MOSCOW (Reuters) -- The Kremlin said on Monday it did not expect the United States to stop trying to “contain” Russia after a summit of their leaders, and that it was important for the two powers to be pragmatic amid talk of new U.S. sanctions.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday that the United States was preparing more sanctions in relation to the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden met last week for a summit in Geneva that they both described as pragmatic rather than friendly. Ties are acutely strained. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Moscow was aware of possible impending U.S. sanctions.
“The president’s words about the constructive mood during the summit do not indicate that we have moved away from a sober assessment of our bilateral relations with the United States,” Peskov said. “Pragmatism and sobriety are most important in these relations. And both suggest that the constructive, positive results of the summit absolutely do not indicate that the United States will abandon its policy of containing Russia,” he said.

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KADUNA (Reuters) -- Three children have died following a school kidnapping of 94 students and eight staff in northwest Nigeria this week, the establishment’s principal said. The army said in a statement it had rescued three teachers and eight students so far, killing one of the kidnappers. There have been a series of kidnappings for ransom in northern Nigeria, with a sharp rise in abductions since late 2020 as the government struggles to maintain law and order amid a flagging economy. Two girls and a boy were found dead, two with gunshot wounds in their legs, said Mustapha Yusuf, principal of the federal government college in the remote town of Birnin Yauri in northwest Nigeria’s Kebbi state. The kidnappers “have been taking cover under the students ... They are in the bush,” he said, adding that bandits had used students’ phones to call parents and demand a 60 million naira ($146,341) ransom.

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BERLIN (Reuters) -- Germany’s liberal Free Democrats (FDP) will not join a coalition led by the ecologist Greens after an election in September, mass-selling Bild daily reported on Monday, citing party sources. The decision would make it more difficult for the Greens, who are expected to come second in the election behind Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, to try to form a government after the vote. The Greens are running about 8 points behind the conservatives and polling at about 20%. The conservatives and Greens could seek to form a coalition after the election but may find it difficult to bridge differences on whether to raise taxes to fund a transition to a carbon-neutral economy and ramp up investments in digital infrastructure and schools. Opinion polls show the Greens would have a majority in parliament with the FDP and center-left Social Democrats (SPD), who are polling on about 13% and 16%, respectively.

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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -- Swedish center-left Prime Minister Stefan Lofven was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament on Monday, plunging the country into deep political uncertainty as it tackles the COVID-19 pandemic. Lofven, who was defeated after nearly seven years in power over a plan to ease rent controls for new-build apartments, now has a week to resign and hand the speaker the job of finding a new government, or call a snap election. With parliament deadlocked and opinion polls showing center-right and center-left blocs evenly balanced, the political crisis may not be resolved quickly, though economists say this would be unlikely to have a big impact on the economy.

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PHNOM PENH (Reuters) -- A Cambodian court has charged four environmental activists with insulting the country’s king and conspiracy to plotting, a prosecutor said on Monday, following the arrest of three of them last week as they documented waste discharge into a city river. Plang Sophal, deputy prosecutor of Phnom Penh Municipal Court, confirmed the charges in a text message but did not specify how the activists, from the group Mother Nature, had broken the laws. Though filed often in Thailand, charges of lese majeste, or insulting the monarchy, are rare in Cambodia. The four face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of plotting and up to five years in jail for royal insults. Mother Nature’s Spanish founder Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson is overseas and was charged in absentia. He said the charges were “completely fabricated,” and reflected government paranoia about its own citizens.

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia was voting Monday in the greatest electoral test yet for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as war and logistical issues meant ballots wouldn’t be cast in more than 100 constituencies of the 547 across the country. The election, delayed from last year, is the centerpiece of a reform drive by Abiy, whose rise to power in 2018 seemed to signal a break with decades of authoritarian rule and led to him winning a Nobel Peace Prize the following year. He has described the poll as “the nation’s first attempt at free and fair elections.” Abiy’s ruling Prosperity Party, formed in 2019 by merging groups who made up the previous ruling coalition, is widely expected to cement its hold on power. The party that wins a majority of seats in the House of Peoples’ Representatives will form the next government.