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Thousands march in protest of Treaty bill

Thousands of people have joined a march towards New Zealand’s national capital after a contentious bill that would reinterpret the country’s 184-year-old founding document passed its first hurdle in parliament. Several rallies against the Treaty Principles Bill are being staged in towns across the country as a nine-day march, or hikoi, moves to Wellington.

Reuters

South America

Irreversible damage done to ancient Chilean geoglyphs

Over a thousand years ago, the hundreds of giant geoglyphs carved into the desert in northern Chile were a bustling scene. They marked sources of water in the vast arid landscape and were where locals came together to trade skins, animals and fish. Now the carvings are scarred with hundreds of tire tracks from motorcycles and off-road vehicles tearing through the art creations in the landscape and permanently disfiguring them.

Reuters

Explainer

2 hours ago

Who has Trump picked so far?

President-elect Donald Trump has made a flurry of picks for his cabinet and other high-ranking administration positions following his election victory. Here are his early picks overseeing key portfolios and key positions.

Reuters

2 hours ago

Politics

3 hours ago

Burgum set for interior secretary

President-elect Donald Trump has picked North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, a wealthy former software company executive, to be his interior secretary. “He’s going to head the Department of Interior, and it’s going to be fantastic,“ a tuxedo-wearing Trump said at a gala at his Mar-a-Lago Florida retreat, adding that he would make an official announcement on Friday. Burgum, 68, has portrayed himself as a traditional, business-minded conservative. He ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination before quitting and becoming a loyal Trump supporter, appearing at fundraisers and advocating for Trump on television.

Reuters

3 hours ago

Odd Spot

Traveller caught with 320 tarantulas strapped to body

A Korean citizen was detained last week at Lima’s airport with 320 tarantulas, 110 centipedes, and nine bullet ants concealed within two girdles strapped to his body. The animals, including tarantulas the size of a hand, were suspected to have been illegally extracted from the Madre de Dios region. The 28-year-old man had planned to fly to South Korea, but was discovered when security staff noticed his stomach looked unusually swollen.

Reuters

Koreas

Kim orders mass production of suicide drones

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has guided a test of suicide drones and ordered a mass production of the aerial weapon, saying the introduction of such drones around the world requires an urgent update of military theory, state media says. Kim had previously supervised the test of suicide drones earlier in the year amid a rapidly developing military cooperation with Russia, raising questions as to whether he was receiving technical help from Moscow to develop them.

Reuters

Israel

7 hours ago

Hostage families call on Trump, Biden to work together

Families of Israeli hostages taken captive to Gaza by Islamist group Hamas have urged US President Joe Biden and president-elect Donald Trump to work on a deal to free those still being held before winter. A delegation of former hostages and hostages’ relatives were visiting Rome for meetings including with the local Jewish community and Pope Francis. They said a deal was swiftly needed to bring back all the hostages still being held after the October 7 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel that triggered the Gaza war, and said Biden and Trump should work together.

Reuters

7 hours ago

Diplomacy

Trump focus of Biden’s global farewell

US President Joe Biden is heading to South America for a curtain call with global leaders after over 50 years in US politics, but the man he tried and failed to keep from returning to power is likely to be the focus of many meetings – incoming US President Donald Trump. Biden will hold private meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and the heads of Japan, South Korea and Brazil during the summits of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, in Peru and the Group of 20 leading economies, or G20, in Brazil.

Reuters

Lebanon

Ceasefire efforts inch ahead

Diplomacy aimed at securing a ceasefire in Lebanon has shown tentative signs of progress as Israel pounded its northern neighbour including heavy airstrikes on the stronghold of armed group Hezbollah near Beirut. Pressing its offensive against the Iran-backed group, Israel hit Beirut’s Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, carrying out intense attacks there for a third consecutive day. Plumes of smoke rose over the suburbs known as Dahiyeh, where Israeli strikes destroyed five buildings, sources familiar with the damage said.

Reuters

Motoring

NYC races to revive congestion toll

New York plans to revive a congestion mitigation charge for driving in Manhattan starting in January that the state indefinitely put on hold earlier this year, Governor Kathy Hochul says. New York City’s congestion pricing program, the first of its kind in the United States, was initially to have charged a toll of $15 during daytime hours for passenger vehicles driving in Manhattan south of 60th Street starting on June 30.

Reuters

Economy

9 hours ago

Argentina’s risk index hits lowest level since 2019

Argentina’s country risk index has plunged to its lowest level since July 2019 as markets showed confidence in its public debt performance, fiscal surplus, inflation curbs and government dollar buybacks under libertarian President Javier Milei. The JPMorgan risk benchmark, which shows the yield spread on bonds versus comparable US debt, fell to 772 basis points at 2000 GMT, after breaking the barrier of 800 basis points at market close on Wednesday.

Reuters

9 hours ago

Conflict

17 hours ago

Iran seeks nuke talks without duress

Iran is willing to resolve outstanding disputes over its nuclear program but won’t succumb to pressure, its foreign minister told the UN’s nuclear watchdog head, as European countries push for diplomacy before Donald Trump’s return to the White House. ”The ball is in the EU/E3 court,“ Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on X following talks in Tehran with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, referring to three European countries – France, Britain and Germany – which represent the West alongside the United States at nuclear talks.

Reuters

17 hours ago

Russia

Top official in China after warplane appears at air show

The trade portion of China’s largest air show in Zhuhai wrapped up on a rainy Thursday, with the secretary of Russia’s Security Council visiting days after the Russian-made Su-57 stealth jet flew in its first appearance away from home. Military gear...

Reuters

Aviation

Lessons to learn in air traffic control meltdown

Britain’s aviation regulator said the country’s air traffic operator should review its contingency plans and notify airlines of possible disruption earlier, in its report on an air traffic meltdown in August 2023. The incident, caused by an IT...

Reuters

Gaza

Borrell pushes EU to cut off Israel

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has proposed that the bloc suspend a political dialogue with Israel, citing possible human rights violations in the war in Gaza, according to four diplomats. In a letter sent to EU foreign ministers ahead of their meeting this coming Monday, Borrell cited “serious concerns about possible breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza” and said “thus far, these concerns have not been sufficiently addressed by Israel”.

Reuters

Brazil

Suspected bomber dead after blasts at Brazil’s top court

A man has killed himself with a bomb outside Brazil’s Supreme Court after trying to enter the building, officials say, stirring security concerns before the country hosts global leaders from the G20 major economies. The blasts come five days before the G20 heads of state meet in Rio de Janeiro, followed by a state visit to the capital Brasilia by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The first of two explosions went off in a parking lot near the court building and a second blast came seconds later in front of the court, where the man’s body was found.

Reuters

Defence

Trump team ‘drawing up list of Pentagon officers to fire’

Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team are drawing up a list of military officers to be fired, potentially to include the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two sources say, in what would be an unprecedented shakeup at the Pentagon. The planning for the firings is at an early stage after Trump’s November 5 election victory and could change as Trump’s administration takes shape, said the sources, who are familiar with the Trump transition and requested anonymity to speak candidly about the plans.

Reuters

Ukraine

Ukrainian forces repel Russian bid to retake Kupiansk

Ukrainian forces on have repelled an attempt by Russian troops to pierce defences near the northeastern city of Kupiansk, Ukraine’s General Staff says. Kupiansk was seized by Russian troops in the early days of their February 2022 invasion and recaptured by Ukrainian troops in a lightning counter-offensive months later. In recent months, the area has seen an upsurge of activity by Russian forces.

Reuters

Politics

Handshake seals vow of calm transfer

President-elect Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, longtime political rivals, have met for the first time since Trump won back the White House last week and both promised a smooth transfer of power in January. The two American leaders sat side by side before a roaring fire in the Oval Office, a peaceful scene that belied tensions between them.

Reuters