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Rare Aztec ritual offerings put on display in Mexico exhibit
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A museum exhibit displaying Aztec ritual offerings dug up from underneath downtown Mexico City opened on Friday in a first-ever showcase that offers new insight into pre-Hispanic art and religious practices....
US judge refuses to block Medicare from negotiating drug prices
(Reuters) -The U.S. government’s Medicare health insurance program can begin negotiating prices for some prescription drugs this fall under a new program, a federal judge ruled on Friday, vindicating one of President Joe Biden’s signature initiatives. The order by U.S. District Judge Michael Newman in Dayton, Ohio, comes in a lawsuit brought against the Biden...
US National Zoo bids farewell to pandas as government shutdown looms
(Reuters) – Washington’s National Zoo is honoring its three giant pandas with nine days of events ahead of their return to China but stormy weather and a looming U.S. government shutdown have put something of a damper on the festivities. The “Panda Palooza” to honor their legacy as animal ambassadors and beloved Washington icons drew...
India’s Jaishankar says Canada has ‘climate of violence’ for Indian diplomats
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Friday there was a “climate of violence” and an “atmosphere of intimidation” against Indian diplomats in Canada, where the presence of Sikh separatist groups has frustrated New Delhi. “Because there is freedom of speech, to make threats and intimidate diplomats, I don’t think that’s acceptable,”...
Burkina Faso junta leader says no elections until the country safe for voting
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Burkina Faso’s junta leader, Ibrahim Traore, said on Friday that there would be no elections until the country was safe enough for everyone to vote. The military government that seized power in a coup last year has committed to organising a vote to restore civilian rule in 2024.
Suspect in rapper Tupac Shakur’s 1996 slaying charged with murder in Las Vegas
(Reuters) -An accused former street gang leader was arrested on Friday on a charge of murder in the Las Vegas shooting death of hip-hop star Tupac Shakur nearly three decades ago, marking a breakthrough for a long-unsolved case that was a defining moment in the history of rap music. A grand jury in Clark County,...
New York deluge triggers flash floods, brings chaos to subways
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Torrential downpours after a week of mostly steady rainfall brought flash flooding to New York City on Friday, disrupting subway service, inundating ground-level apartments and turning some streets into small lakes. Almost eight inches (20 cm) of rain fell in some parts of the most populous city in the U.S., enough to...
Idaho can enforce abortion ban in medical emergencies, court rules
(Reuters) – Idaho can fully enforce its near-total abortion ban after a U.S. appeals court lifted a lower court order that had partially blocked it. A unanimous panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the state ban on abortion, which includes a narrow exception for abortions that are...
Republicans reject own funding bill, US government shutdown imminent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Hardline Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday rejected a bill proposed by their leader to temporarily fund the government, making it all but certain that federal agencies will partially shut down beginning on Sunday. In a 232-198 vote, the House defeated a measure that would extend government funding by 30...
Suicide bombings at two mosques in Pakistan kill at least 57
QUETTA/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) -Suicide bombings ripped through two mosques in Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 57 people, including seven children, as believers marked the birthday of the Prophet Mohammad, police and health officials said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, from which the death toll could climb, with many people seriously injured...
Aid agency urges Johnson & Johnson to improve access to tuberculosis drug
GENEVA (Reuters) -Global health aid agency Unitaid has written to Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) CEO Joaquin Duato, urging “immediate action” to expand access to the company’s tuberculosis drug bedaquiline, which is protected by patents hindering generic alternatives. While J&J has already lowered the price of bedaquiline which is used to treat drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB), Unitaid...
Blinken urges Indian cooperation in Canada’s Sikh murder probe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday he had urged his Indian counterpart to work with Canada to investigate the killing of a Sikh separatist advocate that the Canadian prime minister has linked to Indian government agents. India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed earlier he had spoken to Blinken and the...
Suicide bomber kills at least 7 in Somali tea shop; al Shabaab claims responsibility
MOGADISHU (Reuters) -A suicide bomber set off an explosion at a shop selling tea in Somalia’s capital on Friday, killing at least seven people, a witness and medical personnel. Police put the number of dead at five. Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its Arabic media unit...
Bolivia faces water shortage as winter heat wave drives drought
LA PAZ (Reuters) – A prolonged drought in Bolivia and one of the hottest winters on record is threatening to leave parts of the South American country short of water, including in the high-altitude city of El Alto, some 4,000 meters above sea level. Climate change is affecting glaciers in the Bolivian Andes that provide...
Turkey’s top appeals court upholds philanthropist Kavala’s life sentence
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s top appeals court on Thursday upheld the life sentence for philanthropist Osman Kavala, broadcaster Haberturk and other media reported, while overturning 18-year prison sentences for three others in the same case. Kavala, 65, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in April 2022, while seven others in the case received...
In Brazil’s Amazon, drought affects locals’ access to food and water
By Bruno Kelly and Steven Grattan MANACAPURU, Brazil (Reuters) – Some rivers winding through Brazil’s vast Amazon rainforest have piled up with dead fish in recent days as a worsening drought has led water levels to fall, affecting local communities’ access to food and drinking supplies. Over 110,000 people have already been affected, officials say,...
DNA remnants found in fossil of 6 million year old turtle
(Reuters) – Remnants of DNA have been discovered in fossilized remains dating to 6 million years ago of a sea turtle closely related to today’s Kemp’s ridley and olive ridley turtles, marking one of the rare times genetic material has been identified in such ancient fossils of a vertebrate, researchers said on Thursday. The researchers...
Wegovy, other weight-loss drugs scrutinized over reports of suicidal thoughts
(Reuters) – Dawn Heidlebaugh felt trapped in a disturbing pattern while taking Ozempic, the popular drug used to treat diabetes and obesity. Each Sunday for more than a year, the 53-year-old Ohio real estate agent took her weekly injection to help control her blood sugar. Then every Tuesday, she felt lethargic, depressed and sometimes suicidal,...
Student gunman kills three in Rotterdam university shooting
ROTTERDAM (Reuters) -A gunman killed three people in the Dutch city of Rotterdam on Thursday, shooting a local woman and her daughter in their home then storming into a classroom of Rotterdam’s university hospital and opening fire on a male teacher. The 32-year-old suspect, a university student, shot dead a 39-year-old woman who lived in...
Indian protesters try to storm home of Manipur chief minister
GUWAHATI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) -At least 10 people were injured on Thursday when Indian security officials used tear gas and batons to disperse protesters trying to storm the home of the chief minister of Manipur state, defying a curfew, a senior police officer said. Another police official said the situation was “extremely tense” after armed mobs...
US backs Pacific undersea internet cable amid China competition
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The United States is backing a new undersea internet cable connecting several Pacific islands, according to a plan for the project seen by Reuters, boosting Washington’s interests in a region where it is vying for influence with China. The Central Pacific Cable would connect American Samoa with Guam – two U.S. territories...
Australia says exports of hay to China will resume
CANBERRA (Reuters) – The Australian government said on Thursday that China was removing barriers to imports of hay from Australia, the latest step towards normalising trade relations between the two countries. China restricted imports of a range of commodities from Australia in 2020 after Australia called for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19 but...
29th September
S.Africa’s RCL Foods culls 410,000 chickens amid bird flu outbreak
(Reuters) – South Africa’s RCL Foods said on Thursday its poultry unit Rainbow has culled 410,000 chickens due to the country’s worst outbreak of avian flu, heightening fears of chicken meat and egg shortages. The outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), a bird flu which spreads rapidly in an infected flock causing a high...
Swiss glaciers lose 10% of volume in worst two years on record
ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland’s glaciers suffered their second worst melt rate this year after record 2022 losses, shrinking their overall volume by 10% in the last two years, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Thursday. The one-two punch for Swiss glaciers during the country’s third hottest summer on record means they lost as much ice in...
DNA remnants found in fossil of 6 million year old turtle
(Reuters) – Remnants of DNA have been discovered in fossilized remains dating to 6 million years ago of a sea turtle closely related to today’s Kemp’s ridley and olive ridley turtles, marking one of the rare times genetic material has been identified in such ancient fossils of a vertebrate, researchers said on Thursday. The researchers...
Vietnam jails environmental activist for 3 years for tax fraud
HANOI (Reuters) -A Vietnamese court has sentenced an environmental activist to three years in prison on charges of tax fraud, just days after the government discussed protecting human rights with U.S. President Joe Biden during a state visit. Hoang Thi Minh Hong, director of an environmental advocacy group that she started in 2013 and ran...
Dry weather threatens Argentine wheat, but rain on the horizon
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine wheat yields during the 2023/24 season in western farmland could continue to fall if much-needed rains do not arrive quickly, the Buenos Aires grains exchange (BdeC) warned in a report on Thursday. Agricultural powerhouse Argentina is a top global exporter of the grain used to make bread and pasta, but...
Shutdown looms as US Senate, House advance separate spending plans
By David Morgan and Moira Warburton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Democratic-led U.S. Senate forged ahead on Thursday with a bipartisan stopgap funding bill aimed at averting a fourth partial government shutdown in a decade, while the House prepared to vote on partisan Republican spending bills with no chance of becoming law. The divergent paths of...
US finalizes plans to phase out single-use plastic on public lands
(Reuters) – The agency that oversees one-fifth of U.S. lands said on Thursday that it had finalized plans to phase out single-use plastics in public spaces like national parks and wildlife refuges within the next decade. The blueprints are a key step toward implementing Interior Department Secretary Deb Haaland’s order last year to reduce the...
Swiss glaciers lose 10% of volume in worst two years on record
By Cecile Mantovani and Denis Balibouse ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland’s glaciers suffered their second worst melt rate this year after record 2022 losses, shrinking their overall volume by 10% in the last two years, monitoring body GLAMOS said on Thursday. The one-two punch for Swiss glaciers during the country’s third hottest summer on record means...
