accord. “The strike was carried out after IDF (Israel Defense Forces) soldiers identified the two structures in the area of the...

Yemen Houthis flex military muscle in parade as Riyadh seeks ceasefire

By Abdulrahman Al-Ansi SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen’s Houthi movement displayed ballistic missiles and armed drones in a massive military parade in Sanaa on Thursday, a message to their foes in a Saudi-led coalition as they continue ceasefire negotiations with Riyadh. The head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, and other officials watched as...

China won’t stand by idly in case of German 5G restrictions – embassy

BERLIN (Reuters) – China will not stand by idly if the German government decides to restrict the use of components from Chinese firms such as Huawei and ZTE <000063.SZ> in its 5G network, the Chinese embassy in Berlin said on Thursday. Germany’s interior ministry has proposed forcing telecoms operators to curb their use of equipment...

For Libya’s Haftar, flood aftermath tests strongman image

(Reuters) – After Derna’s catastrophic floods, eastern Libyan military leader Khalifa Haftar flew in by helicopter and received salutes from his troops as he toured the city where thousands of people were killed when whole districts were swept away. Three days later, residents vented their anger on the mud-caked streets, torching the mayor’s house as...

U.S. government awards $45 million for long COVID clinics

By Ahmed Aboulenein WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government is awarding $45 million in grants to help clinics treating long COVID develop new models of care and expand access, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Wednesday. Nine clinics will receive $1 million grants annually over the next five years through the...

World

Island nations blame rich countries for climate inaction at UN assembly