MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — United States authorities charged 48 people in Minnesota with conspiracy and other counts in what they said was the largest pandemic-related fraud scheme yet, stealing $250 million from a federal program that provides meals to low-income children. Federal prosecutors say the defendants created companies that claimed to be offering food to tens of thousands of children across Minnesota, then sought reimbursement for those meals through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food nutrition programs. Prosecutors say few meals were actually served, and the defendants used the money to buy luxury cars, property and jewelry.

 

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ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s right-wing bloc will easily agree on major policy priorities despite recent disagreements if it wins this weekend’s national election, the alliance’s de facto leader, Giorgia Meloni, said. Meloni’s party, Brothers of Italy, is widely expected to top the polls on Sunday, making her the frontrunner to be Italy’s next prime minister. Opponents say her conservative alliance, which also includes Matteo Salvini’s League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, will struggle to stay united after divisions emerged during campaigning over energy and foreign policy. 

 

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N’DJAMENA (Reuters) - At least 19 people were killed in a flare-up of fighting between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers in south Chad last week, authorities said. Deadly inter-communal conflicts are relatively frequent in Chad, mainly between herders and local farmers who accuse them of grazing animals on their farmland. Chad, a regional power and ally of the West against Islamist militants in West Africa, has been in turmoil since ex-president Idriss Deby was killed on the frontline against rebels in the north last year.

 

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CAYEY, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona strengthened into a Category 4 storm Wednesday after devastating Puerto Rico, then lashing the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was forecast to squeeze past Bermuda later this week. The storm has been blamed for directly causing at least four deaths in its march through the Caribbean, where winds and torrential rain in Puerto Rico left a majority of people on the U.S. territory without power or running water. Hundreds of thousands of people scraped mud out of their homes following what authorities described as “historic” flooding.

 

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TOKYO (AP) — A man set himself on fire near the Japanese prime minister’s office in Tokyo on Wednesday in an apparent protest against the state funeral planned next week for former leader Shinzo Abe, officials and media reports said. The man, believed to be in his 70s, sustained burns on large parts of his body but was conscious and told police that he set himself on fire after pouring oil over himself, Kyodo News agency reported. A note was found with him that said, “Personally, I am absolutely against” Abe’s funeral, Kyodo reported.