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Italy sounds alarm on large-scale computer hacking attack

ROME (Reuters) - Thousands of computer servers around the world have been targeted by a ransomware hacking attack, Italy's National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN) said on Sunday, warning organisations to take action to protect their systems. The hacking attack sought to exploit a software vulnerability, ACN director general Roberto Baldoni told Reuters, adding it was on a massive scale. Italy's ANSA news agency, citing the ACN, reported that servers had been compromised in other European countries such as France and Finland as well as the United States and Canada. Dozens of Italian organisations w...

Pope Francis says laws criminalizing LGBT people are a 'sin' and an injustice

By Philip Pullella ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Francis said on Sunday that laws criminalising LGBT people are a sin and an injustice because God loves and accompanies people with same-sex attraction. Francis, who made his remarks in response to a reporter's question aboard the plane returning from a two-country trip to Africa, received full backing of his comments from two other Christian leaders on the plane with him. "The criminalisation of homosexuality is a problem that cannot be ignored," said Francis, who then cited unnamed statistics according to which 50 countries criminali...

Canada deploys military aircraft over Haiti to disrupt gangs

By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) - The Canadian government said on Sunday it deployed a military aircraft over Haiti to address what it called a "dire security situation" and to support efforts to disrupt the activities of Haitian gangs.

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Colombian military confirmed possible balloon flying over its airspace

(Reuters) - A day before a U.S. military jet shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the country's Atlantic Coast on Saturday, Colombia's military confirmed a sighting of an airborne object similar to a balloon flying over its territory.

Colombia's air force issued a statement on Saturday providing limited details concerning a possible balloon its air defense system had located Friday morning.

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China slams Pentagon's downing of balloon as an 'excessive reaction'

China's Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement Saturday condemning the Pentagon for shooting down a balloon that Beijing says was a civilian aircraft that drifted over the United States by mistake.

"The Chinese side clearly requested that the U.S. appropriately deal with this in a calm, professional, and restrained manner," the ministry said, again dismissing the Pentagon's claim that the high-altitude balloon was part of a surveillance operation aimed at monitoring sensitive military sites.

"For the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction that seriously violates international convention," the ministry continued, invoking force majeure, which under international law refers to unforeseen circumstances that are beyond a state's control. China has claimed the balloon was a civilian weather research aircraft that was blown way off course by unexpected winds.

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Reaction to death of former Pakistan President Musharraf

(Reuters) -Pakistani former President Pervez Musharraf died on Sunday following a prolonged illness at a hospital in Dubai, after years in self-imposed exile.

Following are reactions to his death from former aides and analysts:

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At least 23 dead as dozens of wildfires torch forests in Chile

By Fabian Cambero and Natalia A. Ramos Miranda

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Dozens of wildfires blazing though Chile caused the government to extend an emergency order to another region on Saturday, as a scorching summer heat wave complicates efforts to control fires that have claimed at least 23 lives so far.

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Ukraine's Zelenskiy strips citizenship of several former politicians

By Nick Starkov LVIV, Ukraine (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy revoked the citizenship of several former influential politicians on Saturday in the latest of steps to "cleanse" the country from pro-Russian influences. "Today, I signed the relevant documents to take another step to protect and cleanse our state from those on the side of the aggressor," Zelenskiy said during his nightly video address. Zelenskiy would not list the names, but said they had dual Russian citizenship. According to Ukrainian state media, the list includes several top politicians from the office of Viktor Yanu...

Tens of thousands of Israelis protest against justice reform plans

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Israelis braved heavy rain on Saturday for a fifth week of protests against judicial reform plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government that critics say threaten democratic checks on ministers by the courts.

The plans, which the government says are needed to curb overreach by judges, have drawn fierce opposition from groups including lawyers, and raised concerns among business leaders, widening already deep political divisions in Israeli society.

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Take a bow-wow! Meet Bobi, the world's oldest dog on record

CONQUEIROS, Portugal (Reuters) - When his dog was born three decades ago in a tiny village in central Portugal, Leonel Costa was only eight years old. Little did he know that his beloved Bobi would one day be recorded as the world's oldest dog.

When Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, celebrated its 30th birthday last year, Costa knew he had broken an almost century-old record held by an Australian cattle-dog that died at 29 years and five months in 1939.

Costa got in touch with the Guinness World of Records, submitted all the paperwork and a year later Bobi was officially named the oldest dog on record.

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'Sorry, this is not a Chinese balloon'

A popular website for tracking flights had to inform thousands of its users that an aircraft they were following wasn't the suspected Chinese spy balloon that's captivating Americans' attention, and instead was nothing more than “a standard high-altitude research tool from the United States,” Business Insider reported today.

It turns out that misplaced celebrity had been given at the flight-tracking site FlightRadar 24 to a standard research balloon belonging to Aerostar, an aeronautics company based in South Dakota, according to the report.

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Biden says U.S. is 'going to take care of' Chinese balloon

SYRACUSE, NY (Reuters) - President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the United States is "going to take care of" a suspected Chinese spy balloon that has been tracked flying across the United States.

Biden made his remarks in response to a question about whether the United States would shoot down the balloon, which has been flying across the country in what Washington calls a "clear violation" of U.S. sovereignty.

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Ukraine, Russia swap prisoners; bodies of British volunteers returned

(Reuters) - Ukraine and Russia traded almost 200 prisoners of war in a swap announced separately by both sides on Saturday, with the bodies of two British volunteers also being sent back to Ukraine. The Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said 116 Ukrainians had been returned, while Russian news agencies cited Moscow's defence ministry saying 63 Russian POWs had been freed. "We managed to return 116 of our people, defenders of Mariupol, partisans from Kherson, snipers from the Bakhmut (front) and other heroes of ours," Yermak wrote on Telegram. Yermak also said the bodies of B...