News in Brief
BRASILIA (Xinhua) -- Brazil’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday recalled its ambassador to Argentina, Julio Bitelli, for consultations on relations between the two countries. Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira made the decision Sunday morning after consulting President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Argentine President Javier Milei attended the national convention of Brazil’s Liberal Party in Sao Paulo on Saturday, where the party formally nominated Flavio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, as its presidential candidate. In his speech, Milei criticized Lula’s government and protested a decision by Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes that blocked him from visiting the jailed former president.
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WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland asked the United States on Monday to extradite fugitive former Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro, who faces 26 charges mainly related to the alleged misuse of money from a crime victims’ fund for political purposes, prosecutors said. Poland is seeking to prosecute Ziobro, the architect of changes to the Polish judicial system that the European Union has said undermined the rule of law during the 2015-2023 rule of the conservative Law and Justice party (PiS). He has denied wrongdoing and said he is the victim of a politically motivated campaign by Poland’s pro-EU ruling coalition.
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SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un paid respects at war memorials marking the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War armistice, state media KCNA reported on Monday, with his daughter joining him for the first time at the commemorations. Kim visited cemeteries, met veterans and laid flowers at the graves of first-generation guerrilla fighters, while reiterating Pyongyang’s claim of a “great victory” in the 1950-1953 war, according to KCNA. The Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty. North Korean state media photographs and video showed Kim’s daughter, known as Ju Ae, walking beside him during the visits, positioned at the center of ceremonial formations and greeting elderly veterans alongside her father, underscoring her increasingly prominent public profile.
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DAKAR (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch said on Monday pollution linked to the operations of French-British oil firm Perenco in the Democratic Republic of Congo was exposing nearby communities to health risks, including respiratory illnesses and symptoms such as chest pain. Perenco is the country’s sole oil producer, operating both onshore and offshore facilities around the town of Muanda along Congo’s 37-km (23-mile) Atlantic coastline, pumping around 19,500 barrels of oil per day. Human Rights Watch said its findings were based on interviews with 45 residents, oil workers, health professionals, officials and experts, as well as analysis of satellite imagery, videos and photographs from the area.
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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian authorities detained more than 100 Rohingya Muslim asylum seekers on Monday who had gathered outside the UN refugee agency in Kuala Lumpur, saying they were seeking protection after being evicted from their homes. All of the refugees outside the UNHCR were taken away with their belongings in four police trucks at around 8:30 p.m. (1230 GMT), according to Reuters witnesses at the scene. A police official, who declined to be identified, said they were being taken to police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur for further checks.