BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany’s cabinet approved the first draft of its 2024 budget and financial plans through 2027, the finance ministry said on Wednesday, as Europe’s biggest economic power curbs spending that surged in response to COVID-19 and the Ukraine war. “Today we have adopted a budget proposal aligned with fiscal realities,” Finance Minister Christian Lindner…
(Reuters) -Quebecor said on Wednesday it will pull its ads from Facebook and Instagram, following Meta Platforms’ decision to stop access to news on the platforms in Canada over a law requiring payments to local news publishers. The “Online News Act”, or House of Commons bill C-18, introduced in April last year laid out rules…
By Andrew MacAskill LONDON (Reuters) – Two Hong Kong activists living in Britain, who were subjects of arrest warrants for alleged national security offences, said on Wednesday they will continue to highlight China’s crackdown on freedoms despite fears for their safety. Hong Kong police issued arrest warrants for eight overseas-based activists on Monday, accusing them…
By Ali Sawafta JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian militant fighters paraded in Jenin on Wednesday and angry crowds confronted senior Palestinian Authority officials, accusing them of weakness, after one of the largest Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank in years. The two-day operation, which the Israeli military said targeted infrastructure and weapons…
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya will delay re-opening its border with Somalia because of a “wave of attacks” it blames on al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants, interior minister Kithure Kindiki said on Wednesday. In May the two governments agreed to reopen within 90 days several border posts including Mandera, Liboi, and Kiunga, which have been closed…
By Anne Kauranen, Johan Ahlander TORNIO, Finland/KARLSKRONA, Sweden (Reuters) -High above a railway bridge spanning a foaming river just outside the Arctic Circle, Finnish construction workers hammer away at a project that will smooth the connections from NATO’s Atlantic coastline in Norway to its new border with Russia. “We will be removing some 1,200 of…
By Andrius Sytas VILNIUS (Reuters) – A mock prison cell imitating one in which prominent Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has spent months of solitary confinement was put on display in Vilnius on Wednesday, ahead of a NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital next week. Oleg Navalny unveiled the display to highlight the case of…
By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia has removed hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants to a desolate area along the border with Libya, a local rights group and a lawmaker said on Wednesday, with witnesses reporting dozens more put on outbound trains following days of violence. Disturbances between migrants and residents went on for a…
By Ahmad Ghaddar, Alex Lawler and Shadia Nasralla VIENNA (Reuters) – Russia-Saudi oil cooperation is still going strong as part of the OPEC+ alliance, which will do “whatever necessary” to support the market, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told a conference on Wednesday. OPEC+, a group comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting…
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday that he knew of further plans for large investments in chip production in Germany, a welcome trend as Europe looks to reduce its reliance on China when it comes to strategically important industries. “I know of other plans by German companies and many others,” Scholz…
