Biden endorses plan to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets -officials

By Mike Stone and Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden told G7 leaders on Friday that Washington supports joint allied training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets, senior U.S. officials said, a significant endorsement as Kyiv seeks to boost its air power against Russia. Training on the U.S.-made jets will take place…

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Tennis: Romania’s Halep asks independent court hearing after additional doping charge

(Reuters) – Former world number one Simona Halep has asked to be judged by an independent tribunal after been charged with a further and separate breach of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP), by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Friday. The 31-year-old former Wimbledon and French Open champion, has been provisionally suspended since October…

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Montana could sign law defining sex, raising transgender rights concerns

By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) – Montana could become the fourth state to pass a law defining sex as strictly “male” or “female” and unchangeable, raising concern among LGBTQ advocates who see such legislation as the next trend in Republican bills that limit transgender rights. Governor Greg Gianforte, who has already authorized a bill to ban…

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Iran executes three men over recent protests, draws protests

(Reuters) -Iran on Friday executed three men it said were implicated in the deaths of three members of its security forces during last year’s anti-government demonstrations, drawing protests at home and abroad. Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaghoubi were executed in the central city of Isfahan, the judiciary said in a statement on Twitter,…

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Biden admin supports Mountain Valley Pipeline for second time in week

By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration has supported for the second time in a week the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline, a project a key Democratic senator has pushed in legislation to speed permitting of fossil fuel and power transmission projects. Equitrans Midstream Corp’s $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline has been opposed…

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Greenpeace to shut down in Russia after being declared ‘undesirable organisation’

(Reuters) -The Russian branch of environmental group Greenpeace on Friday said it would shut down after authorities declared the group an “undesirable organisation”, effectively banning it from operating. In a statement, Russia’s Prosecutor General said Greenpeace had tried to “interfere in the internal affairs of the state” and was “engaged in anti-Russian propaganda” by calling…

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Exclusive-Staff at top U.S. farm research center file complaint alleging unsafe work conditions

By Leah Douglas (Reuters) -Three employees of the largest agricultural research facility in the U.S. have filed federal whistleblower complaints alleging that the facility’s conditions are hazardous to workers and undermine their research, even as farmers are facing pressing issues like climate change, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with staff. The Beltsville…

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Ukraine says it repels attacks as Russia tries to retake land near Bakhmut

By Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey NEAR BAKHMUT, Ukraine (Reuters) -Ukraine said on Friday it had repelled attacks by Russian forces trying to recapture land they had lost around the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, where Kyiv says it has inflicted heavy Russian casualties. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian Wagner private army that is leading the…

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