Lawyer dies after his hidden gun goes off during MRI scan

Associated Press
Greek workers hold general strike over high cost of living and call for collective wage agreements
Greek public and private sector workers walked off the job Wednesday in a 24-hour general strike that is disrupting services across the country, with public transport in the capital suspended for several hours and ferries that connect the islands to the mainland tied up in port. Medical staff at state-run hospitals and teachers are also participating in the strike, called by labor unions to protest the high cost of living and demand collective wage agreements that were scaled back during Greece’s nearly decade-long financial crisis that began in 2010. Journalists at Greek media outlets held their own 24-hour strike in support on Tuesday, pulling all news broadcasts off the air for the day, so they could cover Wednesday’s general strike.
AFP
'Kidnapped' Uganda opposition figure Besigye to appear at military court: lawyer
Leading Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye is due to appear before a military court on Wednesday, his lawyer said, after his reported abduction in neighbouring Kenya.Phillip Wafula Oguttu, a leading figure in the new party who was also in the FDC, said the disappearance of Besigye was "not surprising" following the alleged abduction of the opposition party members in Kenya.
Reuters
U.S. State Department's Campbell hopes Trump works with Pacific allies
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said he hoped the incoming Trump administration would work with allies Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific, amid "acute strategic competition" with China and not withdraw from the region. But hard work lay ahead for the AUKUS partnership to transfer nuclear submarine technology from the United States and Britain to Australia, Campbell said in a video address to a conference in Sydney on Wednesday.
AFP
Myanmar led world in landmine victims in 2023: monitor
Landmines and unexploded munitions claimed more victims in Myanmar than in any other country last year, a monitor said on Wednesday, warning the true toll could be double or triple its estimate of 1,000 people killed or wounded.Anti-personnel mines and explosive remnants of war killed or wounded 1,003 people in Myanmar in 2023, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said on Wednesday.
NBC News
Thousands without power in Washington state as severe weather begins hitting Pacific Northwest
A woman was killed by a falling tree and tens of thousands of homes in Washington state lost power Tuesday as Northern California and the Pacific Northwest started feeling the effects of a powerful atmospheric river event, officials said.
Reuters
Exclusive-UN moves to unlock stuck climate financing for Afghanistan, agencies say
United Nations agencies are trying to unlock key climate financing for Afghanistan, one of the world's most vulnerable countries to climate change which has not received approval for any fresh such funds since the 2021 Taliban takeover, two U.N. officials told Reuters. Plagued by drought and deadly floods, Afghanistan has been unable to access U.N. climate funds due to political and procedural issues since the former insurgents came to power. But with the population growing more desperate as climate woes stack up, U.N. agencies are hoping to unseal project financing for the fragile country to boost its resilience.
Associated Press
Higher energy bills push UK inflation to 6-month high in October
Inflation in the U.K. rose sharply to a six-month high in October and back above the rate targeted by rate-setters at the Bank of England, official figures showed Wednesday, an increase that is set to cement market expectations that there will be no further cuts in borrowing rates this year. The Office for National Statistics said higher domestic energy bills pushed up consumer price inflation up to 2.3% in the year to October from the three-year low of 1.7% recorded the previous month. The increase, which was above forecasts for a more modest increase, took inflation above the bank's target rate of 2%.
Reuters
Russian gas supply to EU via Ukraine steady amid row with OMV
Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine were stable on Wednesday, data from Kremlin-controlled producer Gazprom showed, with nominations for flows to Austria from Slovakia also unchanged. Gazprom halted supply to Austria's OMV on Saturday over a contractual dispute, the Vienna-based company said, while Gazprom has not commented. It is not clear where the gas volumes intended for OMV have been redirected.
AFP
Asian markets fluctuate as traders weigh geopolitical tensions
Asian stocks fluctuated Wednesday following a positive lead from Wall Street as traders assessed the prospect of an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war, Donald Trump's second presidency and the outlook for US interest rates.Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine has burst back into the thoughts of traders as Moscow vowed to react "accordingly" after saying Kyiv had fired its first US-made long-range missile into Russian territory.
Reuters
Russian farmers ditch wheat for other crops after heavy losses
Russian farmers say they will sow less wheat after heavy losses this year, switching to more profitable crops such as peas, lentils, or sunflowers. Such decisions will have direct implications for global wheat prices and inflation in major buyers like Egypt, as Russia is the world's top exporter of the grain. The trend represents a challenge for President Vladimir Putin's plan to expand exports and cement Russia's position as an agriculture superpower, giving it more international clout amid confrontation with the West over its actions in Ukraine.
Associated Press
'Bomb cyclone' knocks out power to over 600,000 and downs trees across northwest US, killing 1
A major storm swept across the northwest U.S. Tuesday evening, battering the region with strong winds and rain and causing widespread power outages and downed trees that killed at least one person. The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks through Friday and hurricane-force wind warnings were in effect as the strongest atmospheric river — a large plume of moisture — that California and the Pacific Northwest has seen this season overwhelms the region. Downed trees struck homes and littered roads across northwest Washington.
USA TODAY
Clean water has returned to Asheville, North Carolina, after Hurricane Helene
The boil water advisory for Asheville, North Carolina, residents has been lifted after Helene damaged the city's distribution system nearly two months ago.
Associated Press
Wife of Ugandan opposition figure Besigye says he was kidnapped and is being held in a military jail
The wife of Ugandan opposition figure Kizza Besigye said Wednesday he was kidnapped in neighboring Kenya and is being held in a Ugandan military jail. Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAIDS, wrote on the social platform X that her husband was last seen Saturday in Kenya, where he was attending a politician’s book launch. Besigye, a fierce critic of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, has on previous occasions been arrested and assaulted.
CNN
Hong Kong hears from jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai for the first time in four years at his trial
Jimmy Lai, the pugnacious Hong Kong media tycoon whose now shuttered tabloid Apple Daily was a regular thorn in Beijing’s side, took the stand Wednesday in his own defense for the first time in a high stakes national security trial that could send him to prison for life.
AFP
'An inauspicious day': the landmines ruining Myanmar lives
It was an unlucky day in the Burmese calendar, farmer Yar Swe Kyin warned her husband in July, begging him not to go out to check on their crops.She had urged her husband to stay home because the traditional Burmese calendar, which is guided by lunar cycles, planetary alignment and other factors, marked it out as inauspicious.
Associated Press
Iraq launches its first national census in nearly four decades
Iraq began its first nationwide population census in decades Wednesday, a step aimed at modernizing data collection and planning in a country long impacted by conflict and political divisions. The census is expected to have profound implications for Iraq’s resource distribution, budget allocations and development planning. The count in territories such as Kirkuk, Diyala and Mosul -- where control is disputed between the central government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdish regional government in the north -- has drawn intense scrutiny.
Reuters
Ugandan opposition politician kidnapped in Kenya, his wife says
A prominent Ugandan opposition politician was kidnapped during a book launch in Kenya over the weekend, transferred to Uganda and is being held at a military jail in Kampala, his wife said on Wednesday. Kizza Besigye has run against Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in four elections and lost each time, although he has rejected the results, alleging fraud and voter intimidation. "I request the (government) of Uganda to release my husband Dr Kizza Besigye from where he is being held immediately," said his wife Winnie Byanyima.
CNN
A once-in-a-decade bomb cyclone is taking shape off the West Coast
Over a month’s worth of rain, hurricane-force wind gusts and feet of mountain snow are coming to parts of the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.
Reuters
Chipmaker STMicroelectronics delays $20B sales target to 2030
ST, one of Europe's largest semiconductor firms, said it aimed to reach the revenue target of $20 billion and an operating margin of above 30% by 2030, instead of the previously forecast 2027. It also gave new guidance for 2027-2028, targeting revenue of $18 billion and an operating margin of 22-24%.
Associated Press
Ukraine has seen success in building clean energy, which is harder for Russia to destroy
Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, the largest private energy company in Ukraine, pulls out a piece of paper with bar charts showing how much new electricity his company has brought online this year in the country versus how much Russian bombs have destroyed. Total electricity goes up, then down, then up, then down — capturing the company's constant rebuilding each time Russian missile attacks take out a facility, which include wind and solar farms and thermal (coal or gas-fired) generating stations. The Russian strikes are part of a campaign to target energy infrastructure to reduce power in Ukraine as winter looms.

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