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World

Four injured after old WWII aircraft bomb explodes in Munich – police

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BERLIN, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Four people were injured when an old aircraft bomb exploded at a bridge near Munich’s busy main train station on Wednesday, police said on Twitter, raising the number of wounded from three earlier.

The Munich fire brigade said one of the people was seriously injured.

More than 2,000 tonnes of live bombs and munitions are discovered each year in Germany, more than 70 years after the end of World War Two.

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British and American warplanes pummelled the country with 1.5 million tonnes of bombs that killed 600,000 people. Officials estimate that 15% of the bombs failed to explode, some of which were buried six meters (20 feet) deep in the ground.

The explosion happened as the site was being drilled to build a tunnel, police said, adding the area had been cordoned off.

Police and firefighters secure the scene after an old aircraft bomb exploded during construction work at a bridge the busy main train station, injuring three people in Munich, Germany, December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Andreas Gebert

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“There is no danger outside this area,” police said.

Explosives experts were summoned to the site to examine the remains of the bomb, the fire brigade said.

Due to the blast, rail travel to and from the main train station was suspended, according to rail operator Deutsche Bahn. It was not clear when rail traffic would resume.

World War Two bombs are regularly discovered during construction work in Germany and are usually defused by experts or destroyed in controlled explosions. However, there have been cases of deadly blasts in the past.

Three police explosives experts in Goettingen were killed in 2010 while preparing to defuse a 1,000-pound bomb, and in 2014 a construction worker in Euskirchen was killed when his power shovel struck a buried 4,000-pound bomb. In 1994, three Berlin construction workers were killed in a similar accident.

In 2012, a fireball lit up the sky in Munich, causing millions of euros of damage to 17 buildings, when authorities had to detonate a deteriorated 500-pound bomb. In 2015, a 1,000-pound bomb ripped a three-meter-deep hole in a motorway near Offenbach in central Germany.

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Reporting by Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Bernadette Baum

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

French fishermen disrupt UK trade routes over fishing licence row

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CALAIS, France, Nov 26 (Reuters) – French fishermen temporarily blockaded the port of Calais and Channel Tunnel rail link in an effort to disrupt trade between Britain and the continent on Friday, escalating a row over licences to fish in British waters.

Fishing rights plagued Brexit talks for years, not because of their economic importance but because of their political significance for both President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Britain and the EU agreed to set up a licensing system to grant fishing vessels access to each other’s waters but France says it has not been given the full number it is due, while Britain says only those lacking the correct documentation have not been granted.

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Several trawlers manoeuvred inside the port to hold up the passage of two ferries operated by DFDS and P&O as they approached Calais earlier on Friday, a major entry point to the European market for British goods.

At the Channel Tunnel terminal in nearby Coquelles, trucks and cars quickly tailed back towards the highway after the fishermen erected barricades of burning wooden pallets and lit smoke canisters.

The fishermen manning the roadblocks said they wanted to see progress by Dec. 10.

“If we don’t get anywhere … believe me, the English will not have a magic Christmas. We’ll ruin the party,” said Jean Michel Fournier, a fisherman from near Boulogne.

Britain says it is respecting the post-Brexit arrangements while France says Britain is not honouring its word.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain’s position on issuing fishing licences hadn’t changed and London was monitoring the protests.

French fishermen block the ‘Normandy Trader’ boat at the entrance of the port of Saint-Malo as they started a day of protests to mark their anger over the issue of post-Brexit fishing licenses, in Saint-Malo, France, November 26, 2021. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

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“We look to the French authorities to ensure the free flow of traffic and trade to ensure the trade is not disrupted,” he added.

France last week said it was still waiting for 150 licences from Britain and the Channel Islands. The dispute focuses on access to territorial water 6-12 miles from the coast.

Britain denies discriminating against French fishermen and says 98 percent of fishing licences have been granted to European Union boats since Brexit.

That figure includes the roughly 1,700 licences issued to EU vessels to operate in more distant waters situated in the UK’s exclusive economic zone, which extends 12-200 nautical miles from the coast.

BREXIT FALLOUT

Dover – Calais is the shortest sea route between Britain and the EU and has been one of Britain’s main arteries for European trade since the Middle Ages. Before Brexit and the pandemic, 1.8 million trucks per year were routed through Calais.

Earlier in the day, fishermen blocked a small British cargo vessel outside the port of Saint-Malo. The Normandy Trader plies the short route between Jersey and France. France says Jersey, a British Crown Dependency, has also failed to issue licences due to its fishermen under a post-Brexit deal.

“The negotiations continue and we want them to know that we will not be the forgotten consequence of Brexit,” said fisherman Nicolas Descharles, who would normally operate in British waters every day through the autumn but has not received a permit.

In October, France briefly seized a British scallop dredger off its northern coast for allegedly operating without a legitimate permit, and both countries have this year sent patrol vessels to waters off Jersey. read more

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Additional reporting by Stephane Mahe in Saint-Malo and Kylie MacLellan in London; Writing by Richard Lough, Editing by John Stonestreet, Elaine Hardcastle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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US

Biden, top team to crisscross U.S. in victory tour for $1 trillion infrastructure bill

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WASHINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden and top officials in his Cabinet are hitting the road to promote the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed in Congress last week, as they explain when and where Americans can expect to see some of the funds in their own communities.

White House aides are planning a bipartisan signing ceremony for the infrastructure bill as soon as this week, after it gained final passage on Friday night when Democrats who control the House of Representatives ended months of bickering and approved it. read more

Biden is also pressing lawmakers to approve a separate, climate and safety-net package known as his Build Back Better plan. It is estimated to cost about $1.75 trillion and has been the subject of fierce debate on Capitol Hill.

“It’s going to be a tough fight. It ain’t over yet, as the expression goes, but I feel good, and I think people are beginning to realize it’s important to get it done,” Biden told reporters on Monday.

Biden heads to the Port of Baltimore on Wednesday to promote the infrastructure bill and will travel to places where the “need is and the action is,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told the White House daily news briefing on Monday.

Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo are fanning out across the country as well.

“In the coming weeks, those members and other senior officials will travel to red states, blue states, big cities, small towns, rural areas, tribal communities and more to translate what this deal means for real people across the country,” a White House source said.

The American Flag flies at the U.S. Capitol Building, as Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a State of Emergency due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 18, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo

A Democratic National Committee source told Reuters the party would unveil a slogan based on the bill: “Democrats delivered.”

The bill sends tens of billions of dollars to federal agencies and states for bridge and highway repair, new broadband and public transportation projects and will fund a network of electric-vehicle charging stations across the country.

“A lot of this sells itself,” Buttigieg said, “because communities never needed to be persuaded that their bridge needed to be fixed or their airports needed an upgrade. … They’ve been trying to get Washington to catch up to them.”

It gives Biden and Democrats a much-needed jolt of good news after poll numbers have fallen for the president. Republicans made gains in local elections last week, winning the governor’s office in Virginia and coming closer than expected in heavily Democratic New Jersey.

The White House victory lap will include messages on African-American and Spanish-language media and partnering with labor unions, business groups and state and local leaders.

The DNC source said that while the infrastructure bill is an important milestone, Democrats need to pass Biden’s social safety and climate spending plan next.

“Voters have a short memory. They have already forgotten the CARES Act (COVID-19 relief program). They will forget a bridge that was built or a highway that was repaired, but they will remember the monthly child tax credit payment. It is necessary that we pass that,” the source said.

Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Heather Timmons, David Gregorio and Peter Cooney

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World

Protesters shut road, rail link between Djibouti, Addis Ababa – official

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President of the Somali Region Mustafa Muhumed Omer attends a Reuters interview in Jijiga, Ethiopia January 14, 2020. Picture taken January 14, 2020. REUTERS/Giulia Paravicini/File Photo

NAIROBI, July 28 (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s Somali region said on Wednesday a vital road and rail trade route linking the landlocked capital of Addis Ababa to the sea port of Djibouti was blocked by youths angered by a deadly militia attack on their region.

Around 95% of imports into the nation of around 110 million people are transported via that corridor, according to a 2018 study by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development.

Reuters could not independently verify the reported blockage. The Ethiopian prime minister’s office and authorities in Djibouti could not immediately be reached for comment.

Somali region President Mustafa Muhumed Omer said the road and railway had been blocked by local youths protesting against an attack on the region’s Gedamaytu town by militia from the neighbouring region of Afar.

A spokesman for his administration said Saturday’s attack had caused hundreds of civilian deaths, and the town had been looted and many of its inhabitants displaced. The violence is the latest flare-up in a local boundary dispute that adds to high tensions in the Horn of Africa nation. read more

Reuters was unable independently to verify the report of hundreds killed, and Afar’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Wednesday, many hundreds of people gathered in the Somali region’s capital, Jigjiga, for a protest against the killings on Saturday, local journalist Najib Dayib, director of the privately owned Ogedenia Media Agency, told Reuters. Reuters was unable to independently verify the demonstration, but viewed footage and images of the protest that indicated many hundreds had gathered.

CONTESTED BORDER AREAS

In Addis Ababa, the impact of the reported blockage of the transport corridor on stocks of essential goods like fuel was not immediately clear. Long lines at petrol stations are common in normal times.

“We are working to open the Djibouti rail and road today,” Mustafa, the Somali region President, told Reuters in a text message. “Discussing with the youth and people,” he added.

After Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018 and eased the ruling coalition’s iron grip, the country experienced a surge in violence as regions and ethnic groups vied for more power and resources and tried to settle old scores.

Abiy’s government has struggled to contain fighting along a number of contested border areas between ethnic groups, including the faultline where Saturday’s attack occurred.

The most deadly violence, however, has emanated from the Tigray region. In November, a war broke out between Ethiopia’s central government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that controls Tigray.

Last week, it spread to neighbouring parts of northern Ethiopia, risking a further destabilisation of the country.

Abiy’s spokesperson told a news briefing in the capital on Wednesday that the lives of people in the Afar and Amhara regions “are being destabilized by the terrorist enterprise”, referring to the Tigrayan fighters.

Getachew Reda, spokesperson for the TPLF, told Reuters on Wednesday its fighters were near Debark, about 102 km (63 miles) north of Gondar, one of Amhara’s largest cities. He also said that Tigrayan fighters had taken control of the town of Kobo, also in the Amhara region.

Reuters was unable to independently verify his statement.

A resident of Debark, a university town that acts as a gateway for hikers entering the famous Simien mountain national park, told Reuters “the town is still under government control and there were rumours that they (the TPLF) are near Debark but now the town is calm. The national defence as well as federal police are in the town.”

A resident of Kobo, speaking from the Amhara regional capital of Bahir Dar, said when he fled the town on Monday “it was under the TPLF control,” and that he managed to speak to friends who left on Tuesday who confirmed Tigrayan forces were still in Kobo, where the mobile phone network is still down.

Gizachew Muluneh, spokesperson to the Amhara regional government, did not return calls seeking comment.

Spokespeople for the Ethiopian military and a government task force on Tigray also did not return calls seeking comment.

Reporting by Giulia Paravicini in Olbia, Italy and Maggie Fick in Nairobi
Additional reporting by Dawit Endeshaw in Addis Ababa and Nazanine Moshiri in Nairobi
Writing by Maggie Fick
Editing by William Maclean

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World

China unveils 600 kph maglev train – state media

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BEIJING, July 20 (Reuters) – China unveiled a maglev train capable of a top speed of 600 kph on Tuesday, state media said.

The maximum speed would make the train, self-developed by China and manufactured in the coastal city of Qingdao, the fastest ground vehicle globally.

Using electro-magnetic force, the maglev train “levitates” above the track with no contact between body and rail.

China has been using the technology for almost two decades on a very limited scale. Shanghai has a short maglev line running from one of its airports to town.

A high-speed maglev train, capable of a top speed of 600 kph, is pictured in Qingdao, Shandong province, China July 20, 2021. cnsphoto via REUTERS

While there are no inter-city or inter-province maglev lines yet in China that could make good use of the higher speeds, some cities including Shanghai and Chengdu have started to conduct research.

At 600 kph, it would only take 2.5 hours to travel from Beijing to Shanghai by train – a journey of more than 1,000 km (620 miles).

By comparison, the journey would take 3 hours by plane and 5.5 hours by high-speed rail.

Countries from Japan to Germany are also looking to build maglev networks, although high costs and incompatibility with current track infrastructure remain hurdles to rapid development.

Reporting by Ryan Woo;
Editing by Alison Williams

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Belgium sets day of mourning as flood deaths hit 20

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TROOZ, Belgium, July 16 (Reuters) – Belgium declared a national day of mourning next week as the death toll from burst rivers and flash floods in the south and east of the country rose to 20 on Friday, with another 20 people missing.

“What should have been beautiful summer days suddenly turned into dark and extremely sad days for our fellow citizens,” Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told a news conference. “These are exceptional circumstances that our country has not seen before.”

A week of rain finally came to an end after reaching levels in some places normally expected once in 200 years. But several communities across parts of Belgium were nervously watching as the river Meuse, which flows through the city of Liege in eastern Belgium, continued to rise and threatened to overflow.

Others were trying come to terms with disaster.

“We did work, we renovated everything, we’re losing everything we’ve got. Now we have to start from zero and work at it little by little to put it back in order.” said Sylvia Calvo Lorente, 33, surveying damage in her home in the small town of Trooz near Liege.

In the eastern town of Verviers, the swollen river was still rushing through neighbouring streets, where people gingerly tried to salvage ruined shops, homes and cars.

“We made it through COVID, we were hoping we’d get back on our feet and now look!” a shopkeeper said through tears in a pause from his work.

A damaged vehicle is seen next to the river, following heavy rainfalls, in Pepinster, Belgium, July 16, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

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Several towns and villages were submerged, including Pepinster near Liege, where around 10 houses collapsed. Belgium’s king and queen visited the town on Friday, wading through flooded streets.

The government set next Tuesday as a day of mourning and decided to tone down festivities for Belgian National Day the day after.

Interior minister Annelies Verlinden said 20 people had lost their lives, with a further 20 missing.

The crisis centre, which is coordinating rescue efforts, urged people in the affected areas to avoid all travel.

Belgium has called on the European Union’s civil protection mechanism, resulting in contributions from France, Austria and Italy, principally boats, helicopters and rescue personnel.

It also received help from Luxembourg and the Netherlands, despite these countries also suffering from flooding. More than 250 foreigners, including helicopter pilots and divers, have come to aid the search.

Over 20,000 people in the southern region Wallonia were without electricity. Others lacked clean water. Large parts of the rail network in southern Belgium were unusable, with certain sections of track swept away.

Additional reporting and writing by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Philippa Fletcher

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