World News

(Reuters) – Brazilian leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva maintains a strong lead against incumbent right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of October’s presidential election, a Genial/Quaest poll released on Wednesday showed.

Lula is seen with 45% voter support in a first-round vote, a 14 percentage point lead over his far-right rival, with Bolsonaro up one point from his 30% support level in June.

In an expected run-off, Lula, a former president, is seen winning with a narrower 19 percentage point gap – taking 53% of the vote versus 34% for Bolsonaro, the Genial/Quaest poll said.

The Genial/Quaest poll also showed that the negative view of Bolsonaro’s government stands at 47%, the same result from June, while the percentage of those who see the government in a positive light increased one percentage point to 26%.

For 44% of respondents, the country’s economic situation remains the biggest issue the nation faces.

Pollster Quaest interviewed 2,000 voters in person between June 29 and July 2. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice, editing by Deepa Babington)

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By Eric Cox and Brendan O’Brien

HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. (Reuters) -The man accused of attacking a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb bought his rifle legally, fired more than 70 rounds from a roof and dressed in women’s clothing to blend into the fleeing crowd afterwards, local officials said on Tuesday.

The suspect, 21-year-old Robert E. Crimo III, surrendered to police on Monday, hours after the attack in Highland Park, Illinois, that took seven lives and sent over three dozen other people to hospital with gunshot wounds and other injuries.

Police revised the confirmed casualty toll on Tuesday with the death of a seventh person who had been hospitalized after the attack.

Among the dead were Nicholas Toledo, a grandfather from Mexico in his 70s celebrating with his family among the flag-waving crowds at Monday’s parade, and Jacki Sundheim, a teacher at a nearby synagogue.

Officials told reporters the suspect had planned the attack for several weeks and fired into the crowd at random. Authorities were still considering what criminal charges to bring. It was not immediately clear if Crimo had a lawyer.

At a news briefing on Tuesday, authorities cited two previous encounters between Crimo and law enforcement – an April 2019 emergency-911 call reporting he had attempted suicide and another in September of that year regarding alleged threats he had directed a family members.

(Additional reporting by Brendan O’Brien, Jonathan Allen, Tyler Clifford, Christopher Gallagher, Christopher Walljasper and Doina Chiacu, Editing by Alistair Bell and Howard Goller)

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Italy was enduring a prolonged heat wave before a massive piece of Alpine glacier broke off and killed hikers on Sunday and experts say climate change will make those hot, destabilizing conditions more common.

Seven hikers died and several others are unaccounted for after large chunks of ice and rock from the Marmolada glacier sped down the mountain in an avalanche. Higher temperatures coupled with below-average winter snowfall were among the factors that may have triggered the event, experts said.

The exact role of climate change in specific events is complicated and large portions of ice can break off Alpine glaciers naturally. But climate change is fueling hotter temperatures that can lead to more ice and snow melt, said Brian Menounos, a professor at the University of Northern British Columbia who researches climate change and glaciers.

“Glaciers are directly responding to a warmer climate, a warmer planet,” said Menounos. “They can respond to long-term changes, but they can also respond to these extreme events,” like heat waves.

The Marmolada glacier is in the Dolomite mountains, a range of steep, dramatic peaks in northeast Italy. The region is already being altered by climate change. Between the late 19th and early 21st century, temperatures in the Alps have increased twice as quickly as the global average, according to Copernicus, the European climate modeling group. The U.N. has identified the Mediterranean basin that includes Italy as a climate change hot spot prone to heat waves. Glaciers are in retreat throughout Italy, the Alps and across the world.

The government’s National Research Council said the Marmolada glacier has been shrinking for decades and may vanish in 25 to 30 years.

Before the avalanche, daytime temperatures at the glacier’s altitude were around 50F (10C) when they normally don’t rise much above freezing. The prolonged period of hot weather at high altitudes created a special set of circumstances, said Tobias Bolch who researches glaciers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Guglielmina Adele Diolaiuti, a professor at the University of Milan studying glaciers, said pictures of the ice that remains part of the glacier tell a story about what likely happened.

The top two thirds of the ice face appears slightly dirty, indicating it was exposed to air.

“It’s clear that this part of the vertical ice cliff was the internal part of a crevasse,” she said. A crevasse is a deep opening in a glacier.

The bottom is bluer, indicating it was attached, said Diolaiuti.

Water may have accumulated in the crevasse, adding weight and pressure on the glacier. It may also have loosened the glacier’s grip on the steep rock it was sitting on, experts said.

Anyone who has tried to shovel ice off a cold driveway knows that it fastens itself to the pavement, said Richard Alley, a Penn State professor who studies ice sheets. But when the weather warms, the ice loosens its hold.

“All of a sudden, whoosh, you can get it off,” Alley said.

A local official said the portion that broke loose is estimated to be 220 yards (200 meters) wide, 85 yards (80 meters) high and 65 yards (60 meters) deep. It rushed down the mountain at nearly 200 miles per hour (300 kph).

The hikers were likely taken completely by surprise.

In addition to the heat, there was below normal snowfall this winter. Northern Italy is struggling through its worst drought in 70 years. When there is less snow, ice is exposed and impurities can collect on the surface of the glacier, turning the surface a darker color that traps more heat. The extra heat melts the ice and snow faster, St. Andrews’ Bolch said.

On Tuesday, rescue efforts turned up equipment and body parts. After rain made rescue difficult on Monday, the sun reappeared on Tuesday.

According to Daniel Farinotti, a professor of glaciology at ETH Zurich and WSL Birmensdorf, Switzerland, climate change might reduce the risk of certain avalanches. Glaciers need cold weather and snowfall to grow. If glaciers grow on a steep slope, ice that is pushed over ledges can break and cause avalanches. But with warming temperatures, glaciers retreat, and smaller glaciers create fewer hazards, he said.

In the case of the avalanche on Sunday, melting ice and snow is the likely culprit, experts said.

“The ice, the snow, is very sensitive to increases in temperatures, so we expect that these kinds of events will increase in frequency and intensity in the future,” said Roberta Paranuzio who researches climate change at the National Research Council of Italy.

While some avalanches occur in isolated areas, the area around the Marmolada glacier is popular with hikers.

“The really warm weather was one of the reasons why the event occurred, but on the other hand, this really warm weather made it attractive for mountaineers to climb it,” Bolch said.

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The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/environment

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ISLAMABAD (AP) — A prominent Pakistani TV anchorperson known for publicly supporting former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested Tuesday on the outskirts of the capital, his colleagues said.

It was unclear on what charges police arrested Imran Riaz Khan, who is not related to the ex-premier.

The arrest of the TV journalist comes weeks after a court in Islamabad ordered police not to arrest him and several other journalists after complaints were lodged accusing them of inciting hatred against the military.

There was no immediate comment from the government.

Khan, the former premier, took to Twitter to condemn the arrest of the anchorperson.

Khan was ousted as prime minister through a no-confidence vote in the parliament in April. He contends his removal was part of a U.S. plot, a charge Washington denies.

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JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s defense minister said on Tuesday that Iranian warships have been patrolling the Red Sea in recent months, and called it a threat to regional stability.

“Today, we can confirm that Iran is methodically basing itself in the Red Sea, with warships patrolling the southern region,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz said at a roundtable event in Athens.

“In the last months, we have identified the most significant Iranian military presence in the area, in the past decade,” he said. Gantz’s office said he presented satellite images of four Iranian warships patrolling the Red Sea.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Peter Graff)

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By Stephen Grey

VALLETTA (Reuters) – The man accused of detonating a car bomb that killed a prominent Maltese journalist has confessed to the crime in an interview with a Reuters reporter and says he will soon implicate others in plotting to assassinate her.

Speaking from jail in his first comment on the case, George Degiorgio said if he had known more about Daphne Caruana Galizia – the journalist he and two others are accused of killing in 2017 – then he would have asked for more money to carry out the hit.

“If I knew, I would have gone for 10 million. Not 150,000,” he said, referring to the sum in euros that he said he was paid for killing the journalist.

“For me it was just business. Yeah. Business as usual!” he told a Reuters reporter. He later added, “Of course I feel sorry.”

The interview with Degiorgio was conducted during research for a podcast into the Caruana Galizia case, entitled “Who Killed Daphne?”

His admission came after several attempts by Degiorgio’s lawyers since 2021 to secure a pardon in return for testimony about Degiorgio’s role in Caruana Galizia’s murder and other alleged crimes involving prominent figures on the island.

On June 22, Malta’s Appeal Court rejected remaining legal challenges by Degiorgio to the murder charges against him and his brother Alfred, who is co-accused. The judgement clears the way for trial to go ahead.

The car-bomb assassination of the investigative journalist and blogger caused shock across Europe. Maltese authorities charged Degiorgio and two other men – his brother Alfred and an associate, Vince Muscat – with murdering Caruana Galizia in October 2017 at the behest of a top island businessman.

Degiorgio told Reuters he would plead guilty ahead of any jury trial. “I’m going to speak to the magistrate,” he said. He indicated he would provide testimony to implicate others in the murder and in a previous unrealised plot to kill the journalist. His motive, he said, was to seek a sentence reduction for himself and Alfred and to ensure that “we’re not going down alone!”

Until now, both of the Degiorgio brothers had denied involvement in the killing. Muscat pleaded guilty to the murder charges in 2020 and was sentenced to a reduced term of 15 years in jail in return for testifying about this case and some other crimes. William Cuschieri, the lawyer for Alfred and George Degiorgio did not respond to requests for comment from either brother.

One of the island’s richest businessmen, Yorgen Fenech, was also charged in November 2019 with commissioning Degiorgio and his two accomplices to carry out the hit. Fenech has denied the charge but has not yet presented his defence. In a statement, his lawyer, Gianluca Caruana Curran, said Fenech planned to prove in court “he at no point wanted, actively searched for or sponsored” Caruana Galizia’s assassination.

“While strongly protesting his innocence, Mr Fenech maintains that with the evidence available, independent and serious investigations are capable of leading to the arrest and arraignment of the true perpetrators behind the assassination.”

Fenech was identified as the mastermind by an alleged middleman, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, who escaped prosecution for his role in the case in return for testifying. Theuma said he arranged the murder with the Degiorgio brothers on Fenech’s behalf. He testified that he never told the Degiorgio gang Fenech’s identity.

In the interview, Degiorgio said he was willing to testify that a top Maltese political figure had tried to arrange a hit on Caruana Galizia in a separate plot two years earlier. Degiorgio also said he would offer to testify about the involvement of two senior former ministers in an armed robbery.

Reuters is not at this stage publishing further details of those allegations or naming the individuals accused by Degiorgio, all of whom deny any involvement in any crime.

Malta Police Force and the prosecutors handling the murder case did not respond to requests for an official comment on Degiorgio’s remarks.

William Cuschieri, the lawyer for Alfred and George Degiorgio, did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

Caruana Galizia was killed after she levelled a series of corruption allegations against prominent people, including ministers in the island’s Labour Party government. Her murder raised suspicions that some of the people she was investigating could be involved in plotting her death.

Fenech, who stands accused of ordering up the successful 2017 hit, was first identified in connection with Caruana Galizia in November 2018 articles by Reuters and the Times of Malta. The report named him as the owner of a company known as 17 Black that Caruana Galizia alleged, without citing evidence, was being used to bribe politicians. Fenech was also the head of a controversial power station project in Malta.

According to prosecution evidence presented in court in multiple preliminary hearings since 2018, George Degiorgio and his gang had tracked the journalist throughout the summer of 2017. In the early hours of October 16, 2017, prosecutors allege, the gang planted a bomb under a seat in her car.

That afternoon, Degiorgio was allegedly on a yacht in the island’s Grand Harbour when his brother Alfred, who was watching the house, called to say Caruana Galizia had entered her car and driven off. Degiorgio then sent a text message from the yacht to a mobile device that detonated the bomb, prosecutors told the court.

After the car exploded, Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew heard the blast, ran out from the family home and discovered his mother’s body. He has been campaigning for justice for his mother ever since. Asked about Degiorgio’s comments, he told Reuters: “George Degiorgio’s own words show he is a stone-cold killer undeserving of any reprieve.”

Arrested two months after the killing, George Degiorgio said nothing to police, declining even to give his name during interrogation. Until the Reuters interview, he had remained silent, and his lawyers have spent four years denying he was involved in the murder. He has also filed a series of legal challenges contesting the evidence against him.

But he is now seeking a deal with the prosecution, ahead of a trial, in return for admitting the charges and providing the new information.

Alfred Degiorgio, like his brother, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges but has not presented his case. He too has made several applications to be pardoned of the charges in return for testifying about what he knows.

George Degiorgio said that before taking the hit job, he hadn’t known much about Caruana Galizia or her family, including the fact that they were ordinary people, not criminals. “That’s it. Of course! I never met her in her life,” he said.

The Degiorgio brothers have made several bids since March 2021 for an official pardon for their crimes. The latest, filed on April 4 by their lawyer, William Cuschieri, said, without giving names or specifics, that the Degiorgios could testify to “Crimes of attempted violent robbery and attempted voluntary homicide in which one of the authors was a Minister and another author who is a Minister.” The request was rejected by Malta’s government on April 24, citing the national interest and the administration of justice, according to an official statement.

Malta’s prime minister, Robert Abela, previously condemned attempts by the Degiorgios to win a pardon, calling them “criminals” seeking to buy their freedom. Cuschieri, the lawyer for the Degiorgios, responded by saying the prime minister was breaching their rights to a fair trial and, without providing details, said the brothers had “direct information” about a minister’s involvement in crime.

FURTHER DETAILS OF THE PODCAST

“Who Killed Daphne?,” written and hosted by Reuters reporter Stephen Grey, is a six-part podcast that follows the struggle for justice by Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew after her death – and the project to continue Daphne’s work by a team of journalists. Produced by global podcast studio Wondery, it airs on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all other podcast platforms from July 11, or is available now on Wondery+.

https://wondery.com/links/daphne

Daphne

((reporting by Stephen Grey; additional reporting by Jacob Borg of the Times of Malta; edited by Janet McBride))

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BRUSSELS (AP) — The 30 NATO allies signed off on the accession protocols for Sweden and Finland on Tuesday, sending the membership bids of the two nations to the alliance capitals for legislative approvals — and possible political trouble in Turkey.

The move further increases Russia’s strategic isolation in the wake of its invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February and military struggles there since.

“This is truly a historic moment for Finland, for Sweden and for NATO,” the head of the alliance, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, said.

The 30 ambassadors and permanent representatives formally approved decisions made at a NATO summit in Madrid last week, when the leaders of member nations invited Russia’s neighbor Finland and Scandinavian partner Sweden to join the military club.

Securing parliamentary approval for the new members in Turkey, however, could still pose a problem even though Sweden, Finland and Turkey reached a memorandum of understanding at the Madrid summit.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Ankara could block the process if the two countries failed to grant Turkey’s demands for the extradition of people it views as terror suspects. The people wanted in Turkey have links to outlawed Kurdish groups or the network of an exiled cleric accused of a failed 2016 coup in Turkey.

He said Turkey’s Parliament could refuse to ratify the deal. It is a potent threat since NATO accession must be formally approved by all 30 member states, which gives each a blocking right.

Stoltenberg said he expected no change of heart. “There were security concerns that needed to be addressed. And we did what we always do at NATO. We found common ground,” he said.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has given the process added urgency. It will ensconce the two nations in the Western military alliance and give NATO more clout, especially in the face of Moscow’s military threat.

“We will be even stronger and our people will be even safer as we face the biggest security crisis in decades,” Stoltenberg said.

At a news conference, the foreign ministers of Sweden and Finland were asked whether the memorandum specified people who would have to be extradited to Turkey. Both ministers said no such list was part of the agreement.

“We will honor the memorandum fully. There is, of course, no lists or anything like that in the memorandum, but what we will do is to have better cooperation when it comes to terrorists,” Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto was equally adamant.

“Everything that was agreed in Madrid is stated in the document. There are no hidden documents behind that or any agreements behind that,” Haavisto said.

Every alliance nation has different legislative challenges and procedures to deal with, and it could take several more months for the two Nordic nations to take their place as official NATO members.

Germany’s parliament is set to ratify the membership bids Friday, according to the Free Democrats, a partner party in the country’s coalition government. Other parliaments might only get to the approval process after long summer breaks.

“I look forward to a swift ratification process,” Haavisto said.

In the meantime, the protocols approved Tuesday bring both nations deeper into NATO’s fold already. As close partners, they already attended some meetings that involved issues that immediately affected them. As official invitees, they can attend all meetings of the ambassadors even if they do not yet have any voting rights.

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(Reuters) – U.S. WNBA basketball star Brittney Griner has made a direct plea to President Joe Biden to stand up for her in an emotional letter sent to the White House on Monday as she remains detained in Russia on drug charges.

Griner, who was held at a Moscow airport on Feb. 17 when a search of her luggage allegedly revealed multiple cannabis oil vape cartridges, went on trial on Friday and could face up to 10 years in a Russian jail.

The case takes place against a backdrop of high tension between Moscow and Washington over the conflict in Ukraine. U.S. officials say Griner has been detained wrongfully.

“As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” she wrote in a letter, excerpts of which have been shared by her representatives.

“On the 4th of July, our family normally honors the service of those who fought for our freedom, including my father who is a Vietnam War Veteran.

“It hurts thinking about how I usually celebrate this day because freedom means something completely different to me this year.”

Griner, who competes in the U.S. Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) but has also played regularly in Russia, was formally told at the first hearing that she was charged with intentionally importing narcotics into Russia.

The judge set the next hearing for July 7.

“I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don’t forget about me and the other American Detainees. Please do all you can to bring us home,” Griner added.

“I voted for the first time in 2020 and I voted for you. I believe in you. I still have so much good to do with my freedom that you can help restore.

“I miss my wife! I miss my family! I miss my teammates! It kills me to know they are suffering so much right now. I am grateful for whatever you can do at this moment to get me home.”

(Reporting by Anita Kobylinska in Gdansk; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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By Budi Satriawan

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) – Concerned about how Indonesian students with hearing impairments often miss out on religious education, cleric Abdul Kahfi founded an Islamic boarding school to help them study and recite scripture from the Koran using sign language.

Opened in 2019 in the city of Yogyakarta in central Java, the Darul A’shom school now has 12 staff and teaches 115 students aged between seven and 28 years from across the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country.

Abdul hopes the school will make it easier for future generations to learn about Islam.

“Nowadays hearing-impaired adults barely know religion in depth because from school age they have never learned about it,” said the cleric, noting how interest in his school had spread quickly.

In Indonesia, the curriculum in public schools provides limited religious teaching to children with special needs, starting at the age of eight or nine rather than at kindergarten as is the case for many other students.

Only three out of 10 children with disabilities in Indonesia are able to go to school, according to a survey by the United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF).

Hearing-impaired students typically take about five years to learn to recite and memorise the Koran at the school.

“Now I am able to read and memorise 30 juz (parts) of the Koran,” said Muhammad Farhad, a 10-year-old student, who said he wanted to become a cleric one day so he can pass on his knowledge to others.

Indonesia has tens of thousands of Islamic boarding schools and other religious schools that often provide the only way for children from poorer families to get an education.

(Reporting by Budi Satriawan in Yogyakarta; Editing by Ed Davies and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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By Renju Jose

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Torrential rains kept battering Australia’s east coast on Tuesday, intensifying the flood crisis in Sydney as thousands more residents were ordered to leave their homes after rivers swiftly rose past danger levels.

About 50,000 residents in New South Wales, most in Sydney’s western suburbs, have been told to either evacuate or warned they might receive evacuation orders, up from Monday’s 30,000, authorities said.

“This event is far from over, please don’t be complacent,” New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet told reporters. “Wherever you are, please be careful when you’re driving on our roads. There are still substantial risks for flash flooding.”

The latest wild storm cell – which brought heavy rains with several places receiving more than Australia’s annual average rainfall in three days – is likely to ease in Sydney from Tuesday as the coastal trough moves north, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said.

But the risk of flooding could remain through the week with most river catchments already near capacity even before the latest deluge.

About 90mm (3.5 inches) of rain could fall over six hours in the state’s mid-north coast from Tuesday, reaching up to 125mm in some places, BoM said.

Winds up to 90km per hour (56 miles per hour) are also forecast in several flood-hit places, raising the risk of falling trees and power lines.

“We’re asking people across Sydney today to please stay at home unless you really need to leave the house,” state Emergency Management Minister Steph Cooke said.

The federal government late on Monday declared the floods a natural disaster, helping flood-hit residents receive emergency funding support.

Emergency crews will continue their rescue operation on Tuesday to tow a bulk carrier ship that lost power off the coast of Sydney after tow lines broke in severe weather, officials said.

Major flooding is occurring at Windsor in Sydney’s west, which is going through its third flood this year, with current water levels higher than seen in the deluge early this year, the weather bureau said.

Footage on social media showed submerged roads and bridges, while emergency crews rescued stranded people from partially submerged vehicles that became stuck in rising waters.

Nigel Myron, a Windsor resident, said he has kept an inflatable boat ready if he had to evacuate though he is looking to move back to his place once waters recede.

“At the end of the day, what can you do? It is what it is and we dust ourselves off from the ashes and rebuild after the floods have come and gone,” Myron told ABC television.

(Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by David Gregorio and Lincoln Feast.)

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