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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Poppies, the blood-red flowers that cover the battlefields of Europe’s two world wars, were lain in mourning Saturday on the coffin of yet another dead soldier, this one killed in yet another European war, in Ukraine.

The hundreds of mourners for Roman Ratushnyi, 24, included friends who had protested with him during months of demonstrations that toppled Ukraine’s pro-Russia leader in 2014 and who, like him, took up arms when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor this February.

The arc of his shortened life symbolized that of Ukraine’s post-independence generations that are sacrificing their best years in the cause of freedom. First, with defiance and dozens of lives against brutal riot police during Ukraine’s Maidan protests of 2013-2014 and now with weapons and even more lives against Russian troops.

“Heroes never die!” friends, family and admirers shouted in Ukrainian as Ratushnyi’s coffin was loaded aboard a hearse on a square in the Ukrainian capital now decorated with destroyed Russian tanks and vehicles. Their charred hulks contrasted with the shiny gold domes of an adjacent cathedral where priests had earlier sung prayers for Ratushnyi, who was well-known in Kyiv for his civic and environmental activism.

From the square, the hundreds of mourners then walked in a silent column behind his coffin to Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square. The vast plaza in central Kyiv gave its name to the three months of protests that overthrew then President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014 and which helped fuel the political and patriotic awakening of Ukrainians born after independence in 1991.

Ratushnyi had “a heart full of love for Ukraine,” said Misha Reva, who traveled in his soldier’s uniform from the war’s front lines by overnight train to say goodbye to the friend he met for the first time on Maidan, in the midst of the protests. Ratushnyi was then just 16; Reva was in his early 20s. It was Ratushnyi who introduced Reva to the woman who is now his wife, also on the square.

During the protests where riot police used batons and eventually bullets with abandon, the two friends sheltered together for one night in St. Michael’s, the cathedral where the memorial service for Ratushnyi was held Saturday morning. Poppies and a traditional loaf of bread were placed on his coffin covered with Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag.

Reva said he and Ratushnyi signed up to fight on the very first day of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24. After taking part in the defense of Kyiv in the invasion’s opening weeks, Ratushnyi then joined an army brigade, doing military intelligence work, Reva said. He was killed June 9 around the town of Izyum on the war’s eastern front, according to the environmental campaign group that Ratushnyi led in Kyiv. He fought for the preservation from development of a wooded park where people ski in winter.

“He was such a solid and big personality,” Reva said. “It’s a great loss for Ukraine.”

During the commemorations for Ratushnyi, air raid alarms sounded. They’re daily occurrences in Kyiv, which is now relatively peaceful, but reminders of the war raging to the east and south. Other reminders were the dozens of soldiers, some holding flowers, among the mourners. Some draped yellow and blue flags over their shoulders.

“He was a symbol, a symbol of a new Ukraine, of freedom and a new generation that wants to fight for its rights,” said Serhli Sasyn, 21.

The “best people are dying now,” he added.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Celia weakened to a tropical depression off Central America Saturday, as Tropical Storm Blas headed out to sea off Mexico’s southern Pacific coast.

Celia is expected to remain off the coast of El Salvador and Guatemala over the weekend before moving west, toward Mexico, next week. The depression could still bring large rainfalls to the already-soaked Central American countries, and could regenerate into a storm.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned of heavy rains over portions of Central America and Mexico.

The Hurricane Center said Celia had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph) and was about 80 miles (130 kms) south-southwest of San Salvador. It was moving northwest at 5 mph (7 kph).

Tropical Storm Blas continued to weaken Saturday in the Pacific. Blas was located about 355 miles (575 kms) south of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 6 mph (9 kph).

The storm was bringing dangerous surf to the coast. The region was battered when Hurricane Agatha came ashore near Puerto Angel on May 30.

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By Luc Cohen

(Reuters) – A superyacht seized in Fiji last month at the request of U.S. authorities, who say the $300 million Amadea is owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, has arrived in Hawaii, Refinitiv Eikon vessel tracking data showed.

The U.S. Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force has focused on seizing yachts and other luxury assets of Russian oligarchs in a bid to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.

The 106-meter (350-foot) yacht left Fiji’s Lautoka port last week after the Pacific island nation’s Supreme Court ruled the yacht should leave the country because it was costly for the government to maintain it.

Data from Refinitiv show the vessel moored in Honolulu on Thursday afternoon.

It had arrived in Fiji, where it was seized, on April 13 after an 18-day voyage from Mexico. The FBI said in an affidavit that the vessel turned off its automated information systems on Feb. 24, almost immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine, as part of an effort to avoid seizure.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation.”

Lawyers for the Amadea’s owner, Cayman Islands-registered Millemarin Investment Ltd, told a Fiji court that the Amadea was not owned by Kerimov but by another Russian oligarch who has not been sanctioned, the former Rosneft chief Eduard Khudainatov.

The United States alleges Kerimov is the Amadea’s true beneficial owner, but much of the evidence in the April 13 seizure warrant is redacted in the version released to the public.

Kerimov was sanctioned by the United States in 2014 and 2018 in response to Russia’s actions in Syria and Ukraine. He has also been sanctioned by the European Union.

The Amadea previously sailed under the Cayman Islands flag, according to public shipping database Equasis. Eikon data showed it arrived in Hawaii flying the U.S. flag.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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By Alexandra Valencia

QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso should be less focused on following International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies if he is to fix the economic and social problems his people live each day, indigenous protest leader Leonidas Iza said on Friday.

CONAIE, Ecuador’s largest indigenous organization, launched protests on Monday. Demonstrators blocked roads across the country in opposition to Lasso’s social and economic policies, demanding gasoline price freezes, a halt to further mining and oil projects, and more time for small farmers to pay their bank loans.

CONAIE leader Iza told Reuters in an interview that indigenous protesters believed the script imposed by the IMF was too “rigorously” followed by the government and was worsening the economic effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s poor.

Ecuador’s presidency was not immediately available to comment.

Ecuador’s $6.5 billion deal with the IMF wraps up this year. The plan agreed with the multinational organization has included tax hikes, eliminating subsidies, and greater coverage of economic help for vulnerable sectors.

However, IMF policies to improve the country’s fiscal deficit, international reserves and risk do not live up to reality on the ground, Iza said.

“The government wants to govern by fixating on positive numbers,” he said.

Lasso has called for dialogue amid the unrest, while also threatening the use of force to tamp down the protests, which have led to shortages of some products.

Some sectors of society are feeling more benefit than others from Lasso’s policies, Iza said, adding that proposals made by indigenous communities would share the burden fairly.

“Nobody wants to ignore the crisis that the Ecuadorian state faces, but we must understand that the crisis affects everyone,” he said.

Protests will continue until Lasso responds to the indigenous requests, Iza said.

“It’s still in the president’s hands,” he said.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

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BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s health minister urged residents and visitors to wear face masks indoors to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus, but he acknowledged that current data doesn’t justify making mask use a legal requirement.

An indoor mask mandate largely lapsed across Germany this spring, with the requirement remaining for places such as hospitals and care homes. The libertarian Free Democratic Party, which is part of the country’s governing coalition, has been particularly vocal in pressing for an end to COVID-19 measures.

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, an epidemiologist by training, said Germany was experiencing an expected increase in cases that amounted to a “summer wave.” The country has recently reported between 50 and 130 coronavirus-related deaths a day, according to official figures.

“I ask those who want to protect themselves or others to wear masks indoors,” Lauterbach, a member of the Social Democrats, told reporters in Berlin, noting that cases could continue rising over the coming months. “Voluntarily wearing masks needs to be a normality indoors.”

The dominant variant circulating in Germany is comparatively mild, and many residents are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19, meaning they are less at risk of serious illness, the health minister said.

“There is no need to to panic,” he said.

Lauterbach said the government was working on obtaining a broad supply of vaccines for the fall that would respond to all the main variants.

Citizens who are at risk, or who want to avoid endangering others, should consider getting a second booster shot, he added.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/covid-19-pandemic

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ROME (AP) — One of Pope Francis’ proposed new cardinals, the retired bishop of Ghent, Belgium, has bowed out of accepting the honor over his insufficient response to cases of clergy sexual abuse, the Belgian bishops conference said.

Ghent Bishop Luc Van Looy had asked Francis for permission to decline the honor in order “to not harm victims again,” and Francis accepted the request, the bishops said in a statement.

Francis had named Van Looy as one of 21 prelates to become a new “prince of the church” during a consistory Aug. 27. At 80, Van Looy is too old to participate in a future conclave to decide on the next pope, but he was one of five men named as cardinals in recognition of their lifetime of service to the church.

Van Looy, a priest of the Salesian religious order, had been bishop of the northwest Belgian diocese from 2004-2020.

The Belgian bishops conference said the announcement that he would be made a cardinal had “generated a lot of positive reaction but also criticism of the fact that he didn’t always react with sufficient energy as bishop of Ghent against abuse in his pastoral work.”

The conference said it appreciated Van Looy’s decision to decline the honor and reiterated its commitment to fighting abuse in the church and placing the interests of victims first.

The Belgian Catholic Church has had a wretched record with abuse and cover-up: In 2010 the Belgian church acknowledged more than 500 cases of abuse dating from the 1950s after it commissioned a report that found at least 13 victims committed suicide.

That same year, police raided church offices and the archbishop of Bruges resigned after admitting he had sexually abused his nephew for years while a priest and bishop. The Bruges scandal also tarnished the then-head of the Belgian church, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who was recorded urging the bishop’s’ victim to stay quiet.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s film censors said Friday that it was Disney’s decision to ax the animated film “Lightyear” from the country’s cinemas after refusing to cut scenes promoting homosexuality.

The Film Censorship Board said it approved the movie with parental guidance for those under 13 on the condition of modifications. Scenes and dialogues that it “found to contain elements promoting the LGBT lifestyle which violate key aspects of the Guidelines on the Film Censorship” were ordered to “be cut and muted,” the board said in a statement.

“However, the film distributors did not agree to comply with the instructions” and decided instead to cancel the screening, the board said, adding that it would not compromise on any LGBTQ scenes. The statement did not specify which scenes violated censorship guidelines.

“Lightyear” includes a female character voiced by actress Uzo Aduba briefly kissing her female partner in one scene in the $200 million film.

Authorities across much of the Muslim world have barred “Lightyear” from being played at cinemas because it includes a brief kiss between a lesbian couple. Many Muslims consider gays and lesbians to be sinful and many Muslim-majority nations criminalize same-sex relationships. The United Arab Emirates also announced it would ban the Pixar animated feature from showing in movie theaters because of the kiss.

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By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Russian-flagged ships have been carrying grain harvested in Ukraine last season and transported it to Syria, U.S. satellite imagery company Maxar said on Thursday.

Maxar’s images showed two Russian-flagged bulk carrier ships docked in the Russian-controlled Crimean port of Sevastopol in May and being loaded with grain, the company said.

Days later, Maxar satellites collected images of the same ships docked in Syria, with their hatches open and semi-trucks lined up ready to haul the grain away, Maxar said. Syria and Russia are staunch allies.

The company said another image from June also showed a different ship being loaded with grain in Sevastopol.

Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing grain from the territories that Russian forces occupied since its invasion began in late February. The war threatens to cause severe food shortages as Russia and Ukraine account for about 29% of global wheat exports.

Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exporters, and Western countries have accused Russia of creating the risk of global famine by shutting Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

On June 8, the deputy head of Ukrainian agriculture producers union UAC said that Russia has stolen about 600,000 tonnes of grain from occupied territory and exported some of it.

Russia calls its action in Ukraine a “special military operation” claiming its aim was to disarm and “denazify” its neighbor. The West and Ukraine say this is a pretext for unprovoked aggression.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Grant McCool)

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By Saurabh Sharma and Jatindra Dash

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) -Police in northern India fired shots in the air on Thursday to push back stone-throwing crowds and authorities shut off mobile internet in at least one district to forestall further chaos, as protests widened against a new military recruitment system.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government this week announced an overhaul of recruitment for India’s 1.38 million-strong armed forces, looking to bring down the average age of personnel and reduce pension expenditure.

But potential recruits, military veterans, opposition leaders and even some members of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have raised reservations over the revamped process.

In northern Haryana state’s Palwal district, some 50 km (31 miles) south of the capital New Delhi, crowds hurled stones at a government official’s house and police protecting the building fired shots to keep the mob at bay, according to video footage from Reuters partner ANI.

“Yes, we have fired a few shots to control the crowd,” a local police official said, declining to be named.

There was no immediate information on casualties.

Mobile internet was temporarily suspended in Palwal district for the next 24 hours, Haryana’s information department said.

Protesters in eastern India’s Bihar state set a BJP office on fire in Nawada city, attacked railway infrastructure and blocked roads, as demonstrations spread across several parts of the country, police officials told Reuters.

Protesters also attacked railway property across Bihar, settling alight coaches in at least two locations, damaging train tracks and vandalising a station, according to officials and a railways statement.

The new recruitment system, called Agnipath or “path of fire” in Hindi, will bring in men and women between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 for a four-year tenure at non-officer ranks, with only a quarter retained for longer periods.

Previously, soldiers have been recruited by the army, navy and air force separately and typically enter service for up to 17 years for the lowest ranks.

The shorter tenure has caused concern among potential recruits.

“Where will we go after working for only four years?” one young man, surrounded by fellow protesters in Bihar’s Jehanabad district, told ANI. “We will be homeless after four years of service. So we have jammed the roads.”

Smoke billowed from burning tyres at a crossroads in Jehanabad where protesters shouted slogans and performed push-ups to emphasise their fitness for service.

Bihar and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh saw protests over the recruitment process for railway jobs in January this year, underlining India’s persistent unemployment problem.

Varun Gandhi, a BJP lawmaker from Uttar Pradesh, in a letter to India’s defence minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that 75% of those recruited under the scheme would become unemployed after four years of service.

    “Every year, this number will increase,” Gandhi said, according to a copy of the letter posted by him on social media.

(Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal;Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, William Maclean)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States said on Thursday it was aware of reports that a third U.S. citizen is missing after traveling to Ukraine and it had not yet asked Russia about two Americans reportedly captured after going to the country to fight Russian forces.

“As of today, we have not raised this yet with the Russian Federation … (We) haven’t seen anything from the Russians indicating that two such individuals are in their custody,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters, describing reports about the two men as unconfirmed.

Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Andy Huynh, 27, of Hartselle, Alabama, went to Ukraine as volunteer fighters against Russian forces, have been missing for a week, and are feared captured, family members have said.

The U.S. military said the two men had served in the U.S. armed forces in the past – Huynh for the Marine Corps and Drueke in the Army Reserves – but provided no information about their current whereabouts.

The U.S. military has repeatedly denied U.S. troops are deployed to Ukraine and told veterans there are better ways to help Ukraine than answering calls from Kyiv to fight there.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, saying it was engaged in a “special military operation” to disarm and “denazify” its neighbor. Ukraine and its allies say Moscow has launched an unprovoked war of aggression, killing thousands of civilians.

Reports that the two had been taken as prisoners of war by Russia are unconfirmed, the families and U.S. officials have said. Earlier, the White House said it was “working very hard to learn more” about the two.

“There are reports of one additional American whose whereabouts are unknown… Our understanding was that this individual had traveled to Ukraine to take up arms,” Price added, saying the third American was identified as missing in recent weeks.

(Reporting By Costas Pitas, Daphne Psaledaki and Phil Stewart in Washington and by Arshad Mohammed in Saint Paul, Minn.; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Alistair Bell)

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