Chinese spy balloon’s solar panels could power sophisticated radar -Washington Post

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Chinese spy balloon that was shot down by the U.S. in February carried solar panels that could generate enough electricity to power a type of radar that can generate images at night and through clouds, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing leaked U.S. intelligence documents. The balloon’s surveillance capabilities were…

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Eleven killed in Russian strike, Ukraine rescue teams sift through wreckage

By Kai Pfaffenbach SLOVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Russian missiles hit residential buildings in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk on Friday, killing 11 people, wounding 21 and reducing parts of apartment blocks to a tangled mess of metal and concrete. Eleven people were killed and 21 wounded, Ukrainian public braodcaster Suspilne reported on Saturday, citing…

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France’s Macron signs contested pension law as unions plan more protests

PARIS (Reuters) -French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday signed into law a deeply unpopular bill to raise the state pension age, infuriating unions that called for months of mass protests to continue. The proclamation of the law in the government’s official journal came hours after France’s Constitutional Council had approved the main pension-age increase in…

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U.S., Vietnam say they hope to deepen ties as Blinken visits Hanoi

By Humeyra Pamuk HANOI (Reuters) -Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday expressed a desire to deepen their ties as Washington seeks to solidify alliances to counter an increasingly assertive China.     In his first visit to the southeast Asian country as the top U.S. diplomat, Blinken…

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Atomic ‘angst’ over? Germany closes last nuclear plants

By Riham Alkousaa BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany will pull the plug on its last three nuclear power stations by Saturday, ending a six-decade programme that spawned one of Europe’s strongest protest movements but saw a brief reprieve due to the Ukraine war. The smoking towers of Isar II, Emsland and Neckarwestheim II reactors were to…

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US bank giants ride rate rises, keep storm clouds at bay

By Nupur Anand, Tatiana Bautzer and Saeed Azhar NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. banking heavyweights reaped windfalls from higher interest payments in the first quarter, brushing off a crisis prompted by the collapse of two regional lenders and setting aside billions of dollars in case loans turn sour as the economic outlook dims. First-quarter 2023 earnings…

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