2025-12-13 11:32

KYIV, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa and the surrounding region suffered major blackouts on Saturday after a large overnight Russian attack on the power grid that left more than a million households without power. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia had attacked Ukraine with more than 450 drones and 30 missiles. Sign up here. "The brunt of the attack was on our energy system, on the south and Odesa region," Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram, adding that thousands of families in seven regions across Ukraine were left without power. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said it was one of the war's largest attacks on Odesa, where supplies of electricity and water had been knocked out. She said supplies of non-drinking water were being brought in to areas of the city. Ukraine's interior minister Ihor Klymenko said more than a million households across Ukraine had been left without power and five people had been wounded as a result of the attack. Ukraine's power grid operator said a "significant number" of households were without power in the southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv, and that the Ukrainian-controlled part of the frontline Kherson region was totally without power. Moscow has regularly bombarded Ukraine's energy system since its 2022 invasion, causing hours of daily blackouts countrywide. Russia's defence ministry said on Saturday it had conducted strikes on Ukrainian energy and military-industrial facilities. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraines-odesa-suffers-major-blackouts-after-russian-attack-2025-12-13/

2025-12-13 11:05

Chicago student journalists use data tools to document immigration arrests College journalists verify immigration agent sightings with photos, eyewitness accounts On immigration, collaboration trumps scoops as priority for some journalists CHICAGO, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The windowless newsroom of The Phoenix, the Loyola University Chicago newspaper, hums like an old refrigerator. A coffee pot burbles in the corner as juniors Julia Pentasuglio and Ella Daugherty lean over a glowing laptop, updating a Google map. Each red pin marks a sighting of federal immigration agents near campus and the surrounding neighborhoods. Sign up here. Nearby, editor-in-chief Lilli Malone scrolls through reports from Rogers Park, a neighborhood along Chicago's lakefront where 80 languages mix. There were new pins from seven sightings that day alone - reports of vans barreling down side streets, masked immigration officers drawing guns, students watching from on-campus dorm windows as neighbors were taken away. The young student journalists normally cover dorm-room Thanksgiving recipes and local Christmas tree lightings, but find themselves with a new role under Donald Trump's presidency: documenting immigration raids. Their goal: counter online rumor with facts and give locals a map of frequently targeted areas as panic spread in recent months over who might be picked up by immigration agents next. Student and veteran journalists say that college newsrooms, independent media and legacy outlets across Chicago are now working together in ways that upend decades of cutthroat competition, building tools to track enforcement and collaborating on information. Since Trump’s return to the White House, his administration has ordered aggressive immigration sweeps in cities with large foreign-born communities, including Chicago, to make good on a campaign promise to deport people living in the U.S. illegally. TRANSLATING RUMOR INTO FACT Weeks after Loyola students began classes this fall, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched its Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago in early September, deploying Border Patrol agents armed with high-powered weapons and tear gas. Local officials objected, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called the blitz "unlawful and unwarranted" , opens new tab and a new state law now allows Illinois residents to sue federal immigration agents if they believe their civil rights have been violated. DHS said it is targeting violent criminals putting Americans at risk, and that it has arrested more than 4,300 people as part of the operation. "Our efforts remain ongoing, we aren’t leaving Chicago," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. Fear had already been building on campus before the operation started. A man from the U.S. Census Bureau walked into a dorm months earlier, Malone and Pentasuglio said, prompting false rumors that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrived. Students flooded The Phoenix staff with questions about whether the rumors were true. Some had reason to be worried. Loyola has long welcomed immigrants without legal status in the U.S., including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals students who came to the U.S. as children, particularly in its medical school — a point of pride at a Jesuit university built on a mission of social justice. “People were scared, and they needed someone to verify what was real,” Malone said. Loyola University officials did not respond to requests for comment. So in early October, Malone and Pentasuglio, The Phoenix's managing editor, opened a blank Google Map , opens new tab and began dropping pins — each confirmed through photos, timestamped videos or multiple witnesses, they said. The pins gave students and nearby residents a place to check rumor against fact — to see which sightings had been verified, and to understand where agents had clustered in recent days so they could better gauge which areas might carry risk. Notes are attached to each pin - October 12: Multiple armed agents were spotted at the 1200 block of West North Shore Avenue midday. October 21: An arrest was reported at the North Lincoln Avenue Home Depot at 9:58 a.m. A DHS spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that U.S. Border Patrol conducted enforcement operations and made arrests at these locations on those dates. At the University of Chicago, deputy editor-in-chief Elena Eisenstadt says the college newspaper, The Maroon, built its Datawrapper tracker after reports lit up on social media outlets like Sidechat, a student app where users can chat anonymously. “It felt like a wave,” she said. “When everyone is talking about something like that, you have to do something.” At DePaul University, the managing editor of the DePaulia campus newspaper, Jake Cox, and other staff leaned on the social media accounts of students and others for tips when ICE's presence near its Lincoln Park campus spiked. At the Block Club Chicago nonprofit news group where he interns, Cox built an ICE WhatsApp channel — a platform widely used by immigrant Chicagoans - where nearly 3,200 followers receive a steady stream of immigration stories, agent sightings and "Know Your Rights" links. SOME JOURNALISTS PRIORITIZE COLLABORATION The students are joining a broader wave of local mobilization against ICE across Chicago that has included cyclists trailing unmarked vans through alleys, parents forming checkpoints outside elementary schools and Pilates students shouting at agents pulling people into SUVs while neighbors film. For months, local reporters covering immigration enforcement in Chicago have also been sharing story leads, safety tips and source contacts with competitors through encrypted communication systems, said Maira Khwaja, public impact strategy director at the Invisible Institute, an independent, local journalism nonprofit. The story has become too big, she said, and there are simply too few journalists to cover it. “More of us is better.” At The Phoenix, when staff get a tip outside their coverage area, they said they help get the information to other papers. At the city's biggest newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, senior editor Erika Slife says she grew up in the old scoop culture but that the current journalistic landscape has sometimes led to collaboration across outlets. For example, after U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino left Chicago on November 13 and headed for Charlotte, North Carolina, reporters from The Charlotte Observer newspaper contacted Tribune staff the next day for insight and what to expect, said Tribune investigative reporter Gregory Royal Pratt. Pratt and several co-workers quickly got onto a video conference call with the North Carolina reporters, he said, and shared what worked for them - from lining up safety equipment, to following helicopter traffic and vetting government information for accuracy. “It still feels good to be first,” said Slife, who leads the paper's immigration coverage. Now she tells her reporters, "it’s more important to be right. We may not always be first, but we'll do it best." https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/pins-map-how-chicago-students-are-tracking-ice-raids-2025-12-13/

2025-12-13 09:46

Farmers protest against government's culling policy Vaccination aims to protect farmers and cattle exports, minister says Protests block A64 motorway south of Toulouse since Friday PARIS, Dec 13 (Reuters) - France will vaccinate 1 million head of cattle in coming weeks against lumpy skin disease, Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said on Saturday, as farmers blocked highways and dumped manure near public buildings to protest against culls of herds. Several outbreaks of the highly contagious disease prompted authorities to order large-scale culls, sparking demonstrations by farmers who consider the measure excessive. Sign up here. A new outbreak was detected in the Haute-Garonne department, bordering Spain, Genevard confirmed on Saturday. Lumpy skin disease is a virus spread by insects that affects cattle and buffalo, causing blisters and reducing milk production. While not harmful to humans, it often results in trade restrictions and severe economic losses. "We will vaccinate nearly one million animals in the coming weeks and protect farmers. I want to reiterate that the state will stand by affected farmers, their losses will be compensated as well as their operating losses," Genevard told local radio network ICI. France says that total culling of infected herds, alongside vaccination and movement restrictions, is necessary to contain the disease and allow cattle exports. If the disease continues to spread in livestock farms, it could kill "at the very least, 1.5 million cattle", Genevard told Le Parisien daily in a previous interview. Farmers stepped up protests on Saturday, blocking several toll entrances and exits on the A64 motorway in the southwestern departement Hautes-Pyrenees, local authorities said. Protesters have also dumped manure near government buildings in Tarbes, the department’s administrative capital, disrupting the work of officials implementing the vaccination campaign, they said. The government, backed by the main FNSEA farming union, maintains that total culling of infected herds is necessary to prevent the disease from spreading and triggering export bans that would devastate the sector. But the Coordination Rurale, a rival union, opposes the systematic culling approach, calling instead for targeted measures and quarantine protocols. "There is no question of culling animals in the Pyrenees that are not sick and are healthy, simply because they belong to a herd from which a supposedly sick animal came,” said Leon Thierry, co-president of CR in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques. Genevard said vaccination would be mandatory, and complete culling remains necessary in some cases because the disease can be asymptomatic and undetectable. France detected 110 outbreaks across nine departments and culled about 3,000 animals, according to the Agriculture Ministry. It has paid nearly six million euros to farmers since the first outbreak on June 29. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/france-vaccinate-cattle-lumpy-skin-disease-farmers-protest-against-cull-2025-12-13/

2025-12-13 09:35

Dec 13 (Reuters) - Iran raised the price of its subsidized gasoline for most users on Saturday, a government spokesperson said, as the OPEC member seeks to control rising fuel demand without triggering public anger. The increase in Iran's gasoline price, which is among the lowest in the world, had long been postponed amid concerns it could spark a repeat of widespread protests seen in 2019 that were crushed by the state. Sign up here. Starting on Saturday, most vehicles except ambulances must purchase fuel at a higher rate of 50,000 rials per litre (4 U.S. cents under the free-market rate), government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on state TV. The higher rate will target consumers requiring more than 160 litres per month, state television reported on Friday. Other drivers can still buy up to 60 litres at 15,000 rials per litre and an additional 100 litres at 30,000 rials per litre. Mohajerani said the increase aims to control fuel consumption and combat smuggling. Taxi quotas remain unchanged, said Mohajerani. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iran-raises-fuel-prices-heavy-users-curb-consumption-smuggling-2025-12-13/

2025-12-13 07:54

Dec 13 (Reuters) - Iranian authorities detained 18 crew members of a foreign tanker seized in the Gulf of Oman on Friday that they said was carrying 6 million litres of smuggled fuel, Iranian media reported on Saturday, citing the Hormozgan province judiciary. It said those detained under the ongoing investigation include the captain of the tanker. The semi-official news agency Fars said the crew were from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Sign up here. The authorities said the tanker had committed multiple violations, including "ignoring stop orders, attempting to flee, (and) lacking navigation and cargo documentation". Iran, which has some of the world's lowest fuel prices due to heavy subsidies and the plunge in the value of its national currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling by land to neighbouring countries and by sea to Gulf Arab states. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-detains-18-crew-members-foreign-tanker-seized-gulf-oman-2025-12-13/

2025-12-13 03:16

New York must address immigrant truck driver concerns in 30 days or lose funding New York DMV denies non-compliance, calls Duffy's actions a stunt Similar funding threats made to Minnesota, Chicago, and California WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Department on Friday threatened to pull $73 million in funding from New York state over commercial driver licenses improperly issued to non-U.S. citizens, the latest in a series of Trump administration threats aimed at Democratic-run states. The department said New York must take actions to address concerns about immigrant truck drivers within 30 days or possibly lose federal highway funding after a federal audit. Sign up here. The agency in September issued an emergency regulation to drastically restrict commercial driver licenses to immigrants or non-U.S. citizens after a fatal crash in Florida and a government audit. In August, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was immediately pausing the issuance of all worker visas for commercial truck drivers. "If we're going to have drivers on American roadways, they need to be the best trained, the best skilled, because if operated incorrectly or inappropriately these are lethal weapons on American roadways," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Friday. The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles rejected Duffy's contention, saying New York will continue to comply with federal rules, adding every license "is subject to verification of an applicant's lawful status through federally-issued documents reviewed in accordance with federal regulations. This is just another stunt from Secretary Duffy, and it does nothing to keep our roads safer." On December 1, Duffy's department said it could withhold up to $30.4 million in federal highway funding from Minnesota over commercial driver licenses issued improperly to non-U.S. residents. Separately, the Transportation Department removed nearly 3,000 commercial drivers license training providers from a government registry for failing to properly equip trainees earlier this month and said that another 4,000 were on notice for potential noncompliance. On Tuesday, the department threatened to withhold transit funding for Chicago trains and buses, and demanded more police protection, citing an incident in which a 26-year-old woman passenger was attacked and set on fire last month. The department previously sent similar letters over concerns about transit issues in New York City and Boston. Chicago, like the other two cities, is heavily Democratic. President Donald Trump has regularly threatened funding for large cities run by Democrats, including for major infrastructure projects in Chicago and New York. In October, the U.S. Transportation Department threatened to pull $160 million in federal funds from California over the issue. In November, California agreed to revoke 17,000 commercial driver licenses held by foreigners that the government said were improperly issued, the department said. The department in October separately withheld $40.6 million in federal transportation funding from California for failing to comply with truck driver English proficiency rules. It said in 2023 that about 16% of U.S. truck drivers were born outside the country. Late on Friday, California sued the Trump administration to return at least $33 million, saying the federal government made an "arbitrary" decision to withhold that funding. The state is seeking a court order to rescind all actions terminating the funding and preventing the Transportation Department from redistributing the grants. It was unclear what accounted for the discrepancy between the $40.6 million and the $33 million figure cited by California's lawsuit. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-threatens-new-york-funding-over-truck-driver-licenses-issued-immigrants-2025-12-12/