News in Brief

Date: 17 May 2022 - 22:03

News ID: ۱۰۲۶۷۶

MARIUPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) -- More than 250 Ukrainian fighters surrendered to Russian forces at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol and Kyiv said on Tuesday it had ordered its full garrison to evacuate, bringing an apparent end to the bloodiest battle in Europe for decades. While both sides spoke of a deal under which all Ukrainian troops would abandon the huge steelworks, important details were not yet public, including how many fighters still remained inside, and whether any form of prisoner swap had been agreed. Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar told a briefing that Kyiv would not disclose how many fighters were inside the plant until all were safe. The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had personally guaranteed the prisoners would be treated according to international standards. In a television address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive.”

***

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- A man who padlocked a church and opened fire on its Taiwanese-American congregation, killing one person and injuring five others, was motivated by hatred of the island and its people, U.S. investigators said. David Chou jammed the doors shut using chains and superglue as dozens of parishioners enjoyed a post-service banquet at the church in Laguna Woods, near Los Angeles. The 68-year-old, an American citizen, also hid bags containing Molotov cocktails and spare ammunition around the building, before opening fire with two handguns, in what investigators say was a “methodical” attempt to cause carnage. Chou, who worked as a security guard in Las Vegas, launched the attack out of “politically motivated hate... (and) was upset about political tensions between China and Taiwan.” Barnes said Chou “is a US citizen who immigrated from China.”

***

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) -- Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei reappointed the country’s attorney general to a new term, prompting U.S. sanctions, just months after the prosecutor was accused by the U.S. government of dismantling anti-corruption efforts. Shortly after the announcement, the U.S. government deemed Maria Consuelo Porras ineligible for entry into the United States, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Guatemala’s Public Ministry responded to the U.S. by describing itself as an autonomous institution that would not accept any interference or pressure. Giammattei in recent days had blasted as interventionist calls to deny Porras a second term, and defended her record as impartial and non-ideological. Giammattei said last week he received calls, threats and a visit from the ambassador of a “foreign power” asking him not to re-appoint Porras.

***

COLOMBO (Reuters) -- Sri Lanka’s parliament reconvened on Tuesday for the first time since violence flared last week and the prime minister quit, as his replacement warned that the country was in a precarious economic situation and down to its last day of petrol supplies. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the new prime minister, said in a televised address on Monday that the island nation had to face “unpleasant and terrifying facts”. “At the moment, we only have petrol stocks for a single day. The next couple of months will be the most difficult ones of our lives,” he said. Foreign reserves had come close to zero from $7.5 billion in November 2019, he added, with the country requiring $75 million in the next few days to keep the economy running. Essential medicines had run out. Power cuts could extend to as much as 15 hours a day because of the lack of fuel, which is mostly imported.

***

MANILA (Reuters) -- Philippine president-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr made a private trip to Australia on Tuesday, his spokesperson said, drawing some protesters onto the streets of the city of Melbourne. While he was there, Marcos received a phone call from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who congratulated him on winning the presidential election, his spokesperson Vic Rodriguez told a media briefing in Manila. A small group of Filipino protesters gathered outside an address in central Melbourne carrying placards that read, “Tax evaders not welcome here” and “Tyrants not welcome here”.  The president-elect is the son of the disgraced dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who died in exile in Hawaii in 1989 after being ousted by a popular uprising. The family lived famously opulent lifestyles, but denies siphoning off billions of dollars of state wealth.

***

SANTIAGO (AFP) -- Chile ordered the redeployment of its military to the Araucania region in the south of the country, in the face of mounting violence linked to territorial claims by the Mapuche indigenous group. Soldiers were deployed to Araucania and to towns in the neighboring Biobio region in October last year on the orders of conservative then-president Sebastian Pinera. New leader Gabriel Boric promised to withdraw the soldiers while campaigning for the presidency earlier this year and the process began on March 27. But after attempting in vain to win approval from Congress for an “intermediate” deployment -- and in the face of a surge in arson -- he was forced to reimpose emergency measures. Some communities in southern Chile have for decades demanded the return of lands they argue belong to them by virtue of ancestral rights -- lands which are mainly held by forestry companies and farmers.