Author Archives: Reuters News Agency

U.S. appeals court sets Jan 7 argument date in Texas abortion case

(Reuters) – A United States appeals court has set a Jan. 7 argument date in the Texas abortion case, where the panel will hear the state’s bid to push a legal question about enforcement to the state supreme court.

The challengers of Texas’ near total ban on abortion contend the move will delay a merits ruling in the U.S. district court.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court left in place a ban on most abortions in Texas but allowed a legal challenge to proceed, with the fate of the Republican-backed measure that allows private citizens to enforce it still hanging in the balance.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)

U.S. President Biden signs $770 billion defense bill

By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, for fiscal year 2022, which authorizes $770 billion in defense spending, the White House said on Monday.

Earlier this month, the Senate and the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly for the defense bill with strong support from both Democrats and Republicans for the annual legislation setting policy for the Department of Defense.

The NDAA is closely watched by a broad swath of industry and other interests because it is one of the only major pieces of legislation that becomes law every year and because it addresses a wide range of issues. The NDAA has become law every year for six decades.

Authorizing about 5% more military spending than last year, the fiscal 2022 NDAA is a compromise after intense negotiations between House and Senate Democrats and Republicans after being stalled by disputes over China and Russia policy.

It includes a 2.7% pay increase for the troops, and more aircraft and Navy ship purchases, in addition to strategies for dealing with geopolitical threats, especially Russia and China.

The NDAA includes $300 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides support to Ukraine’s armed forces, $4 billion for the European Defense Initiative and $150 million for Baltic security cooperation.

On China, the bill includes $7.1 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and a statement of congressional support for the defense of Taiwan, as well as a ban on the Department of Defense procuring products produced with forced labor from China’s Xinjiang region.

It creates a 16-member commission to study the war in Afghanistan. Biden ended the conflict – by far the country’s longest war – in August.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)

Bird flu kills thousands of cranes in Israel, poultry also culled

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -An outbreak of avian flu has killed more than 5,000 migratory cranes in Israel, prompting authorities to declare a popular nature reserve off-limits to visitors and warn of a possible egg shortage as poultry birds are culled as a precaution.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met his national security adviser and other experts to discuss efforts to contain the outbreak and prevent it passing into humans. So far no human transmission has been reported, Bennett’s office said.

Israeli media said children who had visited the reserve may have touched a stricken crane and thus contributed to the spread of the flu.

“This is the worst blow to wildlife in the country’s history,” Environment Minister Tamar Zandberg tweeted as rangers in hazardous material suits collected carcasses of the cranes from the lake at the Hula Nature Reserve and outlying marshes.

Hundreds of thousands of chickens had been culled, she said.

Authorities were looking to ease import quotas and bring in eggs from abroad to head off an egg shortage due to the cull.

(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Aliosn Williams)

Christmas miracle: German flood victims receive tiny houses

BERLIN (Reuters) – For Franziska Hilberath, whose home in western Germany’s Ahr valley was destroyed by flash floods this summer, it was a Christmas miracle to be able to move into a donation-financed “tiny house” this month just in time for the holidays.

Hilberath and her partner have been sleeping at the homes of friends and relatives since Germany’s most lethal floods in six decades in July that killed more than 180 people and destroyed many houses, roads, railway lines and bridges.

They were on the waiting list for “tiny houses” to stay in while fixing up their old, half-timbered house, where water had reached the ground floor ceiling when the Ahr River burst its banks in the wake of record rainfall.

But they did not expect to get one until February at the earliest. So it was with glee that they received a phone call last week saying they could move in already.

“We have actually now at short notice still got a tree and started to somehow decorate – something we had completely ruled out for this year,” said Hilberath.

The government has set up a 30 billion euro ($34 billion) recovery fund to help western and southern Germany rebuild after the floods.

But citizens’ initiatives have also raised millions of euros – some of which are now going to fund the construction of tiny houses as frigid temperatures set in and many flood-hit buildings remain without heating or electricity.

So far, 25 tiny homes measuring some 30 square meters (323 square feet) each have been handed over to flood victims like Hilberath in the town of Grafschaft. Each house has a bathroom, bedroom and open kitchen and comes fully equipped with bed linen, kettle and coffee maker.

“They are ready to move into, so people don’t have to organize anything big anymore, but can move in directly and, so to speak, process here what they have experienced,” Grafschaft spokesperson Thomas Hergarten said.

Hilberath said her tiny home is not big enough for her Christmas tree which instead bedecks the terrace but she was still grateful for the people who had helped put a roof over her head.

“We’re glad to have arrived here, glad to have privacy again and not spend the night on someone’s couch or airbed,” she said.

($1 = 0.8824 euros)

(Reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Richard Chang)

Ex-Minnesota police officer found guilty of manslaughter in shooting of Daunte Wright

By Nathan Layne

(Reuters) – A Minnesota jury on Thursday found former police officer Kimberly Potter guilty of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Black motorist Daunte Wright during a traffic stop at which she mistakenly discharged her handgun instead of her Taser.

A 12-member jury found Potter, 49, guilty of first degree and second degree manslaughter in the death of the 20-year-old Wright, who she killed in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center on April 11 with a bullet to the chest.

The shooting sparked multiple nights of intense demonstrators in Brooklyn Center. It happened just a few miles north of where Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was at the same time standing trial for killing George Floyd, a Black man whose 2020 death during an arrest had set off protests in U.S. cities over racism and police brutality.

Chauvin was convicted of murder. Both he and Potter are white.

Caught on Potter’s body-worn camera, the basic facts of the incident were for the most part not in dispute. Both prosecutors and the defense attorneys agreed that Potter mistakenly drew the wrong weapon and never meant to kill Wright.

At issue was whether the jury would find her actions to be reckless in violation of the state’s manslaughter statutes, or chalk up the incident to a tragic mistake that did not warrant criminal liability.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors stressed Potter’s 26 years as a police officer, a level of experience they said made her mistake indefensible. They said she disregarded her training, which included Taser-specific courses in the months before the shooting, and took a conscious and unreasonable risk in using any weapon against the unarmed Wright.

Potter’s attorneys sought to blame Wright for resisting arrest, which they argued had created a dangerous situation and justified her use of force. While acknowledging her mistake, they said her actions were not criminal because she thought she was using her Taser and was unaware she had drawn her handgun.

The defense also leaned heavily on Dr. Laurence Miller, a psychologist who testified about “action error,” or when a person takes one action while intending to do another. Miller said such mistakes were common and can be triggered by stress.

To secure a conviction on the first degree manslaughter charge, prosecutors were required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Potter caused Wright’s death while committing the misdemeanor offense of recklessly using a firearm, according to Minnesota law. For second degree manslaughter, the jury was required to find Potter was guilty of “culpable negligence,” meaning she created an “unreasonable risk and consciously” took a chance of causing Wright death or serious bodily harm.

(reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Editing by Alistair Bell)

Drugmaker Endo strikes $63 million opioid settlement with Texas

By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) -Endo International Plc has agreed to pay $63 million to resolve claims by the state of Texas and local governments that the drugmaker helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic, the state’s attorney general said on Thursday.

The deal announced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton marked the latest in a series of settlements that Endo has struck in recent months with state and local governments to resolve similar cases.

More than 3,400 lawsuits largely by state and local governments have been filed nationally accusing Endo of contributing to the drug abuse crisis by deceptively marketing pain medications including Opana ER, which it no longer sells.

“This settlement is a necessary step in the right direction, and we will continue to fight to heal our state from this devastating crisis,” Paxton said in a statement.

Endo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed seeking to hold drugmakers, drug distributors and pharmacy chains responsible for a drug abuse crisis the U.S. government says has led to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths over two decades.

Drug distributors McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health Inc and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson are pushing to finalize proposed settlements of up to $26 billion to resolve the cases against them.

Endo is not part of the proposed $26 billion deal, but previously agreed to settle lawsuits by states or counties in Alabama, Louisiana, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma and Tennessee for more than $136 million.

In November, a California judge following a trial found Endo and three other drugmakers not liable in a lawsuit by several large counties that accused them of fueling the opioid epidemic, saying they failed to prove their $50 billion case.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Mark Porter and Diane Craft)

Belgian government reaches compromise on nuclear power exit

By Philip Blenkinsop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The Belgian government agreed in principle on Thursday to close its nuclear power plants by 2025, but left open the possibility of extending the life of two reactors if it could not otherwise ensure energy supply.

The seven-party coalition has wrestled for months with the topic, with the Greens adamant that a 2003 law setting out a nuclear exit be respected, while the French-speaking liberals favored extending the life of the two newest reactors.

The government had given itself an end-2021 deadline to settle the matter.

Belgium’s two nuclear plants, with seven reactors in total, are operated by French utility Engie and account for almost half of the country’s electricity production.

After talks through the night, ministers settled on a compromise whereby the last existing nuclear power plant should close in 2025, joining other countries such as Germany that are also phasing out the technology.

However, Belgium still needs to establish how to make up for the energy shortfall and there is a problem. The winner of a contract to build a gas-fired plant just north of Brussels has been denied a permit.

The government will now wait until March 15 to see if the permit is granted and, if not, look into other options, including other contract bidders.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said it was possible that certain nuclear reactors could be left to operate longer, but added that was “very unlikely.”

Belgium will also invest 100 million euros ($113 million) over four years in research into nuclear power technology, emphasizing smaller modular reactors and possibly cooperating with France and the Netherlands.

The planned nuclear exit will begin with the closure of one reactor on Oct. 1, 2022. Decommissioning, including the removal of all radioactive materials and demolition of buildings, is to be completed by 2045.

($1 = 0.8821 euros)

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Mark Potter)

France’s COVID-19 cases reach national record while deaths also rise

PARIS (Reuters) -France had its worst-ever day in terms of new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, with more than 91,000 new cases being recorded while the number of deaths also climbed, as the country battles against a fifth wave of the virus.

“Today’s figures are not good,” said Health Minister Olivier Veran.

Veran had earlier told reporters that the case number would stand at around 88,000 for Thursday, but the final official tally from the health ministry showed 91,608 new cases.

Veran had already warned earlier this week that France would soon be at 100,000 new COVID-19 cases per day.

Data from the health ministry also showed that France registered a further 179 COVID-19 deaths in hospitals over the last 24 hours, while the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units reached 3,208, up by 61 from the previous day.

President Emmanuel Macron is hoping France’s COVID-19 vaccine booster campaign will help to contain the fifth wave of the coronavirus to hit the country.

He is aiming to avoid imposing tough, new restrictions, although the French government has said all options will be considered to tackle any rapid deterioration in France’s COVID-19 situation.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Juliette Jabkhiro, editing by Mark Heinrich, Barbara Lewis and Aurora Ellis)

Biden signs bill banning goods from China’s Xinjiang over forced labor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday signed into law legislation that bans imports from China’s Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor, the White House said.

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is part of the U.S. pushback against Beijing’s treatment of the China’s Uyghur Muslim minority, which Washington has labeled genocide.

The bill passed Congress this month after lawmakers reached a compromise between House and Senate versions.

Key to the legislation is a “rebuttable presumption” that assumes all goods from Xinjiang, where Beijing has established detention camps for Uyghurs and other Muslim groups, are made with forced labor. It bars imports unless it can be proven otherwise.

Some goods – such as cotton, tomatoes, and polysilicon used in solar-panel manufacturing – are designated “high priority” for enforcement action.

China denies abuses in Xinjiang, a major cotton producer that also supplies much of the world’s materials for solar panels.

Its Washington embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

Nury Turkel, Uyghur-American vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, told Reuters this month the bill’s effectiveness would depend on the willingness of Biden’s administration to ensure it is effective, especially when companies seek waivers.

One of the bill’s co-authors, Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, said it was necessary to “send a resounding and unequivocal message against genocide and slave labor.”

“Now … we can finally ensure that American consumers and businesses can buy goods without inadvertent complicity in China’s horrific human rights abuses,” he said in a statement.

In its final days in January, the Trump administration announced a ban on all Xinjiang cotton and tomato products.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency estimated then that about $9 billion of cotton products and $10 million of tomato products were imported from China in the past year.

(Reporting by Paul Grant and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Howard Goller)

Migration to U.S. empties Venezuela’s once-booming oil capital

By Mariela Nava

MARACAIBO, Venezuela (Reuters) – It took accountant Anibal Pirela six days of travel and $7,000 to reach Austin, Texas from Maracaibo, the capital of Venezuela’s once-flourishing western oil state of Zulia.

Pirela traveled with his four-year-old son Daniel, joining a flood of emigrants emptying neighborhoods in Zulia, the top departure point for Venezuelans leaving their crisis-stricken homeland.

“The people I know who have left the country are almost too many to count,” Pirela, 48, said from his new home in Austin.

The number of Venezuelans detained by U.S. authorities on the southern border soared to 47,762 in the year to September, versus just 1,262 in the year-earlier period, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Hundreds of Zulians are leaving each month, advocacy groups say, though there are no official migration figures for any of Venezuela’s 23 states.

The state has historically been more insulated from economic hardship because of the oil industry, but that has been walloped by U.S. sanctions targeting the OPEC member, cutting off much-needed income.

Reuters spoke with eight families who fled Zulia in the past two months because of lack of public services, medicines and jobs.

Abandoned houses and buildings are increasingly common in Maracaibo, home to 1.7 million inhabitants, according to current and former residents.

In 2018, half of households in Zulia already had at least one relative living abroad but since 2019 that number has risen to 70%, according to the Zulia Human Rights Commission (CODHEZ), a non-governmental organization.

“There are neighborhood areas with few people left,” said CODHEZ general coordinator Juan Berrios.

POWER CUTS, WATER SHORTAGES

Zulia, at the end of national transmission lines for water and electricity, suffers more frequent outages than other parts of Venezuela, residents say.

The collapse of Venezuela’s oil industry – due in part to a series of recent U.S. sanctions by the Trump administration and what critics say is state mismanagement – has led to high unemployment. Some analysts say the sanctions have exacerbated the country’s worsening economic crisis.

Even those with jobs are so poorly paid that living costs are prohibitive – especially for imported or smuggled food.

Carmen Ortega, 74, cares for her eight grandchildren with what she earns as a street cleaner.

“We’re in extreme poverty,” Ortega said at her dirt-floored home, constructed out of cans. “We have two of the girls begging on the street. They bring a bit of bread; people give them flour.”

The children’s mother is unemployed and their father has left for Colombia. Ortega said the family have to start the day without food or coffee.

“I cry at night,” she said.

Venezuela’s monthly minimum wage is equivalent to just $3. Inflation reached 631% from January through November, according to the central bank.

Approximately 850 people per week crossed to Colombia from Zulia before the coronavirus pandemic, with about half returning after making purchases of medical supplies or other goods, according to Juan Restrepo, president of the region’s largest transportation union.

Now some 2,000 people leave every week, Restrepo said: just 30% return.

The United States is the ultimate destination for many.

Under pressure from Washington to stem the rise in Venezuelans entering the United States illegally across the southern border, Mexico announced last week it will impose visa requirements for them to enter the country, though it is unclear when the measure will take effect.

LONG ROAD NORTH

Residents of Maracaibo’s poor Altos de Milagro Norte neighborhood say food shortages are ever-present and their city’s collapse is even affecting burials.

Jose Amaya’s family made a hole in their outdoor patio to bury his brother.

“The funeral home will do it all for $170 but we don’t have the resources,” he said.

The community had 2,200 residents pre-pandemic but just 1,500 remain, social worker Maria Carolina Leal said.

To get his family to Austin, Pirela sold his car and withdrew pension benefits. That was enough to send his wife Daniela Mendoza, 31, and 12-year-old daughter Paula by airplane from Colombia.

Next, he sold his appliances and took out all his savings to get himself and Daniel on a series of flights north to Monterrey, Mexico.

A people smuggler, charging him $4,400, took them to a small building housing some 30 other Venezuelan migrants, about a third of them from Maracaibo, Pirela said.

The next morning, the group was driven seven hours north to the border, hiking some fifteen minutes to cross the Rio Bravo on foot and enter the United States.

He was met by migration officials and the next day was enrolled in a Department of Homeland Security program that allows migrants’ release with an ankle monitor, handing over his passport and giving his fingerprints.

Pirela has so far had one check-in appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the first in what he says may be a long process to legalize his status. His next appointment is in February.

“Now I’m with my family, the reunion was beautiful,” said Pirela, adding he what he wants most is a work permit.

“I have to wait because I want to do things right.”

(Reporting by Mariela Nava in Maracaibo, additional reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb and Oliver Griffin; Editing by Vivian Sequera and Aurora Ellis)