LONDON (Reuters) -- The two candidates battling to be Britain’s next prime minister will vie to present themselves as defenders of Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom on Tuesday by promising more scrutiny of Scotland’s government to undermine a new push for independence. The Scottish National Party, which heads Scotland’s semi-autonomous government, wants to hold a second independence referendum next year, which could rip apart the world’s fifth-biggest economy. The bonds holding together the four countries that make up the United Kingdom - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - have been severely strained over the last six years by Brexit and the government’s handling of the pandemic. Liz Truss, the foreign minister, and Rishi Sunak, the former finance minister, who are competing to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, set out their policies for Scotland before the only election hustings in the country on Tuesday. Voters in Scotland, which has a population of around 5.5 million, rejected independence in 2014. But Scotland’s government says Britain’s departure from the European Union, which was opposed by a majority of Scots, means the question must be put to a second vote.

 

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BEIJING (AFP) -- A Chinese research vessel docked at Sri Lanka’s Chinese-run southern port of Hambantota on Tuesday despite concerns from India and the United States about its alleged spying activities. The Yuan Wang 5 entered the deep-sea port after securing permission to enter Sri Lankan waters on the condition it would not engage in any research, port officials said. It was originally due to arrive last week, but Colombo asked Beijing to defer the visit following objections by India, which shares Western concerns about Chinese activities in the region. But on Saturday, after intense negotiations, Colombo announced a U-turn, saying permission had been granted for the ship to dock at Hambantota and remain for six days for refueling and taking in other supplies. Shipping analytics websites described the Yuan Wang 5 as a research and survey vessel, but according to Indian media it is a dual-use spy ship.

 

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WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The U.S. Justice Department opposed requests to unseal the affidavit used to justify last week’s FBI search of Donald Trump’s Florida residence. Several U.S. media outlets and Republican members of Congress have asked a Florida judge to release the affidavit behind the raid, which ignited a political firestorm in an already bitterly divided country. The Justice Department noted in a filing with a U.S. District Court that the search warrant and a receipt for data-x-items seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home during last week’s raid have already been made public. But it argued that the affidavit, which lays out the FBI’s argument for why the search warrant should be approved, presented a “very different set of considerations.” The affidavit, it added, contained “critically important and detailed investigative facts” as well as “highly sensitive information about witnesses, including witnesses interviewed by the government.”

 

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MIAMI, Florida (AP) — A Miami-Dade police officer was critically wounded and an armed robbery suspect was killed in an exchange of gunfire during a car chase Monday night, authorities said. The suspect smashed his vehicle into a police cruiser and another car while trying to flee following a reported armed robbery near the Liberty City neighborhood, the Miami-Dade Police Department said in a statement. “An altercation ensued and shots were fired resulting in both the officer and subject shot,” the statement said. The suspect died at the scene. The officer was hospitalized in critical condition, officials said. An unknown number of occupants from the car that was struck were hospitalized in stable condition, the police statement said. TV news footage showed a line of police cars outside the Ryder Trauma Center, where the officer was being treated. 

 

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s president called on all citizens to remain united, vigilant and alert as they face crises fueled by the war in Ukraine and coronavirus pandemic in his State of the Nation address Tuesday. After two years of remote meetings amid pandemic restrictions, more than half of Indonesia’s Parliament was in attendance as President Joko Widodo told them and top officials on the eve of Independence Day that regional tensions are threatening security. “We must always remain vigilant, cautious and alert,” Widodo said. “Crisis after crisis still haunts the world.” He noted that when war broke out in Ukraine causing energy and food crises, the world was still grappling with the health and economic impacts of COVID-19. Some countries are predicted to go bankrupt, while over 550 million people face extreme poverty and 345 million others face food shortages and famine, Widodo said.

 

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NAIROBI (AFP) -- Jittery Kenyans were waiting Tuesday to hear from president-elect William Ruto’s defeated rival Raila Odinga, with many speculating he will mount a legal challenge to the outcome of the country’s close election race. Ruto’s opponents cried foul Monday after he was declared winner of the August 9 election in a close race with Odinga, and the outcome also triggered divisions in the body responsible for overseeing the vote. The poll’s aftermath is being keenly watched as a test of democratic maturity in the East African powerhouse where previous elections have been tarnished by claims of rigging and bloodshed. Veteran opposition leader Odinga failed in his fifth stab at the top job even after running with the support of his old foe, the outgoing President Uhuru Kenyatta. The 77-year-old has made no public comments since polling day, but his party agent on Monday described the election process as “shambolic”, saying it had been marred by irregularities and mismanagement.