ROME, (Reuters) - Italy’s ruling rightist parties have withdrawn an amendment that would have allowed the government to continue sending weapons to Ukraine throughout 2023, a parliamentary source said, after the opposition called for a separate decree on the issue. In the wake of Russia-Ukraine war, former prime minister Mario Draghi’s administration introduced measures that made it possible to send weapons to Kyiv without seeking parliamentary authorisation for each shipment.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, who led the country for a decade of rapid economic growth, died on Wednesday at the age of 96, prompting a wave of nostalgia for the more liberal times he oversaw. Jiang died in his home city of Shanghai just after noon on Wednesday of leukaemia and multiple organ failure, Xinhua news agency said, publishing a letter to the Chinese people by the ruling Communist Party, parliament, Cabinet and the military.

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DAKAR (Reuters) - Three U.S. citizens of Cameroonian origin have been arrested and charged with raising funds for separatist fighters in the Central African country, the U.S. Justice Department said. Cameroon is a mainly French-speaking country with an English-speaking minority that has long complained of marginalization.

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A gas blast at a coal mine killed nine workers in a northwestern Pakistani district on Wednesday, a government official said, and a team investigating the incident said gas sparks had caused the explosion. There were 13 workers in the mine at the time and nine bodies were recovered, said Adnan Farid, the area deputy commissioner. The remaining four miners were rescued from the rubble and have suffered critical injuries, he said. A government team from the mineral development department inspected the site of the incident and said the explosion took place “due to gas sparks inside the mine,” Orakzai district police chief Nazeer Khan told Reuters.

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MADRID (AP) — Spanish police are investigating reports of a small blast at the Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said. In a statement to media, the ministry said police were told an employee at the embassy was slightly injured while handling a letter. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said that the embassy in Madrid received an envelope as part of a mail delivery. “During a check, the envelope exploded in the hands of the embassy’s manager,” Nikolenko told The Associated Press. “The manager received light injuries, he was hospitalized and is receiving the necessary medical assistance. His life isn’t in danger.”