World News

BERLIN (AP) — German automaker Mercedes-Benz said Thursday that it has auctioned an extremely rare car from its company collection for a roaring 135 million euros ($143 million).

The company said the price paid by a private collector earlier this month for the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, with its distinctive gullwing doors, makes it the most valuable car of all time. The claim couldn’t be independently verified.

Mercedes Benz said the proceeds would be used to launch a fund providing scholarships for young people to learn about and research environmental science and decarbonization. The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, released by burning fossil fuels, is largely blamed for climate change.

The car was one of just two prototypes built in 1955, and named after the company’s then-chief engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut.

“We would like to encourage a new generation to follow in Rudolf Uhlenhaut’s innovative footsteps and develop amazing new technologies, particularly those that support the critical goal of decarbonization and resource preservation,” the CEO of Mercedes-Benz Group, Ola Kallenius, said.

The company’s said its collection comprises some 1,100 cars dating back to 1886.

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By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Thursday he would like to pivot away from single-issue transactional relationship with the United States as he seeks to repair frayed ties with Washington.

“Our relationship with the United States has been colored too much by the geopolitical context in our region, and particularly by the events and circumstances in Afghanistan,” Bhutto-Zardari told reporters at the United Nations during his first visit to the United States as foreign minister.

“We would like to pivot away from a transactory relationship, a one point agenda relationship, to a more broad-based relationship with a particular emphasis on trade,” he said a day after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed Bhutto-Zardari, son of assassinated former premier Benazir Bhutto, three weeks ago. Sharif took over last month after Imran Khan lost a confidence vote moved by a united opposition, that blamed him for mismanaging the economy, governance and foreign relations.

Khan had antagonised the United States throughout his tenure, welcoming the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year and more recently accusing Washington of being behind the attempt to oust him. Washington dismissed the accusation.

Analysts have said they do not expect the United States to seek a significant broadening of ties with Pakistan’s new government, but to remain mostly focused on security cooperation, especially on counterterrorism and Afghanistan.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement on Wednesday after Blinken and Bhutto-Zardari met that the pair affirmed a “shared desire for a strong and prosperous bilateral relationship.”

Bhutto-Zardari also said he was not concerned about competing with neighboring India when it came to ties with Washington. The United States and India are part of a Quad security grouping of nations with Australia and Japan.

“Pakistan is not insecure about our relationship with the United States and we believe that the world is big enough for both Pakistan and India to exist,” he said.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; editing by Grant McCool)

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By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden met with the leaders of Finland and Sweden at the White House on Thursday to offer robust U.S. support for their applications to join NATO, while Turkey threatened to block the Nordic nations from becoming members of the alliance.

Biden, who has rallied the West to stand up to Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, joined Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in a sunny White House Rose Garden bedecked with their countries’ flags in a show of unity and support.

“Finland and Sweden make NATO stronger,” Biden said. “They’re strong, strong democracies, and a strong, united NATO is the foundation of America’s security.”

Biden said his administration was submitting paperwork to the U.S. Congress for speedy approval once NATO members gave the two countries a green light.

“They meet every NATO requirement and then some,” the president said. “Having two new NATO members in the high north will enhance the security of our alliance and deepen our security cooperation across the board.”

Turkey has expressed strong opposition to the Nordic countries’ ascension, pressing Sweden to halt support for Kurdish militants it considers part of a terrorist group and both to lift their bans on some arms sales to Turkey.

All 30 NATO members need to approve any new entrant. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in a video posted on Twitter on Thursday that Turkey had told allies it will reject Sweden and Finland’s membership.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, speaking to reporters on Air Force One en route to Asia, said the leaders of Sweden and Finland indicated they were planning to speak directly to Erdogan and that Washington was prepared to support that process.

“We believe that the Turkish concerns about the accession of Sweden and Finland that have been expressed by President Erdogan and others can be addressed and can be resolved,” Sullivan said.

Asked if there were any plans for Biden to engage directly with Erdogan on the issue, Sullivan said: “Not at the moment.”

The Finnish president said at the White House that his country was open to discussing all Turkey’s concerns, and pledged to “commit to Turkey’s security just as Turkey will commit to our security” as a NATO ally.

“We take terrorism seriously,” Niinistö said.

Sweden and Finland have for decades stood outside the Cold War era military alliance designed to deter threats from the Soviet Union, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has heightened security concerns.

The situation in Ukraine “reminds us of the darkest days of European history,” Andersson said. “During dark times it is great to be among close friends.”

Conversations between Sweden, Finland and Turkey have taken place to address Ankara’s concerns, with the United States involved in the effort. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday that U.S. officials were confident Turkey’s concerns can be addressed, and Biden told reporters “I think we’re going to be okay” on the issue.

Biden’s unabashed support put a firm, deliberate U.S. stamp of approval on Finland and Sweden’s applications. He squeezed in the meeting just before departing to Asia and gave both leaders speaking time in the Rose Garden, underscoring that support.

Biden’s remarks also sent a signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Monday Putin said there was no threat to Russia if Sweden and Finland joined NATO but cautioned that Moscow would respond if the alliance bolstered military infrastructure in the new Nordic members.

Biden said on Thursday that new members joining NATO is not a threat to any nation. “It never has been,” he said.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Heather Timmons, Nick Zieminski and Daniel Wallis)

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(Reuters) – Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that it was expelling five Portuguese diplomats in response to Lisbon ordering out 10 Russians last month.

The move was part of a long series of tit-for-tat moves by Moscow after European countries expelled more than 300 Russian embassy staff following Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

“They are required to leave the country within 14 days of the delivery of the corresponding note to the Ambassador”, the foreign ministry said, announcing the move against Portugal.

On Wednesday Russia said it was expelling a total of 85 embassy staff from France, Spain and Italy in response to similar moves by those countries.

(Reporting by Reuters)

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(Reuters) -A shipping vessel has been attacked 34 nautical miles (63 km) south west of Yemen’s Hodeidah, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organisation (UKMTO) reported on its website on Thursday, adding that an investigation is ongoing.

A U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet spokesperson told Reuters the navy is aware of an incident in the Red Sea.

(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Writing by Alaa Swilam; editing by John Stonestreet and Toby Chopra)

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By Max Hunder and Natalia Zinets

KYIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -Moscow said on Thursday that 1,730 Ukrainian fighters had surrendered in Mariupol over three days, including 771 in the past 24 hours, claiming a surrender on a far bigger scale than Kyiv has acknowledged since ordering its garrison to stand down.

The ultimate outcome of Europe’s bloodiest battle for decades remained publicly unresolved, with no confirmation of the fate of the hundreds of Ukrainian troops who had held out in a vast steelworks at the end of a near three-month siege.

Ukraine, which says it aims to secure a prisoner swap, has declined to say how many were inside the plant or comment on the fate of the rest since confirming that just over 250 had surrendered in the initial hours after it ordered them to yield.

The leader of Russian-backed separatists in control of the area said nearly half of the fighters remained inside the steelworks, where underground bunkers and tunnels had protected them from weeks of Russian bombardment.

“More than a half have already left – more than half have laid down their arms,” Denis Pushilin told the Solovyov Live internet television channel. “Let them surrender, let them live, let them honestly face the charges for all their crimes.”

The wounded had been given medical treatment while those who were fit had been taken to a penal colony and were being treated well, he said.

Ukrainian officials say they cannot comment publicly on the fate of the fighters, as negotiations are under way behind the scenes to rescue them.

“The state is making utmost efforts to carry out the rescue of our service personnel,” military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzaynik told a news conference. “Any information to the public could endanger that process.”

Russia denies that it has agreed to a prisoner swap for them. Many of the Azovstal defenders belong to a Ukrainian unit with far-right origins, the Azov Regiment, which Moscow calls Nazis and says must be prosecuted for crimes. Ukraine calls them national heroes.

The end of fighting in Mariupol, the biggest city Russia has captured so far, allows Russian President Vladimir Putin to claim a rare victory in the invasion it began on Feb. 24. It gives Russia complete control of the Sea of Azov and an unbroken stretch of territory along eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukraine says tens of thousands of civilians died in nearly three months of Russian siege and bombardment that lay the city to waste. The Red Cross and United Nations say the true toll is uncounted but at least in the thousands, making it the bloodiest battle in Europe at least since the Chechnya and Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Moscow denies targeting civilians in its “special military operation” to disarm and “de-Nazify” its neighbour. Ukraine and the West say Russian forces have killed many thousands of civilians in an unprovoked war of aggression.

DONBAS ATTACKS

Russian forces were driven out of northern Ukraine and the area around the capital at the end of March, and were pushed away from the second largest city Kharkiv this month.

In a sign of the return of normal life to the capital, the United States reopened its embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday.

“The Ukrainian people… have defended their homeland in the face of Russia’s unconscionable invasion, and, as a result, the Stars and Stripes are flying over the Embassy once again,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

But Russia is still pressing its main offensive using massed artillery and armour, trying to capture more territory in the eastern Donbas, comprised of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Moscow claims on behalf of separatists.

Ukraine’s general staff said on Thursday Russia’s attacks were focused on Donetsk. Russian forces “suffered significant losses” around Slovyansk to the north of Donetsk.

Police said on Telegram on Thursday that two children had been killed in the Donetsk city of Lyman. Serhiy Gaidai, governor of neighbouring Luhansk region, said four people had been killed and three wounded in shelling of the frontline city of Sievierodonetsk.

In Russia, the regional governor of the Kursk border region accused Ukrainian forces of shelling a border village, killing at least one civilian. Both sides have accused each other of cross border shelling for weeks.

Reuters was unable to verify the reports.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets and Max Hunder in Kyiv and a Reuters journalist in Mariupol; Additional reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Peter Graff and Stephen Coates; Editing by Richard Pullin and Nick Macfie)

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SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile’s top court on Wednesday turned down appeals filed by communities and environmentalists against the controversial Dominga mining project, saying a final decision needs input from President Gabriel Boric’s administration.

Last year, environmentalists and surrounding communities appealed a ruling from a lower court that tossed out a decision by a regulator that denied the company permits.

In its ruling, the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court said that it was turning down the appeals because it “determined that there is no final judgment that can be reviewed by this court,” adding that the final decision on the environmental evaluation is “pending a resolution from the administrative authority.”

That authority is the committee of ministers, made up of the mining, agriculture, energy, economy, health ministers and is chaired environment minister.

In his first speech as president-elect in December, Boric voiced opposition to projects that “destroy” the country, such as Dominga, which seeks to annually produce 12 million tonnes of iron concentrate and 150,000 tonnes of copper concentrate.

An environmental evaluation commission endorsed the $2.5 billion project last year, but it has been delayed for years amid strong opposition from environmental and social groups that say it would cause serious environmental damage to the region.

OceanaChile, an environmental group dedicated to protecting the ocean, has said the project could hurt the Humboldt archipelago off Chile’s coast, endangering its species and biodiversity.

“Our trust is in that the Committee of Ministers will consider all the scientific information that backs why Dominga is unviable and the Humboldt archipelago must be protected permanently,” it said in a tweet responding to the decision.

Andes Iron, the company in charge of the Dominga project, issued a statement saying it welcomed the court’s decision and added that “every time the Dominga project has undergone technical evaluations we have received favorable pronouncements.”

The project has spanned multiple administrations and sparked controversies for former presidents Michelle Bachelet and Sebastian Pinera. Pinera faced and survived an impeachment vote after details of possible irregularities linked to the Dominga project were revealed in the Pandora Papers leak.

(Report by Natalia Ramos; Additional reporting by Fabian Cambero and Alexander Villegas; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

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LONDON (Reuters) – Tamils who resettled in Britain after fleeing the Sri Lankan civil war held a vigil in London on Wednesday, with some likening the island nation’s current economic crisis to the conditions they faced during the decades-long conflict.

The gathering of Tamils seeking justice for those from their community who were killed in the South Asian country during the war, coincided with Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since its independence in 1948 that has forced out its prime minister.

“The current crisis in Colombo reminds me of our struggles during the war. Shortage of fuel, food, medicine – the Tamil-dominated parts of Sri Lanka faced the same issues then as what the entire nation is facing today,” Thanikai, 42, who came to Britain eight years ago, told Reuters.

He is amongst the hundreds of thousands of Tamils who fled the conflict, which ended in May 2009 with the Sri Lankan government defeating the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Human rights groups have since accused the country’s military of killing civilians towards the end of the war, in which the rebels fought for a separate state for the Tamil minority.

“We need justice for all the people who were killed,” Thanikai said.

The United Nations has accused both sides of war crimes and has been given a mandate to collect evidence.

The U.N. has also warned the failure of Sri Lanka to address past violations has significantly heightened the risk of human rights violations being repeated.

“My parents and friends are still in Sri Lanka but I have been too scared to go back,” said Elilarasi Manoharan, who attended the peaceful demonstration in Trafalgar Square to mark the 13th anniversary of the end of the war.

“But now with the economic crisis and the changes we are seeing, maybe if the Sri Lankan system changes it will open up doors for us to be able to visit our loved ones.”

(Reporting by Muvija M, editing by Kylie MacLellan and Richard Pullin)

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By Guy Faulconbridge

LONDON (Reuters) -Russia on Wednesday said it was using a new generation of powerful lasers in Ukraine to burn up drones, deploying some of Moscow’s secret weapons to counter a flood of Western arms.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018 unveiled an intercontinental ballistic missile, underwater nuclear drones, a supersonic weapon and a laser weapon.

Little is known about the specifics of the new laser. Putin mentioned one called Peresvet, named after a medieval Orthodox warrior monk Alexander Peresvet who perished in mortal combat.

Yury Borisov, the deputy prime minister in charge of military development, told a conference in Moscow that Peresvet was already being widely deployed and it could blind satellites up to 1,500 km above Earth.

He said there were already more powerful systems than Peresvet that could burn up drones and other equipment. Borisov cited a test on Tuesday which he said had burned up a drone 5 km away within five seconds.

“If Peresvet blinds, then the new generation of laser weapons lead to the physical destruction of the target – thermal destruction, they burn up,” he told Russian state television.

Asked if such weapons were being used in Ukraine, Borisov said: “Yes. The first prototypes are already being used there.” He said the weapon was called “Zadira”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy mockingly compared news of the lasers to the so-called wonder weapons that Nazi Germany unveiled in a bid to prevent defeat in World War Two.

“The clearer it became that they had no chance in the war, the more propaganda there was about an amazing weapon that would be so powerful as to ensure a turning point,” he said in a late night video address.

“And so we see that in the third month of a full-scale war, Russia is trying to find its ‘wonder weapon’ … this all clearly shows the complete failure of the mission.”

Almost nothing is publicly known about Zadira but in 2017 Russian media said state nuclear corporation Rosatom helped develop it as part of a programme to create weapons-based new physical principles.

The invasion of Ukraine has illustrated the limits of Russia’s post-Soviet conventional armed forces, though Putin says the “special military operation” is going to plan.

Borisov’s remarks indicate Russia has made significant progress with laser weapons, a trend of considerable interest to other nuclear powers such as the United States and China.

Using lasers to blind satellites was once a fantasy from the realm of science fiction, but the United States, China and Russia have been working on variants of such weapons for years.

Besides the benefit of burning up drones, blinding reconnaissance systems has a strategic impact too as satellites are used to monitor intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nuclear weapons.

Borisov said he had just returned from Sarov, which is a centre of Russia’s nuclear weapons research. He said a new generation of laser weapons using a wide electromagnetic band would ultimately replace conventional weapons.

“This is not some sort of exotic idea; it is the reality,” Borisov said.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in London; Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Ronald Popeski in Winnipeg, Canada; Editing by Nick Macfie and Grant McCool)

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SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia’s national election has become too close to call, polls out on Wednesday showed, as the ruling conservative coalition narrowed the gap with the main opposition Labor Party, three days before the country decides on a new government.

Centre-left Labor’s lead over the Liberal-National coalition has shrunk to 51-49% on a two-party preferred basis from 54-46% two weeks ago, a poll done for the Sydney Morning Herald showed. A Guardian poll indicated Labor’s lead had dipped to 48-46% from 49%-45% two weeks ago.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the pre-polling trends as “really encouraging”, while Labor acknowledged the election would be “incredibly close”.

With Australia going to the polls on Saturday, rising living costs have dominated the final stretches of the campaign with voters rating it as the most critical issue in some polls.

Australian wage growth ticked up by only a fraction last quarter, data out on Wednesday showed, even as a tightening labour market and record vacancies heightened competition for workers.

But consumer price inflation has risen twice as fast as wages, keeping real income in the red.

“I have been very candid with Australians about the economic challenges we’re facing … Labor has no magic bullet on this, they have no magic pen or magic wand,” Morrison told reporters from the marginal Labor-held seat of Corangamite in Victoria.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese blamed government mismanagement for the slow rise in wages and inflation shock.

“Australian workers are paying the price for a decade of bad policy and economic failures while Scott Morrison says he should be rewarded with another three years because he is just getting started,” Albanese said.

Nearly 6 million voters out of an electorate of 17 million have already cast their ballots through postal votes or early in-person voting, official data showed.

An additional 1.1 million postal votes have been received so far versus the 2019 election. The Electoral Commission has flagged a clear winner may not emerge on election night if it is a close contest due to time required to count all postal votes.

(Reporting by Renju Jose; Editing by Stephen Coates and Sam Holmes)

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