Security worries overshadow Russia’s Victory Day preparations

By Gareth Jones (Reuters) – Russia stages its annual Victory Day parade on Red Square on Tuesday amid particularly tight security after a series of drone attacks, including on the Kremlin citadel, symbolic heart of the Russian state, that Moscow has blamed on Ukraine. Victory Day is a key anniversary for President Vladimir Putin, who…

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Japan’s PM tells South Koreans his ‘heart hurts’ over pain caused by occupation

By Choonsik Yoo, Hyonhee Shin and Sakura Murakami SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told South Koreans on Sunday his “heart hurts” when he thinks of suffering and pain during Japanese colonial rule, in a nod to historical disputes that have soured relations between the two U.S. allies. Kishida was in Seoul for the…

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Former FCC Chair Newton Minow, who called 1960s TV ‘vast wasteland’, dies at 97

By Bill Trott (Reuters) – Former U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chair Newton Minow, who lambasted television as a “vast wasteland” more than 60 years ago and challenged the broadcast world to come up with imaginative alternatives, died on Saturday at the age of 97, his daughter Nell Minow said on Twitter. Minow in 2011 said…

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IAEA warns of dangers around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as evacuations under way

(Reuters) -The head of the U.N.’s nuclear power watchdog warned on Saturday that the situation around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear station has become “potentially dangerous” as Moscow-installed officials began evacuating people from nearby areas. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), called for measures to ensure the safe operation of Europe’s…

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Iraqi court sentences police officer to death for murder of government adviser

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced to death a police officer blamed for leading a group that gunned down well-known analyst and government adviser Hisham al-Hashemi three years ago in Baghdad. Hashemi, who had advised the government on defeating Sunni Muslim Islamic State militants and curbing the influence of the pro-Iran Shi’ite…

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Russia’s Wagner group signals it will stay in Bakhmut after threat to quit

(Reuters) – The head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group appeared on Sunday to ditch plans to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine after receiving promises overnight that they would get all the arms needed to capture the devastated city. Yevgeny Prigozhin announced on Friday that his fighters, who have spearheaded the months-long assault…

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King Charles’ coronation blends splendour and intimacy inside Westminster Abbey

(Corrects spelling of Westminster Abbey in dateline) By Rachel Armstrong WESTMINSTER ABBEY, London (Reuters) – The explosive crescendo of “Zadok the Priest”, Handel’s soaring anthem composed nearly 300 years ago for the crowning of King George III, marked the most sacred moment of Charles’ coronation on Saturday. Inside Westminster Abbey, where kings and queens have…

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