News in Brief

Date: 02 May 2021 - 21:47

News ID: ۸۹۸۲۸

LIMA (Reuters) -- Peruvian presidential election front-runner, socialist Pedro Castillo, said on Saturday he would, if elected, review contracts with foreign miners in the copper-rich country and seal a deal for Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. Castillo leads in the polls ahead of a runoff vote on June 6 against right-wing opponent Keiko Fujimori, in a polarized election that could move the Andean nation sharply to the left, a trend that has rattled markets and worried miners. The teacher, who normally sports a wide-brimmed hat and has struck a chord with Peru’s less affluent voters, wants to rewrite the country’s Constitution to weaken the business elite and give the state a more dominant role in the economy. Castillo said foreign firms had "plundered” the country and that if elected president, he would ensure that 70% of profits would remain in Peru. "We are going to review the contracts. Enough looting of my people,” he said in a debate with Fujimori, 45, in a public square in the mountainous Cajamarca region, referring to gas projects and metals mining.

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GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A gunman killed two people at a Wisconsin casino restaurant and seriously wounded a third before he was killed by police late Saturday, in what authorities said appeared to be a targeted attack. Brown County Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin Pawlak said investigators believe the gunman was seeking a specific person he was angry at. Neither the gunman nor the shooting victims were immediately identified. The wounded person was being treated at a Milwaukee hospital, Pawlak said. The attack happened around 7:30 p.m. at the Oneida Casino, operated by the Oneida Nation on the western side of Green Bay, with the casino tweeting that an active shooter was on the scene. Attorney General Josh Kaul tweeted shortly before 10 p.m. that the scene was "contained. There is no longer a threat to the community.” Pawlak said authorities called for a "tactical alert” after receiving the report of an active shooter. That "brings every agency from around the area to the casino, to the Radisson,” he said of the large law enforcement presence.

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LONDON (Reuters) -- Britain has not made a final decision on whether to grant the European Union’s ambassador in London, Joao Vale de Almeida, full diplomatic status, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said on Sunday. Britain and the European Union have been at odds over the British government’s refusal to grant EU representatives’ full diplomatic status in London after Brexit. Asked whether a decision had been taken to grant diplomatic status, Raab said: "Look, we’re pragmatic about this, of course the EU’s not quite an international organiaation, it’s not quite a normal state, we’re engaged in negotiations and I’m sure we’ll get that result.” "We will treat our EU partners with all of the respect that they rightly deserve... we’re looking forward to turning the page on over the Brexit saga.”

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NAYPYITAW (Reuters) -- Protesters in Myanmar turned out in their thousands on Sunday, marching to oppose military rule more than three months after a coup, and security forces responded with gunfire in at least three places, killing four people, media reported. The bloodiest protests for some days were coordinated with demonstrations among Myanmar communities around the world to mark what organizers called "the global Myanmar spring revolution”. "Shake the world with the voice of Myanmar people’s unity,” the organizers said in a statement. Streams of demonstrators, some led by Buddhist monks, made their way through cities and towns including the commercial hub of Yangon, the second city of Mandalay, and the central town of Meiktila and Dawei in the south, media reported.

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BRASILIA (Reuters) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said that his government had opted to reduce the number of environmental fines handed out to ranchers in order to bring "peace and tranquility” to the countryside. Environmental specialists have attributed a reduction in environmental fines in Brazil in recent years to the diminished capacity of federal environmental regulator Ibama. Starting in 2019, Brazil has begun to break illegal deforestation records. From August 2019 to July 2020, the most recent official data available, the Amazon lost 11,088 square kilometers (4,280 square miles) of forest cover, the fastest rate in 12 years. Bolsonaro’s speech on Saturday reflected his still-cozy relationship with ranchers, a key part of his political base, even as the former army captain has given tentative signs in recent weeks that he will increase efforts to protect the Amazon from deforestation.

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N’DJAMENA (Reuters) -- At least four people were shot and wounded in Chad’s southern Mandoul region when security forces fired upon a crowd demonstrating against last month’s military takeover, witnesses and hospital sources said. Protesters in the town of Sarh, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) from the capital N’Djamena, banged pots and pans in a show of defiance against the military council that has taken over since Chad’s longtime ruler Idriss Deby was killed last month. Police responded by firing into the crowd with live ammunition, witnesses said. One person who was shot in the abdomen is in critical condition, according to a medical worker who requested anonymity. Civil society leaders in the neighboring town of Koumra said that a dozen people were arrested during a parallel protest, to which security forces responded with beatings and teargas.