Russian theatre director accused of ‘justifying terrorism’ remanded in custody

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A prominent Russian theatre director was remanded in custody for two months on Friday after being accused of justifying terrorism with an award-winning play about Russian women who married Islamic State fighters, the state news agency TASS reported. Investigators opened a case this week against Yevgenia (Zhenya) Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk,…

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Florida legislature approves bill allowing board to cancel Disney deals

(Reuters) – Florida’s Senate on Thursday passed a bill that will allow a tourism board appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to cancel development agreements its predecessor body signed, the latest salvo against the Walt Disney Co from the conservative leader. Under the bill, which now goes to DeSantis for signing into law, the Central Florida…

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Biden says Republicans manufacturing a crisis over debt limit

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden sharply criticized ‘MAGA’ Republicans for their refusal to vote in a higher federal debt ceiling, signaling that there would be little compromise from the White House at a key May 9 meeting with congressional leaders. Republicans are “divided” on the debt ceiling, Biden said, speaking ahead of a meeting…

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Senators urge US Postal Service to delay rural worker compensation plan

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Six U.S. senators on Friday urged the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to delay implementing a new compensation system that they said would cut pay for tens of thousands of rural postal delivery workers. The senators — Democrats Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Ed Markey and John Fetterman and independent…

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India’s Go First, lessors lock horns as bankruptcy hearings begin

By Arpan Chaturvedi and Siddhi Nayak NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian airline Go First’s effort to start insolvency proceedings has become ensnared in a tussle with aircraft lessors after they asked the aviation regulator to deregister some of its planes as a step towards taking them back. India’s first major airline collapse since 2019 underlines…

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CDC to scale back data collection as US ends COVID health emergency

By Ahmed Aboulenein WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday it would stop reporting or monitoring COVID-19 case data and transmission rates after the government ends the pandemic’s public health emergency designation next week. The agency will stop using its color-coded COVID-19 Community Levels (CCL) system, which…

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