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Indonesia investigates more free meal poisoning cases, after 700 students fall ill, official says

JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesian authorities are investigating food poisoning cases involving nearly 700 children in Yogyakarta province this week, after students ate meals prepared under President Prabowo Subianto's key free school meal programme, an official said.

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Taiwan 'confident' in US ties ahead of Trump-Xi meeting

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan is "confident" in its relations with the United States, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said on Thursday, ahead of a meeting between the U.S. and Chinese presidents where the issue of the island Beijing claims as its own could come up.

World

US lifts sanctions from Bosnian Serb leader Dodik and his allies

SARAJEVO (Reuters) -The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday lifted sanctions from Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik, his allies, and family members and companies related to them, the Office of Foreign Assets Control announced.

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Protest erupts in Cameroon's Douala as opposition leader rejects Biya victory

DOUALA (Reuters) -Cameroon's opposition leader has vowed to resist until the "final victory" over President Paul Biya, calling on his supporters to stay mobilised as a civil society group denounced deaths and arrests in protests in multiple cities.

World

Trump says South Korea has approval to build nuclear-powered submarine

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he has given South Korea approval to build a nuclear-powered submarine, a dramatic move that would admit Seoul to a small club of nations possessing such vessels.    The submarine will be built in a Philadelphia shipyard, where South Korean firms have increased investment, Trump wrote on social media.     The U.S. president, who has been meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and other regional leaders during his visit, also said Seoul had agreed to buy vast quantities of U.S. oil and gas.    Trump and Lee finalized details of a fraught trade deal at a summit in South Korea on Wednesday.     Lee had also been seeking U.S. permission for South Korea to reprocess nuclear fuel.         NUCLEAR RESTRICTIONS EASING?    Seoul is barred from reprocessing without U.S. consent, under a pact between the countries.    "I have given them approval to build a Nuclear Powered Submarine, rather than the old fashioned, and far less nimble, diesel powered Submarines that they have now," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.     South Korea's Industry Ministry said its officials had not been involved in any detailed discussions about building the submarines in Philadelphia.    While South Korea has a sophisticated shipbuilding industry, Trump did not spell out where the propulsion technology would come from for a nuclear-powered submarine, which only a handful of countries currently possess.    The U.S. has been working with Australia and Britain on a project for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines involving technology transfers from the United States. The U.S. has so far only shared that technology with Britain, back in the 1950s.    Lee said when he met Trump on Wednesday that allowing South Korea to build several nuclear-powered submarines equipped with conventional weapons would significantly reduce the burden on the U.S. military.    He also asked for Trump's support to make substantial progress on South Korea being allowed to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, or on uranium enrichment, something currently not allowed under the nuclear agreement between the two countries, even though South Korea possesses nuclear reactors to generate power.        APPROVAL RAISES QUESTIONS    Lee's predecessors had wanted to build nuclear-powered submarines, but the U.S. had opposed this idea for decades.    Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said the issue of South Korea acquiring such submarines "raises all sorts of questions."    "As with the AUKUS deal, (South Korea) is probably looking for nuclear propulsion services suitable for subs, including the fuel, from the U.S," he said.    Kimball said such submarines usually involved the use of highly-enriched uranium and would "require a very complex new regime of safeguards" by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has a key role in implementing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).    "It remains technically and militarily unnecessary for South Korea to acquire the technology to extract weapons-usable plutonium from spent fuel or to acquire uranium enrichment capabilities, which can also be used to produce nuclear weapons," he said.    "If the United States seeks to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons worldwide, the Trump administration should resist such overtures from allies as strongly as it works to deny adversary access to these dual-use technologies."    Jenny Town, who heads 38 North, a Korea-focused research group in Washington, said it was inevitable that South Korean demands for U.S. cooperation on nuclear issues would grow, given recent allegations about Russian technical cooperation to help nuclear-armed North Korea make progress towards acquiring nuclear-powered submarines.    Kim Dong-yup, a North Korea studies professor at Kyungnam University, said the Lee-Trump summit had formalized a "transaction scheme of security guarantees and economic contributions" for maintaining the extended deterrence and alliance in exchange for South Korea's increased defense spending and nuclear-powered subs and U.S. investments.     "In the end, this South Korea-U.S. summit can be summarized in one word: the commercialization of the alliance and the commodification of peace," he said. "The problem is that the balance of that deal was to maximize American interests rather than the autonomy of the Korean Peninsula."

World

In Hurricane Melissa's wake, Jamaican expats can only wait and pray

NEW YORK (Reuters) -New York chef Kemoy Gordon last spoke to his cousin in Jamaica on Monday, as his family prepared to leave their beachside home on the western part of the Caribbean island ahead of Hurricane Melissa. That was the last time he made contact with them.

World

US President Trump, New Zealand's Luxon discuss ties in South Korea meeting

WELLINGTON (Reuters) -New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had his first in-person meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump late on Wednesday in South Korea, ahead of a dinner hosted by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

World

Centrist Rob Jetten could become Netherlands' youngest and first openly gay prime minister

THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Dutch centrist party leader Rob Jetten, 38, revamped his image on the campaign trail from nagging climate minister to optimistic "yes, we can" politician. He is now poised to be the youngest and first openly gay prime minister in the Netherlands' history after his party's strong performance in Wednesday's election.

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COP30 events will be safe, Brazil official says after Rio violence

(Reuters) -Events next week in Rio and other Brazilian cities linked to the COP30 climate summit will be safe for visitors, a Brazilian ministry official said, seeking to reassure attendees after a bloody police crackdown on a drug gang that led to dozens of deaths.

World

Two men sentenced to 25 years over Iran-backed plot to kill dissident

(Reuters) -Two men convicted of murder-for-hire charges were each sentenced in New York on Wednesday to 25 years in prison over what prosecutors called a failed Tehran-backed plot to kill an Iranian dissident living in the U.S.

World

UK lawmakers question Prince Andrew's use of Windsor mansion

LONDON (Reuters) -A British parliamentary committee questioned on Wednesday whether Prince Andrew should still be living in a mansion on the Windsor Estate, west of London, in a rare political intervention sparked by the royal's ties to U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

World

In rare move, top Republican lawmakers criticize US troop reduction in Romania

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The top two Republican lawmakers who lead the Pentagon's oversight committees in the U.S. Congress issued a rare joint statement on Wednesday slamming the Trump's administration's decision to reduce the number of troops in Romania.

World

Paraguay to open consulate in Morocco-ruled Western Sahara, Rabat says

RABAT (Reuters) -Paraguay plans to open a consulate in Western Sahara, joining African and Arab countries that have established diplomatic missions there in a sign of support for Morocco's claim to the disputed territory, the Moroccan foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

World

Louvre heist suspects 'partially admit' involvement, stolen jewels still missing

PARIS (Reuters) -Two men arrested on suspicion of stealing jewels from the Louvre Museum have "partially admitted" their involvement in the daylight heist but the precious pieces remain missing, the Paris prosecutor said on Wednesday.

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Brazilian officials raise death toll in Rio raid to at least 132

SAO PAULO (Reuters) -At least 132 people were killed during a deadly police raid in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro, the Rio de Janeiro public defender's office said on Wednesday, a day after the operation took place. Mourners gathered in the streets of Rio de Janeiro near where the operation took place as bodies were laid on the road.

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Serbia protests demand accountability one year after deadly roof collapse

BELGRADE (Reuters) -Dijana Hrka, 48, whose son was among 16 people killed when the roof of a renovated railway station in Serbia collapsed, is angry with authorities for having held no one accountable a year later.

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Ukraine struggling to hold eastern city of Pokrovsk, military analysts say

KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian forces are struggling to fend off intensifying Russian advances around the eastern city of Pokrovsk, the military and open-source analysts said on Wednesday. 

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Lithuania will keep Belarus border shut until November 30 over balloon incidents

VILNIUS (Reuters) -The border crossings between Lithuania and Belarus will remain closed for most travellers until the end of November in response to recent airspace disruptions from smugglers' balloons, the Baltic country's government said on Wednesday.

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Putin says Russia tested Poseidon nuclear-capable super torpedo

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia had tested a Poseidon nuclear-powered super autonomous torpedo and that it had been a great success.

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Corpses line Rio street after Brazil's deadliest operation against drug gangs

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -The deadliest police operation against drug gangs in Brazil's history killed at least 121 people, authorities said on Wednesday, as Rio de Janeiro residents lined a street with dozens of corpses found overnight.