World News

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis again canceled his daily meetings Tuesday because of acute knee pain that has greatly curtailed his mobility in recent months.

The Vatican said in a statement that Francis’ doctors had recommended he interrupt his planned activities, which included a meeting of his cabinet of cardinal advisers who meet every three months at the Vatican.

Francis last Friday cleared his schedule for medical checks, the results of which have not been released. The 85-year-old has said he strained the ligaments in his right knee, making walking, standing and getting up from his chair increasingly difficult and painful.

Francis has long had a pronounced limp due to sciatica nerve pain, but the knee pain has aggravated it. He has had to bow out of celebrating several recent liturgical events, including the Easter Vigil and a Mass this past Sunday. He now frequently walks with a shuffle and the assistance of an aide.

He has a packed travel schedule coming up, including reported trips to Lebanon in June, Congo, South Sudan and Canada in July and Kazakhstan in September.

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KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — An explosion ripped through a van inside a university campus in southern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing three Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver, officials said. A separatist militant group claimed responsibility and said the attack was carried out by a woman suicide bomber.

The bombing at the University of Karachi also wounded a fourth Chinese national, as well as a Pakistani guard accompanying the van, according to university spokesman Mohammad Farooq.

Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said the initial investigation suggests a suicide bomber was behind the attack. He said that closed circuit television footage from the site showed a person dressed in the female burqa head-to-toe covering walking up to the van, followed by an instantaneous explosion.

The Chinese fatalities included the director of the Chinese-built Confucius Institute, which offers Chinese language graduate classes, and two teachers.

The Baluchistan Liberation Army, a militant group in nearby Baluchistan province, has targeted Chinese nationals in attacks in the past.

The group’s statement that followed Tuesday’s attack identified the bomber as Shari Baluch or Bramsh, saying she was the group’s first female bomber. The attack marks “a new chapter in the history of Baluch resistance,” the statement said.

Baluchistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by armed Baluch groups demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the region’s natural resources if not outright independence from Islamabad.

However, the Pakistani Taliban have also targeted Chinese interest in the past. Last July, the group — also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan — claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus that killed nine Chinese nationals in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province. Four Pakistanis also died in that attack.

The Pakistani Taliban are a separate group from the Afghan Taliban, their allies who have seized power in neighboring Afghanistan.

Thousands of Chinese workers are living and working in Pakistan, with most of them involved in Beijing’s multi-billion dollar project known as “One Belt One Road Project” that is to connect south and central Asia with the Chinese capital.

A key road linking Pakistan’s southern port of Gwadar, in southwestern Baluchistan province, with China’s northwest Xinjiang province, is part of what is known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The project includes a number of infrastructure projects and several power projects.

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Associated Press writers Kathy Gannon and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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By Emma Farge

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States, as well as the Taliban authorities, is contributing to the suffering of women in Afghanistan through asset freezes, U.N. independent experts said on Monday.

The United Nations and foreign governments, including Washington, have condemned moves by the Taliban to backtrack on women’s rights commitments such as on girls’ education in the months following their takeover in Aug. 2021.

However, the statement by 14 U.N. independent rights experts also blamed the U.S. government for making life worse for Afghan women through blocking billions of dollars of central bank assets made up in part of aid money for the country accumulated over decades.

“While gender-based violence has been a long-standing and severe threat to women and girls, it has been exacerbated by the measures imposed by the US…,” said the statement, without giving specific details.

It also blamed the Taliban’s “widening gender-based discrimination” for deteriorating women’s rights.

The current humanitarian crisis where 23 million are reliant on food aid is having a “disproportionate impact” on women and children, the statement added.

Central bank funds have been frozen since August as the Taliban took over and foreign forces withdrew.

U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order in February to renew the freeze and said it was working to free up half of that money to help the Afghan people while holding the rest to possibly satisfy terrorism-related lawsuits against the Taliban.

The U.N. experts appointed by the Geneva-based Rights Council called the order’s provisions “overly broad” and said they were resulting in “over-zealous compliance with sanctions thus preventing people of Afghanistan from any access to basic humanitarian goods”.

Under international human rights law, governments including the United States have an obligation to ensure their activities do not result in rights violations, the statement said.

The experts said they formerly relayed their concerns and recommendations to Washington. They have not yet received a reply, they said. Reuters is seeking comment from the United States.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch public prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct at “The Voice of Holland” talent show, authorities said Monday.

The prosecutor’s office said it was acting on five complaints against four people at the television show, and now officially considered them suspects after the first allegations were aired in January.

The show was taken off the air when it became one of the most serious #MeToo reckonings yet to hit the Dutch entertainment world. It focuses on a show created in the Netherlands but broadcast in local versions around the globe.

The scandal erupted after a local broadcaster’s YouTube show called “BOOS” — the Dutch word for angry — contacted “The Voice of Holland” to say it had spoken to victims of “sexually transgressive behavior.” It aired a broadcast about their allegations soon after.

Dutch broadcaster RTL, which airs “The Voice of Holland,” reacted swiftly to the reports and suspended the show.

The prosecutor’s office said it expected the investigation to take quite a while and will only decide then whether to prosecute the suspects.

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TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — Funerals were held across northern Lebanon on Monday for seven people killed when a boat packed with migrants sunk over the weekend as the Lebanese navy tried to force it back to shore.

The small vessel was carrying nearly 60 people — many times its capacity — when the disaster struck on Saturday night. The tragedy was the latest in a growing trend involving mostly Lebanese and Syrians trying to travel to Europe from Lebanon in search of better lives.

The navy rescued 47 people and some are still missing.

Among those laid to rest on Monday were Sarah Ahmed Talib and her four year old daughter from the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood of Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city.

Women wailed from balconies in Tripoli as bodies were carried to the mosque and bursts of gunfire rang out in mourning. Dozens attended the funerals.

The migrant vessel had set off from the coastal town of Qalamoun on Saturday night, Lebanese officials have said, adding that no precautionary measures were taken and no one was wearing life vests when the boat meant to carry only six people capsized later that night.

Survivors blame the Lebanese navy for sinking the ship, saying a naval vessel rammed the vessel while trying to force it back to shore.

Angry residents attacked a main army checkpoint in Tripoli on Sunday, throwing stones at troops who responded by firing into the air. Some shops closed as angry men blocked several streets in Tripoli, Lebanon’s most impoverished city. There were no reports of injuries.

Since Lebanon’s economic meltdown began in October 2019, hundreds have left on boats hoping for a better life in Europe, paying smugglers thousands of dollars. Many have made it to European countries, while others have been stopped and forced to return home by the Lebanese navy.

Several have lost their lives on the way to Europe over the past three years.

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By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis called for halt to attacks in Ukraine on Sunday so aid can reach the exhausted population and urged leaders to “listen to the voice of the people”, who fear an escalation.

Speaking to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square, he noted that the day most Eastern Christians, including Orthodox and Catholics in Ukraine and Russia, celebrate Easter coincided with the two month mark of the war.

“Instead of stopping, the war has become more harsh,” he said from the window of the official papal study.

“I renew an appeal for an Easter truce, the minimum and tangible sign of a willingness for peace. Stop the attacks in order to help the exhausted population. Stop,” Francis said.

As Christians in Ukraine celebrated Orthodox Easter, there was no end in sight to a war that has killed thousands, uprooted millions more and reduced cities to rubble. Ukraine said two children were among those killed in shelling on Sunday.

Western Christians celebrated Easter last Sunday.

“It is sad that in these days that are the most holy and solemn for all Christians, the deadly sound of weapons is heard more than sound of bells that announce the resurrection. And it is sad that weapons are increasingly taking the place of words,” Francis said.

“Please, political leaders, listen to the voice of the people who want peace, not an escalation of the conflict,” Francis said.

Francis, 85, has not specifically mentioned Russia or its president, Vladimir Putin, since the start of the conflict but he left little doubt which side he has criticised, using terms such as unjustified aggression and invasion and lamenting atrocities against civilians.

Putin, a member of the Russian Orthodox Church, has described Moscow’s actions as a “special military operation” in Ukraine aimed at demilitarising and “denazifying” the country. Moscow has denied targeting civilians.

Francis has specifically rejected Russia’s terminology, calling it a war that has caused “rivers of blood”.

Earlier Francis again attended but did not preside at a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, the latest time over the Easter season that a flare up of pain in his knee forced him to curtail some activities. He read the homily in a clear and strong voice while seated.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)

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BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany must do everything in its power to help Ukraine win the war against Russia but without endangering its own security and NATO’s defence capability, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Saturday.

“We must do everything in our power to help Ukraine win, but the limit of the ethical responsibility is endangering our own security and endangering the defence capability of NATO territory,” Lindner said in a party conference speech in Berlin.

“But what is possible … must be undertaken pragmatically and quickly, together with our European partners,” he said.

Lindner said he was in favour of supporting Ukraine with heavy weapons, but that Germany must not become a party to the war.

“Ukraine needs military support, and in order to be victorious, it also needs heavy weapons,” Lindner added.

He rejected criticism aimed at Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the government’s apparent reluctance to deliver heavy battlefield weapons, such as tanks and howitzers.

“Olaf Scholz is a responsible leader who weighs things up carefully and makes decisions on this basis,” Lindner said.

A day earlier, when asked about Germany’s failure to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, Scholz said NATO must avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia that could lead to a third world war.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Alexander Ratz; Editing by Christina Fincher)

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TOKYO (AP) — Japan describes four islands whose ownership it disputes with Moscow as “illegally occupied by Russia” in the latest version of a diplomatic report released Friday, using stronger language to describe the territorial flap than other recent versions and underscoring the chilled relations between the two sides amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The description in the 2022 Diplomatic Bluebook, an annual report on Japan’s foreign policy issued by the Foreign Ministry, uses that phrasing for the first time in nearly two decades. Japan, which is struggling to improve ties with Moscow to regain control of the Kurils, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, had previously described the dispute in a softer tone.

“The Northern Territories are a group of islands Japan has sovereignty over and an integral part of Japan’s territory, but currently they are illegally occupied by Russia,” the ministry said in the report.

The dispute over the Russian-held islands, which the former Soviet Union seized from Japan at the end of World War II, has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their war hostilities.

The report last used a similar expression in 2003 but had toned down its phrasing until last year, when it described the dispute as “the greatest concern between Japan and Russia” and noted that “Japan has sovereignty” over the islands.

In another territorial dispute, the ministry said the island that Japan calls Takeshima is “illegally occupied” by Seoul, which calls it Dokdo.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry protested Japan’s “repeated inclusion of unjust sovereignty claims over Dokdo,” calling the island an integral part of South Korean territory. It said Tokyo’s repeated claims are in “no way conducive to efforts to establish a future-oriented relationship between the two sides. Japan-South Korea ties have been also badly strained by historical issues.

Japan has joined other Group of Seven countries in imposing a series of sanctions against Russia. Tokyo is taking a greater role in the international effort against Russia because of its concerns about the impact of the invasion in East Asia, where China’s military has grown increasingly assertive.

Japan has already faced reprisals from Russia, which recently announced the suspension of talks on a peace treaty with Tokyo that included negotiations over the disputed islands.

Japan also seeks to bolster its defense capability and budget as part of a key revision to Japan’s national security strategy expected later this year.

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AP writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea contributed to this report.

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PARIS (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron and far-right challenger Marine Le Pen squared off in a debate on Wednesday evening, four days ahead of the April 24 presidential runoff vote. [L2N2WI0UR]

Here are some key quotes from Macron and Le Pen as they launched their final bid to convince undecided French voters.

ISLAM AND FRENCH SECULARISM

Le Pen:

“I want to ban the veil in the public space. I think the veil is a uniform imposed by Islamists and I think that the majority of young women who wear it cannot do otherwise.”

Macron:

“You will create a civil war in the suburbs, Madame Le Pen.”

“How many police officers will have to run behind women to enforce the veil ban?”

SECURITY AND IMMIGRATION

Le Pen:

“Everywhere I go, including in the deepest countryside, I have people telling me ‘we can’t take it anymore’.”

“We need to solve the problem of massive and anarchic immigration.”

France needs a referendum on immigration “so that the French choose who comes, who stays and who leaves.”

Macron:

“You live solely off fear, Madame Le Pen, and resentment.”

“A referendum would change nothing, it depends on the cooperation of other countries.”

CLIMATE AND ENERGY POLICY

Macron:

“There is no way out of fossil fuels that relies solely on nuclear. Your strategy is not workable.”

“Even though we have energy needs today, you are not telling me how we will cope with moving beyond fossil fuels, how we will reduce our dependence on Russian gas.”

Le Pen”

“I am in no way a climate sceptic. But you, you are something of a climate hypocrite.”

“Free trade kills the planet.”

“You have completely changed your tune on nuclear power… We have wasted 10 years destabilising a nuclear industry that needed to be strengthened to make this carbon-free energy source once again the basis for our energy mix.”

PENSION REFORM:

Macron:

“I don’t want to increase our taxes, I don’t want to increase our debt, I even want to start paying it off over the next five years. So I want us to work more, a pillar of which would be to push back the legal retirement age by four months a year until we reach 65 in 2031.”

Le Pen:

“All those who had their first proper job before the age of 20 will be able to retire at 60.”

In response to Macron’s proposal: “You foresee that no one will be able to enjoy a full retirement.”

EUROPE

Macron:

“Five years ago, your programme was only applicable if France left the euro (currency). Today, you still want to get out of it but you don’t say so anymore.”

“I believe in the Franco-German couple.”

“We have made (COVID-19) vaccines that protect us thanks to our European agreements.”

Le Pen:

“France is a world power not just a European power.”

“I want the European Commission to respect sovereign nations, to respect the choice of the French people, including their choice of society.”

“So I want to change this European organisation. But I don’t want to leave it.”

RUSSIA

Le Pen on energy sanctions:

“The only sanctions I disagree with is the blocking of Russian oil and gas imports. Why do I disagree? Because in reality it will do no harm to Russia and will do enormous harm to our people.”

“We cannot commit hara-kiri in the hope of hurting Russia.”

Macron on Le Pen’s Russia ties:

“You are dependent on power, you are dependent on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. You took a loan from a Russian bank.”

“You don’t speak to other leaders, you speak to your banker when you speak to Russia, that’s the problem.”

COST OF LIVING

Le Pen:

“I’ve seen the people suffer, I’ve seen them worry, worry about a downgrading in their quality of life, about a kind of precariousness that they feels is widespread.

“All you do is hand out cheques … my priority is to give French people their money back.”

Macron:

“I don’t want people listening to us to think their salaries will rise by 10%”

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Layli Foroudi; Editing by Richard Lough)

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LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to set aside his political troubles and focus on economic ties and the war in Ukraine during a long-delayed official trip to India.

Johnson is due to visit the western state of Gujarat and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on the two-day trip that starts Thursday.

He hopes to strike new economic deals between Britain and its huge former colony, and to coax India away from Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Modi has called the situation in Ukraine “very worrying” and has appealed to both sides for peace. But India has stood back from international efforts to criticize President Vladimir Putin, abstaining when the U.N. General Assembly voted this month to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council.

Modi has so far responded coolly to pressure from U.S. President Joe Biden and others to curb imports of Russian oil and gas.

India receives little of its oil from Russia, but has ramped up its purchases and bought 3 million barrels of crude last month, just as other democracies tried to isolate Putin with economic sanctions. India is also a major customer for Russian weapons, and recently bought advanced Russian air defense systems.

Johnson’s spokesman, Max Blain, said Britain would “work with other countries to provide alternative options for defense procurement and energy for India to diversify its supply chains away from Russia.”

But he stressed that the U.K. wouldn’t “lecture other democratically elected governments on what course of action was best for them.”

Johnson’s office said the two countries will announce new deals on defense, green energy, jobs and science partnerships during the prime minister’s trip.

Britain is seeking to tighten ties with Asian nations as part of an “Indo-Pacific tilt” to its foreign policy following its departure from the European Union in 2020. Johnson hopes to nudge forward negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and India, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

Talks started in January, but the prime minister’s spokesman played down chances of a quick deal, saying “we don’t want to sacrifice quality for speed.”

The trip may also provide the British prime minister with a brief respite from a scandal over lockdown-breaching government parties during the coronavirus pandemic.

Johnson was fined by police last week for attending his own surprise birthday party in 10 Downing St. in June 2020, when people in Britain were barred from meeting with friends and family outside the home. It is one of a dozen gatherings in government buildings being investigating by police for possible lockdown breaches in a scandal that has become known as “partygate.”

On Tuesday Johnson offered lawmakers in Parliament what he said was a ”wholehearted” apology, but insisted he didn’t knowingly break rules, and brushed off calls to resign.

The trip means Johnson will miss an opposition-triggered vote in the House of Commons Thursday on whether he should be investigated for allegedly misleading Parliament when he denied violating any pandemic restrictions.

Johnson originally planned to visit India in January 2021, but the trip was canceled because of surging coronavirus cases in Britain. A second date in April 2022 was called off as a new coronavirus variant hit India.

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