BERLIN (AFP) -- Environmental activists blocked dozens of streets in Berlin on Monday to protest Germany’s climate policy, causing widespread transport disruption in the capital. “We no longer accept that the government has no plan to stop the destruction of the basis of our existence,” Carla Rochel, a spokeswoman for Last Generation, the leading group behind the protests, said in a statement. Campaigners halted traffic across the city by gluing themselves to the street surface, including on the busy motorway A100. Around 500 officers had been deployed to tackle the protests which began around 7:30 am, the spokeswoman added. Activists had “massively expanded” their protests on Monday morning, which began on a smaller scale last week, Berlin’s transport information said on Twitter. 

 

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CANBERRA (Reuters) -- Australia’s government will prioritize long-range precision strike capability, domestic production of guided weapons, and diplomacy - key points of a review released Monday recommending the country’s biggest defense shakeup since World War Two. The review said that the United States was no longer the “unipolar leader of the Indo Pacific”, that intense competition between the U.S. and China was defining the region, and that the major power competition had “potential for conflict”. The country’s northern bases will become a focal point for deterring adversaries, and protecting trade routes and communications, the review said. A public version of the classified report released on Monday said Australia must “avoid the highest level of strategic risk we now face as a nation: the prospect of major conflict in the region”.

  

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BEIJING (Reuters) -- China and Singapore will hold a joint military exercise as soon as this week, their first combined drills since 2021, as Beijing deepens its defense and security ties with Southeast Asia, a region with strong existing U.S. alliances. The Chinese navy will deploy a missile-bearing frigate, the Yulin, and a mine-hunting ship, the Chibi, to the joint maritime exercise which will last from late April to early May, the Chinese defense ministry said in a statement on its website on Monday, without specifying the location. Two years ago, China and Singapore held a combined military drill in international waters at the southern tip of the South China Sea, following the upgrade of a bilateral defense pact in 2019 to include bigger-scale exercises among their army, navy and air force. The deeper China-Singapore military cooperation comes as a time of heightened tensions in the South China Sea, an area spanning 3.5 million square km (1.4 million square miles) that is often traversed by Western navies including U.S. vessels. 

 

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TAIPEI (AFP) -- Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei arrived in Taiwan on Monday to reinforce diplomatic ties with the self-ruled island, on a visit that has drawn China’s ire. The Central American nation is one of the few remaining countries to recognize the sovereignty of Taiwan, a list that has shrunk in recent years as Beijing moves to isolate Taipei on the international stage. China considers Taiwan part of its territory to be retaken one day, and does not allow other countries to recognize both Beijing and Taipei. Images released by Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Monday showed Giammattei being escorted by Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu upon arriving at Taoyuan International Airport. Beijing on Monday said switching recognition to China -- a major trading partner for the Central American nation -- was “in line with the fundamental interests of Guatemala and the aspirations of its people”.  “Taiwan’s independence and secessionist movement goes against the tide of history and is nothing but a self-deceiving trick by the Democratic Progressive Party authorities,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters. “It cannot stop the historical trend of China’s inevitable reunification.”

 

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LIMA (AFP) -- Peru’s former president Alejandro Toledo was jailed, hours after arriving back in his homeland following extradition from the United States to face charges of money laundering and corruption during his mandate. The 77-year-old, who served as Peru’s president from 2001 to 2006, was flown in the evening by helicopter to the Barbadillo prison, journalists witnessed. Toledo is wanted by Peruvian prosecutors investigating a sprawling scandal involving Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht. He is accused of having received millions of dollars from Odebrecht in return for public works contracts, and prosecutors are asking that he be sentenced to more than 20 years in jail. Toledo arrived in Lima from Los Angeles in the custody of Interpol officers, who handed him over to local law enforcement, television images showed. Toledo is due to remain in detention while awaiting trial in 18 months.

 

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OUAGADOUGOU (AFP) -- About 60 civilians were killed in a village in northern Burkina Faso by men wearing military uniforms, the local prosecutor said late Sunday, announcing an investigation into the latest bloodshed in the insurgency-hit country. Landlocked and in the heart of West Africa’s Sahel, the country is one of the world’s most volatile and impoverished. Attacks blamed on suspected takfiri terrorists are on the rise in Burkina Faso, which is battling an insurgency that spilled over from neighboring Mali. The village of Karma is near the Malian border and attracts many illegal gold miners. According to residents contacted by AFP, survivors said more than 100 people on motorbikes and pick-up trucks raided the village. Dozens of men and young people were killed by the men, dressed in military uniforms, they said. Survivors gave a toll of “around 80 dead”.