PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron led the traditional ceremony on Paris’ Champs-Elysees Monday commemorating the day that marked the end of World War II in Europe in 1945. Flanked by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Macron laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe monument. A brass band played the Marseillaise. To limit disruptions amid ongoing opposition to Macron and his contested pension reforms, police banned gatherings around the area of the ceremony in the French capital, and in Lyon where the president will travel later in the day. Authorities were vigilant that a “casserolade ” or the loud banging of pots and pans in protest will not distract from the memorial ceremonies.

 

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- The European Union has proposed sanctions on Chinese companies accused of selling equipment that could be used in weapons to support Russia’s war machine, the Financial Times reported. Seven Chinese businesses have been listed in a new package of sanctions that will be discussed by EU member states this week, the report said, citing a copy of the sanctions list seen by the FT. According to the FT, the sanctions list includes two mainland Chinese companies, 3HC Semiconductors and King-Pai Technology, along with five from Hong Kong including Sinno Electronics, Sigma Technology, Asia Pacific Links, Tordan Industry and Alpha Trading Investments. On Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China urges the EU to avoid taking the “wrong path”, otherwise it will take firm action to safeguard its rights and interests. “China opposes actions that use China-Russia cooperation as a pretext to impose illegal sanctions or long-arm jurisdiction against China,” Wang said at a regular news conference.

 

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NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump rejected his last chance to testify at a civil trial where a longtime advice columnist has accused him of raping her in a luxury department store dressing room in 1996. Trump, a Republican candidate for president in 2024, was given until 5 p.m. Sunday by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to file a request to testify. Nothing was filed. It was not a surprise. Trump has not shown up once during the two-week Manhattan trial where writer E. Jean Carroll testified for several days, repeating claims she first made publicly in a 2019 memoir. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages totaling millions of dollars. The jury has also watched lengthy excerpts from an October videotaped deposition in which Trump vehemently denied raping Carroll or ever really knowing her. Without Trump’s testimony, lawyers were scheduled to make closing arguments Monday, with deliberations likely to begin on Tuesday.

 

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BEIJING (Reuters) -- China’s state media tabloid, the Global Times, criticized on Monday a letter of protest by South Korea’s embassy in Beijing, the latest public spat amid worsening ties between the Asian neighbors. South Korea’s recent diplomatic push towards Japan and the U.S. would “induce and aggravate the ... collapse of the situation in northeast Asia” the paper said, a day after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s landmark visit to Seoul. The editorial comment followed a letter published by the embassy on its website on Friday that “expressed strong regret over a series of unreasonable slanderous articles” by the paper. In turn, the Global Times criticized the embassy’s “brutal interference in (its) independent reporting”. China’s foreign ministry distanced itself from the state-affiliated tabloid at a daily briefing on Monday. “The relevant media viewpoint does not represent the position of the Chinese government, but reflects current Chinese public opinion,” said its spokesperson, Wang Wenbin.

 

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KOCHI, India (Reuters) -- Rescuers searched on Monday for survivors from an overcrowded tourist boat that capsized on a south Indian waterway with the death of at least 22 people, authorities said. Police said the exact number of people on board the boat that capsized on Sunday evening in an estuary near the town of Tanur, in Kerala state, had yet to be confirmed. Police said they were searching for the owner of the boat who had absconded. A man identified as Shafeeq, who was on board the converted fishing boat, told the Manorama News channel the vessel had listed badly soon after it set off. According to initial estimates there were about 40 people, most believed to be domestic tourists, on board including several children, said Tanur police official Jeevan George. Famous for its picturesque backwaters, Kerala is a major destination for domestic and international tourists. 

 

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WELLINGTON (Reuters) -- The New Zealand Defense Force will get an additional NZ$748 million ($472.14 million) over four years, as the government tries to stop the loss of military personnel and ensure the country’s military can operate alongside allies and partners. Andrew Little said in a statement that the government would invest a further NZ$419 million in defense force salaries and NZ$328 million to upgrade assets and infrastructure over four years. “With climate change and an increasingly contested geostrategic environment, including in our Pacific neighborhood, it is important that New Zealand has the personnel and equipment to play our part in supporting global peace and security,” Little said.