2025-08-09 13:43
SAO PAULO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A crash between a bus and a truck in Brazil's center-western state of Mato Grosso killed 11 people and injured another 45 late Friday, the toll road operator and Brazil's federal highway police said on Saturday. The injured were sent to nearby hospitals, firm Nova Rota do Oeste and the highway police said in separate statements. Sign up here. Among the injured, 11 were in critical condition, 26 in moderate condition and eight had only minor injuries, they added. Initial information indicates that a bus collided head-on with a truck transporting cottonseed near the city of Lucas do Rio Verde, according to the firm, which said it had been notified about the crash at 9:40 p.m. local time on Friday (0140 GMT Saturday). https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/bus-collision-with-truck-kills-11-injures-45-brazil-2025-08-09/
2025-08-09 12:46
PARIS, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A wildfire in the southern French prefecture of Aude is not expected to be under control until late on Sunday, the regional chief firefighter said on French television. The fire, which began Tuesday, is one of the largest recorded in France since 1949. Spread over 16,000 hectares (around 40,000 acres), it has led to one fatality, the injury of 19 firefighters and six civilians, and several dozen homes have been destroyed. Sign up here. "The fire is contained but not controlled. We still have hot spots (...) until Sunday evening the fire will not be brought under control," Colonel Christophe Magny told a news conference broadcast on BFM TV. All of the local departmental roads have been reopened, but the entrance into the wildfire zone is prohibited due to the risk of rekindling, the local French prefecture said in a statement on Saturday. French authorities have attributed the fire to the impact of climate change. An orange heatwave warning - the second highest warning level that encourages people to remain vigilant - is in effect for the department until midnight on Sunday, the prefecture said. Before the fire began, the region's wine growers had dug up an extensive area of their vineyards, which traditionally serve as a natural, moisture-retentive firebreak, as declining wine consumption and subsidies have reduced profits. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/major-french-wildfire-is-unlikely-be-under-control-until-late-sunday-2025-08-09/
2025-08-09 12:42
SAO PAULO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - At least 11 people died, while over 40 were injured, in a crash between a bus and a truck in Brazil's center-western state of Mato Grosso late Friday, news outlet G1 reported on Saturday, citing local authorities and the firm that runs the toll road. Among the over 40 people injured, 12 were in critical condition, G1 reported. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/least-11-dead-collision-involving-bus-truck-brazil-2025-08-09/
2025-08-09 06:09
ATHENS, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A wildfire on the outskirts of Athens was contained on Saturday morning, but evacuations of at-risk areas continued as strong winds were expected through the weekend. At least one person died and homes and farmlands were destroyed on Friday as wildfires stoked by gale-force winds broke out across Greece, from near the capital to regions around the historical site of Ancient Olympia. Sign up here. The worst blaze broke out in the small town of Keratea, southwest of the capital, where firefighters discovered the body of an elderly man in a burned-out structure. A fire brigade spokesperson said on Saturday the fire there was under control but not out. Greece and other Mediterranean countries are in an area dubbed "a wildfire hot spot" by scientists, with blazes common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate, prompting calls for a new approach. Much of the region around Athens has had barely a drop of rain in months. Wind gusts of up to 80 kph (50 mph) fanned the flames around Keratea on Friday, setting olive orchards alight. Homes were engulfed as locals wearing flimsy face masks assisted firefighters. Police went door to door late at night making sure that homes had been evacuated. Much of the area smouldered on Saturday morning, and images on local media showed houses gutted by fire. Other blazes in the region of Ancient Olympia and on the touristy island of Kefalonia appeared to have abated also. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/greece-wildfire-contained-strong-winds-prompt-evacuations-2025-08-09/
2025-08-09 01:42
Aug 8 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. At a $1 million-a-plate fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club earlier this month, Trump told attendees he was interested in making such a change, the people, who declined to be named, told the newspaper. Sign up here. The guests at Trump's fundraiser included Kim Rivers, chief executive of Trulieve, one of the largest marijuana companies, who encouraged Trump to pursue the change and expand medical marijuana research, the report said. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/trump-weighs-reclassifying-marijuana-less-dangerous-drug-wsj-reports-2025-08-09/
2025-08-08 23:49
Agreement includes US rights to South Caucasus transit corridor Deal marks first resolution of frozen conflicts near Russia since Cold War Lifts restrictions on defense cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement on Friday during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that would boost bilateral economic ties after decades of conflict and move them toward a full normalization of relations. The deal between the South Caucasus rivals - assuming it holds - would be a significant accomplishment for the Trump administration that is sure to rattle Moscow, which sees the region as within its sphere of influence. Sign up here. "It's a long time - 35 years - they fought and now they're friends, and they're going to be friends for a long time," Trump said at a signing ceremony at the White House, where he was flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting almost all of the territory's 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Trump said the two countries had committed to stop fighting, open up diplomatic relations and respect each other's territorial integrity. The agreement includes exclusive U.S. development rights to a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus that the White House said would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources. Trump said the United States signed separate deals with each country to expand cooperation on energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence. Details were not released. He said restrictions had also been lifted on defense cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States, a development that could also worry Moscow. Both leaders praised Trump for helping to end the conflict and said they would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump has tried to present himself as a global peacemaker in the first months of his second term. The White House credits him with brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and sealing peace deals between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Pakistan and India. However, he has not managed to end Russia's 3-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine or Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Trump on Friday said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 to work on ending the war in Ukraine. ENDING SANCTIONS EVASION BLIND SPOT U.S. officials said the agreement was hammered out during repeated visits to the region and would provide a basis for working toward a full normalization between the countries. The peace deal could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders and longstanding ethnic conflicts. Iran welcomed the agreement "as an important step toward lasting regional peace", but warned against any foreign intervention near its borders that could "undermine the region’s security and lasting stability". In a statement posted on X, Iran's foreign ministry said Tehran was ready to work with both countries through bilateral channels and regional frameworks. Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert and adviser to Loyola University's Chicago School of Law, said the agreement would help the West crack down on Russian efforts to evade sanctions. “The Caucasus has been a blind spot in sanctions policy," he said. "A formal peace creates a platform for the West to engage Armenia and Azerbaijan ... to shut down the evasion pipelines.” Tina Dolbaia, an associate fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Friday's signing was a big symbolic move, but many questions remained, including which U.S. companies might control the new transit corridor and how involved Armenia and Azerbaijan would be in its construction. She said Russia would likely be irritated by being excluded from the agreement and the U.S. role in the corridor. "Now the fact that ... Armenians are shaking hands with Azerbaijanis, and they are talking about U.S. involvement in this corridor - this is huge for Russia," she said. Olesya Vartanyan, an independent regional expert, said the deal added greater predictability to the region, but its long-term prospects would depend on continued U.S. engagement. "Armenia and Azerbaijan ... have a much longer track record of failed negotiations and violent escalations than of peaceful resolutions," she said. "Without proper and continued U.S. involvement, the issue will likely get deadlocked again, increasing the chances of renewed tensions." Senior U.S. administration officials said the agreement marked the end to the first of several frozen conflicts on Russia's periphery since the end of the Cold War, sending a powerful signal to the entire region. Armenia plans to award the U.S. exclusive special development rights for an extended period on the transit corridor, U.S. officials told Reuters this week. The so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity has already drawn interest from nine companies, including three U.S. firms, one official said on condition of anonymity. Daphne Panayotatos, with the Washington-based rights group Freedom Now, said it had urged the Trump administration to use the meeting with Aliyev to demand the release of some 375 political prisoners held in the country. Azerbaijan, an oil-producing country that hosted the United Nations climate summit last November, has rejected Western criticism of its human rights record, describing it as unacceptable interference. https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-announces-peace-agreement-between-azerbaijan-armenia-2025-08-08/
