VENICE (AFP) - The billionaire U.S. ambassador to Italy faced protests when he arrived in Venice on Friday aboard his luxury yacht as part of a coastal diplomacy tour marking the 250th anniversary of American independence. Activists described hospitality mogul Tilman Fertitta’s arrival as an unwelcome display of American wealth and influence for many Italians at a time when they see the Trump administration as upending the post-World War II international order.

 

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DRAMMEN (AP) - A major fire in southern Norway destroyed more than 100 homes Friday and forced hundreds of people to evacuate the area, according to police and the country’s public broadcaster. The blaze started in a townhouse in the city of Drammen around 3:30 p.m. Friday, police said. It then spread through the area and into nearby forests. Firefighters continued their efforts Saturday morning to bring the blaze under control.  NRK, Norway’s public broadcaster, said hundreds of people went to an evacuation center.  No residents have been reported missing, police said. It was not immediately clear what caused the fire.

 

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FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany is upgrading its security stance to a “high threat level” from a previous “abstract threat level” based on increasing reports ‌and intelligence, the country’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said in a German newspaper interview published on Saturday. “This means that the risk of attacks must be reckoned with at all times in Germany,” he was quoted as telling Welt am Sonntag. “Plans for attacks against our country are clearly discernible,” he added. He cited risks to German infrastructure, individuals and institutions. The Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for more details. Germany has seen a number of attacks in recent years.

 

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s parliament has enacted a controversial law introducing criminal penalties for desecrating the national flag. The passage of the legislation on Friday is part of an ongoing drive by staunchly conservative Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to promote traditional patriotism and correct what her supporters call a “wrong” legal double standard. Under existing laws, Japan penalizes the desecration of foreign flags to prevent diplomatic disputes, but previously lacked equivalent protections for its own flag, the Hinomaru.

 

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PARIS (AFP) - Militants and a separatist group ambushed a Malian army convoy in the country’s hard-hit north on Saturday, resulting in the killing or capture of scores of soldiers, the rebels said. The Malian army confirmed the attack, saying in a statement that armed groups ambushed the convoy of Malian soldiers and their partners in a remote part of the northern Gao region. It did not give further details, only saying that “a counterattack is under way”. Both the regional al Qaeda affiliate JNIM and the separatist Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, claimed responsibility for the attack in separate statements that spoke about “great human losses” and “serious material damage” on the side of the Malian army.