News in Brief

Date: 01 May 2021 - 20:27

News ID: ۸۹۷۸۶

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. investigators are seeking to review Rudy Giuliani’s phones and computers for communications with more than a dozen people, including a high-ranking prosecutor in Ukraine, according to a warrant executed at his apartment this week. They also are searching for communications with any U.S. government official or employee relating to Marie Yovanovitch, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was ousted by the Trump administration in 2019, the warrant says. Agents seized more than 10 cell phones and computers from Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment and office in raids on Wednesday, according to his lawyer, Bob Costello, who read the search warrant to a Reuters reporter. According to the warrant, investigators are looking for evidence that Giuliani acted as an unregistered foreign agent, a violation of lobbying laws.

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N’DJAMENA (Reuters) -- Chad’s ruling military council said that six of its soldiers had been killed in a battle near the northern town of Nokou that resulted in several hundred killed on the rebel side and 60 captured. The two sides were fighting on Thursday near Nokou, which is about 20 km (12 miles) from where former president Idriss Deby was fatally wounded earlier in April, plunging the country into crisis. The council said it had successfully repelled a rebel incursion towards Nokou, and that an additional 22 of its own soldiers were wounded in the encounter. "The search for the final fugitives continues,” it said in a statement. The military council run by Deby’s son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, seized power after the former’s death on April 19 and promised to hold elections within 18 months. The northern rebels have rejected that and are continuing to fight the army in the desert.

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NAYPYITAW (Dispatches) -- Protesters against military rule marched in Myanmar on Saturday three months after a coup, with several small blasts compounding a sense of crisis that a UN envoy warned could bring state administration to a halt. The military has tried to end dissent and impose its authority on a people largely opposed to the return of rule by the generals.  Despite a relentless crackdown in which at least 759 protesters have been killed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) advocacy group, crowds come out day after day to reject the junta. Aung Suu Kyi, 75, has been detained since the coup the along with many other members of her party. The AAPP says more than 3,400 people have been detained for opposing the military. People also rallied in the second city of Mandalay and the southern town of Dawei, media reported.

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TOKYO (AP) — A strong earthquake struck off northern Japan early Saturday, causing no risk of a tsunami but leaving three people injured and shaking buildings in Tokyo, authorities said. The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit at a depth of 47 kilometers (30 miles) off the coast of Miyagi prefecture. Two people were injured in Miyagi and another in the neighboring prefecture of Fukushima, but none of the injuries were life-threatening, said the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. There was no major disruption in transportation, although Shinkansen bullet trains were temporarily suspended for safety checks and some local lines were delayed, the East Japan Railway Co. said. Miyagi prefecture, in the country’s rugged northeast, was heavily damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 18,000 people dead. Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said no abnormalities were reported at nuclear plants, including the Fukushima Daiichi, which melted down following the 2011 disaster.

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BOGOTA (Reuters) -- Colombia has deployed more police and army units to Cali, its third-biggest city, in a bid to end disturbances and vandalism amid protests against a controversial tax reform, the defense minister said. Unions called strikes on Wednesday in Colombia’s main cities to demand the government of President Ivan Duque withdraw the reform, which it presented to congress earlier this month as it tries to increase tax income. The most serious riots and vandalism took place on Wednesday and Thursday in Cali, capital of Colombia’s Valle del Cauca province, with banks and government offices attacked, among other incidents. One man died on Wednesday following confrontations between protesters and the police, while 55 civilians and more than 40 police officers were injured in the last two days, according to local authorities.

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MOGADISHU (Reuters) -- Somalia’s lower house of parliament voted unanimously on Saturday to cancel a divisive two-year presidential term extension it approved last month, a move that might help end an armed stand-off in the capital Mogadishu. The crisis over the term extension has raised fears that Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab insurgents could exploit the situation. Militants from Al-Shabaab took over at least one Somali town in the past week, as heavily armed fighters moved from the countryside into the capital city. The lower house vote was broadcast on Somali television and came shortly after President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed addressed parliament and said he was directing his prime minister to spearhead preparations for the election. Mohamed’s term expired in February, but wrangling over elections meant a new crop of legislators was not selected to choose a new president. The term extension was approved by lower house lawmakers last month but rejected by the Senate, provoking a political crisis that intensified in the past week.