BERLIN, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Germany's Finance Minister Christian Lindner took to the stage on Monday in front of thousands of jeering farmers protesting against tax rises and told them there was no money for further subsidies.

Berlin has been brought to a near standstill by the demonstration, which filled one of its central avenues with trucks and tractors as some 10,000 farmers arrived to cap a week of protests that have become a flashpoint for anti-government anger.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A dangerous Arctic blast will continue sweeping across the U.S. on Monday and linger through at least midweek, prolonging a bitter cold that set record-low temperatures in parts of the country and threatens to further disrupt daily life, including an NFL playoff game and the first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest in Iowa.

BAGHDAD, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani on Monday reiterated that Iraq wants to end the presence of the U.S.-led international coalition in the country.

Al-Sudani made the remarks during his meeting with the Dutch Ambassador to Iraq Hans Sandee, whose country is scheduled to assume the presidency of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mission in Iraq in mid-May, according to a statement issued by al-Sudani's media office.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian air force shot down a Russian Beriev A-50 early warning and control plane and an IL-22 command center aircraft in a significant blow for the Kremlin’s forces, Ukraine’s military chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi claimed Monday.

The planes are key tools in helping orchestrate Russian battlefield movements. Shooting them down is a landmark feat for Ukraine in the almost two-year war, as fighting along the front line is largely bogged down in trench and artillery warfare.

BERN, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Switzerland on Monday agreed to host a global peace summit on Ukraine at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Neutral Switzerland has previously acted as a broker to resolve conflicts and could now help find a resolution for the war that began when Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

"At the request of the Ukrainian president, Switzerland has agreed to host a summit on the peace formula," the Swiss government said. "Further details are now being worked out."

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland’s president said the country is battling “tremendous forces of nature,” after molten lava from a volcano in the island’s southwest consumed several houses in the evacuated town of Grindavik.

President Gudni Th. Johannesson said in a televised address late Sunday that “a daunting period of upheaval has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula,” where a long-dormant volcanic system has awakened.

SANAA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. navy airforce shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired by the Houthis in Yemen toward a navy battleship, the U.S. Central Command said in a statement on early Monday morning.

The missile, which was fired at approximately 4:45 p.m. (1345 GMT) on Sunday toward a destroyer of the U.S. navy operating in the southern Red Sea, was intercepted in the vicinity of the coast of Hodeidah by U.S. fighter aircraft, said the central command, adding that no injuries or damage were reported.

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii lawmakers are due to convene this week for the first time since the burning of historic Lahaina awakened the state to the deadly and costly threat posed by wildfires in an age of climate change.

The tragedy refocused the attention of lawmakers. Now, fighting and preventing wildfires and helping the island of Maui recover from the flames top the agenda as Hawaii’s Legislature returns for a new session this week.

“It really kicked us into gear in a different way,” said state Rep. Nadine Nakamura, the House majority leader and a Democrat.

WASHINGTON/LONDON, Jan 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters marched in Washington, London and elsewhere as part of a “global day of action” to demand an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza fighting and to oppose US and British support for Israel.
 
  In WASHINGTON, large crowds waved Palestinian flags as the mostly young protesters — many wearing the traditional keffiyeh — gathered in a show of solidarity on the 99th day of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
 

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — The U.S. Homeland Security Department said Saturday that Texas denied federal agents access to a stretch of border when they were trying to rescue three migrants who drowned.

The federal government’s account came hours after U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar said the Texas Military Department and Texas National Guard “did not grant access to Border Patrol agents to save the migrants” Friday night. Mexican authorities recovered the bodies of a woman and two children Saturday across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate, is stepping down from the Biden administration in the coming weeks, according to two people familiar with his plans.

Kerry, a longtime senator and secretary of state, was tapped shortly after Joe Biden’s November 2020 election to take on the new role created specifically to fight climate change on behalf of the administration on the global stage.

Kerry’s departure plans were first reported Saturday by Axios.

WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — For 75 minutes, Maj. Joe Amoroso quizzed his students in SS202, American Politics, about civilian leadership of the military, the trust between the armed forces and the public, and how the military must not become a partisan tool.

There was one answer, he said, that would always be acceptable in his class filled with second-year students at the U.S. Military Academy. Hesitantly, one cadet offered a response: “The Constitution.”

“Yes,” Amoroso said emphatically.