G7 ministers agree to cut gas consumption and speed-up renewable energy

By Katya Golubkova and Yuka Obayashi SAPPORO, Japan (Reuters) -The Group of Seven rich nations have agreed to call for reducing gas consumption and increasing electricity from renewable sources while phasing out fossil-fuels faster and building no new coal-fired plants, France’s energy transition minister said on Saturday. G7 environment and energy ministers, however, could not …

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Security of Europe, Indo-Pacific in focus as G7 foreign ministers gather

By Sakura Murakami TOKYO (Reuters) -Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations will focus on the security of both Europe and the Indo-Pacific as they gather in Japan from Sunday against a worrying backdrop of the war in Ukraine and China’s growing assertiveness.        The three-day meeting in the resort town of Karuizawa also …

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China says hopes Germany supports peaceful Taiwan ‘reunification’

BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s top diplomat Wang Yi “hopes and believes” Germany will support China’s “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Wang made the remarks at a meeting with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who is visiting China until Saturday, adding that China once supported Germany’s reunification. “To …

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Emergency Credit Suisse rescue shakes faith in Switzerland

By John Revill and Noele Illien ZURICH/BERN (Reuters) -Switzerland’s tradition of dependable consensus politics has taken a battering after the government used an emergency law to push through a state-backed mega-merger of UBS and Credit Suisse, sidelining the country’s parliament. Switzerland’s two parliamentary chambers voted to reject the government’s 109 billion Swiss francs ($122.82 billion) …

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Sudan’s army chief, paramilitary head ready to de-escalate tensions – mediators

By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir KHARTOUM (Reuters) -General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the leader of Sudan’s army, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the head of a powerful Sudanese paramilitary group, are prepared to take steps to de-escalate tensions between their forces, mediators said in statements on Friday and early Saturday. The army on Thursday warned …

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Sudan’s military leader ready to take any step to end paramilitary standoff – mediators

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan’s head of state and army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is prepared to take any step to solve an ongoing standoff with the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group of mediators including leaders of other paramilitary groups said in a statement early on Saturday. “We reassure citizens that the …

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‘Zero capacity to save’: Argentines buckle as inflation tops 104%

By Horacio Soria and Juan Carlos Bustamante BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentina’s annual inflation rate soared to 104.3% in March, the official statistics agency said on Friday, one of the highest rates in the world, straining people’s wallets and stoking a cost-of-living crisis that has pushed up poverty. The inflation reading for the month came in …

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Australian back from China appears in court on foreign interference charge

By Lewis Jackson and Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) – The second person ever charged with violating Australia’s foreign interference laws appeared in a local court on Saturday following his arrest a day earlier. Alexander Csergo, 55, appeared via video link before a local court in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta and lawyers asked to adjourn …

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