ROME (Reuters) - The political opposition in Italy has accused Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition of attempting to rewrite the election rules in a bid to remain in power, over a controversial reform that would award bonus parliamentary seats to winning alliances in next year’s general election. The new bill has cleared three confidence votes in the lower house of parliament, with the final secret ballot scheduled for Thursday. It passed on Wednesday by 228 votes to 144, bringing the government closer to securing ultimate approval for the overhaul.

 

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BEIJING (Xinhua) – The China Coast Guard (CCG) on Thursday warned the Philippine side to immediately stop its infringements, provocations and false claims after a Philippine Coast Guard vessel transported an injured person from a grounded vessel near Ren’ai Jiao. Jiang Lue, a spokesperson for the CCG, said that on Thursday, Philippine Coast Guard vessel 4409 went to waters near Ren’ai Jiao to transport one injured person from the vessel illegally grounded there. Out of humanitarian considerations, the Chinese side immediately allowed the Philippine side to transfer the injured person by small boat, and the CCG handled the matter in accordance with the law and regulations, and provided necessary assistance, Jiang said. The Philippine side’s relevant remarks disregard the facts and distort the truth in an attempt to mislead the public, Jiang added.

 

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BRUSSEL (AFP) - NATO will begin its annual nuclear deterrence exercise, Steadfast Noon, in Italy on Oct. 13, with 17 nations taking part, the alliance announced Thursday. The exercise is a long-planned, routine training activity aimed at maintaining readiness and testing procedures that support NATO’s deterrence and defense, according to a statement. “NATO is a defensive Alliance. This exercise helps us ensure a safe, secure, effective, and credible capability to preserve peace, prevent coercion and deter aggression. It also sends a clear message of unity and resolve,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said. The alliance said the scale of this year’s exercise would be in line with previous editions.

 

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JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - At least 24 vehicles were burned and shops looted as protests over a court ruling easing access to asylum turned violent in two South African cities on Thursday. Acting national police commissioner Lt. Gen. Puleng Dimpane said 10 vehicles were torched in Johannesburg’s Soweto township and 14 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province, where three people were arrested. “The right to raise concerns and to protest does not give anyone the right to commit crime,” she said, adding that public-order police deployments had been reinforced in areas facing unrest.

 

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SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea on Thursday refused medical aid from South Korea, saying Seoul should show “utmost respect, solicitude and sincerity” first if it “really wants to reverse the relations” between the two countries. Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called Seoul’s request for a UN exemption to provide medical equipment to North Korea an “insult to our state,” a politically motivated provocation and a “grave encroachment” on its national law, according to a statement published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). “Under the present situation, those, who must be aware of the fact that medical equipment supported by the ROK cannot enter our territory and there is no way for introducing them, are resorting to such a farce,” she said, also calling it “a sinister political calculation to get anything by comparing their ‘well-meaning attitude’ with our ‘conflicting attitude’ to reject them.”