BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday gave Lebanese politicians until the end of October to start delivering on reforms, saying financial aid would be withheld and sanctions imposed further down the line if corruption gets in the... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron marked Lebanon’s centenary on Tuesday by planting a cedar tree, the emblem of the Middle East country that is collapsing under the weight of a crippling economic crisis. In his second trip to Lebanon in less ... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish police have arrested the Islamic State militant group’s top figure in Turkey, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Tuesday. Soylu said on Twitter “important plans” had been seized along with the militant. No further details wer... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security are setting up a joint operations center to investigate “left-wing civil unrest,” President Donald Trump said on Monday, as he accused Democrat Joe Biden of giving moral aid to vandal... More »
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Monday called for rioters and looters to be prosecuted, and slammed President Donald Trump for stoking violence in American cities gripped by protests over police brutality and racial inequa... More »
(Reuters) – A white St. Louis couple who brandished guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home in June were given a prominent speaking slot at the Republican National Convention on Monday, repeating unfounded claims by President Donald Trump that... More »
MINSK (Reuters) – Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on Monday she was ready to lead Belarus and called for the creation of a legal mechanism to ensure that a new fair presidential election could be held. Speaking in a video address... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British actress Naomie Harris and musician Brian Eno have teamed up to produce a short film backing calls for urgent action to slow climate change, in support of civil disobedience campaign Extinction Rebellion. Harris, who plays Eve Moneype... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it had appealed for $76 million in aid for Lebanon after last week’s massive explosion in Beirut destroyed or damaged hospitals, clinics and medical supplies. Lebanon was already strugglin... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese police fired tear gas to try to disperse rock-throwing protesters blocking a road near parliament in Beirut on Sunday in a second day of anti-government demonstrations triggered by last week’s devastating explosion. Fire broke out a... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Before he went missing on Aug. 4, Ghassan Hasrouty, an employee of Beirut’s giant grain silos for 38 years, thought he was working in the safest place in the city. The reinforced concrete walls and underground rooms were his shelter for many... More »
MINSK (Reuters) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko won a landslide re-election victory, the central election commission said on Monday, after bloody clashes between riot police and thousands of protesters who said the poll was rigged. Figures from the... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai became the highest-profile person arrested under a new national security law on Monday, detained over suspected collusion with foreign forces as around 200 police searched the offices of his Apple Daily ne... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. Attorney General William Barr mounted a partisan attack on the Democratic Party in an interview that aired Sunday, claiming the left believes in “tearing down the system” and pursues absolute victory as “a substitute for religion.” Barr also t... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday that countries should refrain from politicising the massive blast in Beirut last week, and that the United States should lift sanctions against Lebanon. “The blast should not be used as an excuse for political aims … the c... More »
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Afghan security forces laid siege to a prison seized by Islamic State fighters in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Monday, with at least 29 people killed after the militants’ overnight assault led to a mass jailbreak. More th... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The location of TikTok owner ByteDance’s headquarters is a commercial decision for the company to make, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday, responding to a report that the firm could move to London. “It would... More »
KABUL (Reuters) – More than 300 prisoners were at large on Monday after an attack by Islamic State on an Afghan prison, the governor’s spokesman said on Monday, as clashes continued between prisoners and security forces. The assault began on Sunday night on th... More »
KYIV (Reuters) – A full and comprehensive ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists has entered into force in eastern Ukraine, opening the prospect of an end to military and civilian casualties, the two sides said on Monday. Ukr... More »
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Dozens were arrested and many police injured in clashes around Seattle’s biggest Black Lives Matter protest in weeks on Saturday, police said, with a renewed energy sparked by violent clashes between activists and federal agents in nearby P... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Friday unveiled charges against 18 Portland, Oregon protesters ranging from assaulting police to arson and trespassing, a day after the Trump administration expanded the deployment of tactical police to Seattle. The arrests came... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Monday urged Britain to avoid making further steps down wrong path after reports that it was poised to suspend an extradition treaty for Chinese-ruled Hong Kong. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin made the remark during a daily... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump declined to say the Confederate flag was an offensive symbol in an interview broadcast on Sunday, saying it is a source of pride for people who love the South. The Republican president was asked on “Fox News S... More »
(Reuters) – Twice Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor has joined calls to allow athletes to protest peacefully during the Games as anti-racism stances are increasingly seen at sports events in the wake of George Floyd’s death in U.S. police custody. ... More »
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – The head of Somalia’s military escaped unhurt and one civilian was killed on Monday when a suicide attacker drove a bomb-laden car into a convoy in the capital Mogadishu, according to a military spokesman and an ambulance service. The al ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Faced with sliding poll numbers and multiple national crises, President Donald Trump has leaned into a familiar campaign strategy of divisive rhetoric and raucous rallies ahead of the November election. But a lot has changed in America s... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Several dozen Paris tour guides wearing masks and holding Mona Lisa portraits protested outside the Louvre museum on Monday for more support from the government to help them ride out the coronavirus crisis and a dearth of tourists. They gathe... More »
MOUNT RUSHMORE NATIONAL MEMORIAL, S.D. (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday accused “angry mobs” of trying to erase history with efforts to remove or rethink monuments to U.S. historical figures and used a speech at Mount Rushmore to paint himself as a... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More than 75 U.S. senators and House members on Thursday urged the Trump administration to take a tougher stance on China over its crackdown in that country’s Xinjiang province and make a formal determination whether its treatment of Mus... More »
HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s parliament passed national security legislation for Hong Kong on Tuesday, setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony’s way of life since it returned to Chinese rule 23 years ago. Details of... More »
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan told parliament on Tuesday he had no doubt that India was behind an attack on the stock exchange building in the southern city of Karachi. Four gunmen armed with grenades attacked the Pakistan Stock Exc... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain urgently needs to see the legislation China passed regarding Hong Kong to determine whether it has breached the joint declaration and then will set out its next steps, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. “De... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s retail sales in May slumped 32.8% from a year earlier, falling for the 16th consecutive month as the virus pandemic slammed the brakes on tourism and spending in the city. Months of anti-government protest have also weighed on... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that Britain needed to protect its critical national infrastructure from “hostile state vendors” when deciding what role China’s Huawei should play in the country’s 5G network. Britain is taking a... More »
READING, England (Reuters) – The English town of Reading held a minute’s silence on Monday for the victims of a stabbing that killed three people including an American in the latest terrorism-linked attack. Three people were also hospitalised after a man wield... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he opposed removing the towering statue of Theodore Roosevelt from outside New York City’s American Museum of Natural History. The move was announced by the museum on Sunday and comes amid anti-racism prot... More »
(Reuters) – TikTok users and fans of Korean pop music took partial credit for inflating attendance expectations at a less-than-full arena at President Donald Trump’s first political rally in months, held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday. Social media users on p... More »
TULSA, Okla. (Reuters) – President Donald Trump, addressing a less-than-full arena for his first political rally in months, blasted anti-racism protests and defended his handling of the coronavirus on Saturday in a bid to reinvigorate his re-election campaign.... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Boarded-up shops, a depressing sight for New Yorkers after looters infiltrated anti-racism marches in the city’s trendiest neighborhoods, are being transformed into canvases of hope with paintbrushes wielded by a small army of artists. The... More »
KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Police in Nepal arrested three men on suspicion of gang raping a woman quarantined alone in an empty school, a case that has added to public anger over unsafe conditions for thousands of migrant workers forced into confinement over the co... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Days into nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd, demonstrators began to fill a tall fence in front of the White House with posters, flowers, paintings and photos in honor of black men, women and children who have lost thei... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – People attending U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Oklahoma this week should wear masks, a White House adviser said on Sunday, as health experts cautioned against large gatherings such as political rallies during the corona... More »
CAMDEN, N.J. (Reuters) – Zsakhiem James, a police captain in Camden, New Jersey – once considered the most dangerous city in the United States – sees every encounter with a resident as an opportunity to build “social currency” to prevent or solve a future crim... More »
KISUMU (Reuters) – Hundreds of Kenyans defied tear gas and riot police on Friday to carry off the body of a popular singer, trying to prevent a swift burial under rules for suspected coronavirus cases which the crowd said would be disrespectful. Mourners and f... More »
KABUL (Reuters) – A group of artists climbed ladders up one of the many blast walls snaking through the Afghan capital Kabul this week to paint a mural of George Floyd in solidarity with the anti-racism protests kindled by his death in police custody. Floyd, a... More »
MINSK (Reuters) – A detained Belarusian blogger who helped lead protests against President Alexander Lukashenko has been charged with disrupting public order and attacking a policeman and could be sentenced to three years in prison, state investigators said on... More »
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Thousands of mourners braved sweltering Texas heat on Monday to view the casket of George Floyd, whose death after a police officer knelt on his neck ignited worldwide protests against racism and calls for reforms of U.S. law enforcement. A... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N) disclosed Monday it will no longer offer facial recognition or analysis software in a letter to Congress calling for new efforts to pursue justice and racial equity, new Chief Executive Office... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. congressional Democrats unveiled sweeping legislation on Monday to combat police violence and racial injustice through transformative change, two weeks after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody led to nationwide prote... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congressional Democrats on Monday introduced a sweeping bill intended to address longstanding complaints about racial injustice in U.S. policing, following two weeks of protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custod... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Monday pledged to maintain funding for police departments in the United States amid growing calls for sweeping cuts to law enforcement budgets as protesters clamored for an end to police brutality following the ... More »
(Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden showed compassion that “meant the world” to George Floyd’s family on Monday, according to a lawyer for relatives of the black man who died in police custody. Biden met with Floyd’s relatives in Houston fo... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – “The world is full of idiots,” said ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus, as he condemned critics of the Black Lives Matter movement and voiced his support of the worldwide protests against racism and police brutality. “The solidarity that we see in the ... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Fans of the popular South Korean boy band BTS matched its $1 million donation to Black Lives Matter (BLM) in support of U.S. protests against police brutality, an organisation that runs fundraisers for the fans said on Monday. The K-pop group... More »
(Reuters) – A massive “Black Lives Matter” mural was painted in yellow letters on a street near the White House on Friday, ahead of expected large demonstrations on Saturday to protest racism and police brutality in the United States. The huge mural occupies t... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – From “White Fragility” to “The New Jim Crow,” literature about the history of racial discrimination in the United States is selling out as white Americans seek to educate themselves as nationwide protests grow over the killing of unarme... More »
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A new work by Chinese dissident artist Badiucao in support of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters shows the image of a lone man standing in the path of a tank taken on Tiananmen Square in 1989. But in Badiucao’s version of the photograph,... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Protesters blocked construction sites along the route of a planned high-speed rail link on Monday, aiming to stop swathes of British woodlands being felled for a project that has also faced criticism over spiralling costs. Prime Minister Bor... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hezbollah’s leader hailed the Lebanese government’s crisis plan as a “big, important step” on Monday and said any talks with the IMF must not blindly surrender the country to terms it can not bear. In a televised speech, Sayyed Hassan Nasral... More »
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) – Indian police fired tear gas on Monday to scatter migrant workers during clashes in the western state of Gujarat, officials said, as authorities relaxed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns to stem the spread of the coronavirus. ... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates stands against a decision by a main Yemeni southern separatist group to declare self-rule in areas it controls, and urges full implementation of a peace deal agreed last year for the south, minister of state for forei... More »
JUGYAI, India (Reuters) – Most days, you can find Dayaram Kushwaha and his wife, Gyanvati, hauling bricks for stonemasons in a booming northern suburb of New Delhi. They bring their 5-year-old son, who plays in the dirt while they work. But now a hush has come... More »
HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) – The U.S. debate over restrictions for fighting the coronavirus intensified on Monday, as protesters labeled mandatory lockdowns as “tyranny,” while medical workers and health experts cautioned that lifting them too soon risked unlea... More »
(Reuters) – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday he understood why some people were protesting against the lockdowns imposed to stem the coronavirus outbreak, but said restrictions must be lifted in a way that prevented further outbreaks. He spoke aft... More »
(Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) said on Monday that it has removed events in Nebraska, New Jersey and California promoting protests against stay-at-home measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus. But the social media company, which has ... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Several Dutch cellular broadcasting towers have been damaged by arson or sabotage in the past week by opponents of a rollout of a new 5G telecommunications network, newspaper De Telegraaf reported on Saturday. The paper said there have be... More »
BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) – Rockets landed near a site connected with foreign oil firms and state-run companies in Iraq’s southern city of Basra early on Monday, without causing damage or casualties, oil and police sources said. The rockets, which police said were... More »
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s police began using water cannon on Friday to disinfect markets and bus ranks, turning instruments associated with repression into weapons against the new coronavirus. Zimbabwean police have a reputation for heavy-handed tactics ag... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a live speech on state TV for the start of the Persian new year, said on Friday that U.S. sanctions has forced the country to become self-sufficient as he called on Iranians to preserve unity. ... More »
KASTANIES/LESBOS, Greece (Reuters) – A child died after being pulled from the seat when a boat capsized off the Greek island of Lesbos, officials said on Monday, the first reported fatality after the Turkish government opened its border last week to let migran... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Roman Polanski cast a shadow over France’s Cesar Awards on Friday even as he won best directing for his film “An Officer and a Spy,” with several women in the audience walking out in protest at honoring a man facing rape accusations. The Fren... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Roman Polanski, who faces accusations of rape, won France’s Cesar Award for best directing for his film “An Officer and a Spy” on Friday, prompting several actresses to walk out of the ceremony in protest. Polanski was not at the event, the b... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Hannaa Jassem bends over a patient in a makeshift clinic on the edge of Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, one of a handful of women in an overwhelmingly male world of demonstrations and political confrontation. The 24-year-old works as a nurse in a ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Hundreds of people including Roger Waters, co-founder of the Pink Floyd rock group, and designer Vivienne Westwood, marched through central London on Saturday demanding that jailed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange be released. A London court... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A Russian artist unveiled four giant paintings of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in central Istanbul on Saturday, saying he wanted to show the good ties between Ankara and Moscow despite differences over Syria and other issues. However ... More »
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (Reuters) – Mourners left flowers and written messages in front of the Terminal 21 shopping center in northeastern Thailand on Monday after a soldier’s shooting rampage in which at least 29 people were killed. Soldiers, mall staff a... More »
ALMATY (Reuters) – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Monday sacked the police chief and a deputy governor of the southern Zhambyl province, where 10 people were killed in ethnic clashes last week, his office said. The incident, triggered by an argument... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Police escorted masked members of a white nationalist group on a march through Washington’s National Mall on Saturday that Metropolitan Police said occurred without incident or arrests. More than 100 members of the Patriot Front, dressed... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – When marketing Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s national tourism agency typically focuses on the city’s world-class beaches, samba-filled music scene and caipirinha-fueled parties. Violent crime is rarely listed among the attractions. But in... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam and top finance officials praised the Chinese-ruled city’s resilience as a global financial hub on Monday amid more than six months of often violent pro-democracy unrest. Protests escalated in June o... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Libya’s warring rival leaders will hold peace talks in Moscow on Monday alongside representatives from Russia and Turkey, Russian news agencies cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying. The talks come after a ceasefire in Libya, initiate... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Thousands of small-scale traders in India are planning to organize protests against Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos, who will visit the country next week for a company event and potential meetings with government officials. Bez... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that a U.S. Congressional report that called for sanctions against Beijing over human rights abuses was neither objective nor credible. The United States should reflect upon its human rights situati... More »
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Thousands of Cambodians working for a Hong Kong-listed casino company have gone on strike for higher pay and better working conditions, they said on Thursday. About 3,000 workers joined the strike in front of the NagaWorld hotel and casi... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – A coalition of trade unions will mobilize thousands of people next week to block the Indonesian government’s plan to relax restrictive labor rules, as President Joko Widodo’s administration is set to hand over a bill to parliament. The prot... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – At least four people, including three policemen, were killed on Thursday in Vietnam when protesters attacked authorities trying to build a wall near a military airport, the Ministry of Public Security said. The protesters attacked the authori... More »
MUMBAI (Reuters) – A top Indian actress who joined students protesting against the government drew calls on social media on Wednesday for a boycott of her upcoming film, as well as praise for being a rare Bollywood A-lister to stand up against a crackdown on d... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The French capital’s Opera Bastille has been silent for nearly a month because its orchestra is on strike, but on Tuesday the musicians performed on the steps of the opera house to bring attention to their anger at planned pension reforms. Th... More »
KABUL (Reuters) – The Taliban said their fighters killed a U.S. service member in Afghanistan on Monday and posted photographs of a blood-soaked backpack and the identity card of a American soldier to prove it. The U.S. military said in a statement an American... More »
GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) – With a voice known to millions of Indian movie goers, Zubeen Garg crooned one of his old songs with patriotic fervor, but he is protesting against the government, not singing its praises. Like many people from India’s northeastern s... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Tear gas engulfed central Beirut as security forces chased protesters near Lebanon’s parliament on Sunday in a second night of street clashes that wounded dozens of people. Protesters had returned despite a fierce crackdown by security force... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police fired tear gas in late night street clashes with anti-government protesters, ahead of a potentially pivotal meeting between Hong Kong’s leader and China’s president in Beijing on Monday. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie L... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – More than 100 activists protesting against a new Indian citizenship law were injured in New Delhi on Sunday as they clashed with police who used tear gas and baton charges to disperse demonstrators at a major university. Prime Minister Na... More »
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s special justice tribunal has begun to exhume bodies from a grave in the country’s northwest as part of an investigation into as many as 50 possible extrajudicial killings allegedly committed by the army. The Special Jurisdiction f... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Four branches of France’s hardline CGT union, including railway and transport workers, threatened on Sunday to step up protests unless the government withdraws its pension reform proposal this week. In a major overhaul of France’s complex pen... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders are meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday for talk on climate, the EU’s long-term budget, Brexit, the euro zone and Russia sanctions, among others. Here are comments made by them on Thursday ahead of the summit.... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong protesters set fire outside court buildings, threw petrol bombs and spray-painted graffiti on government buildings, marring what was otherwise a “generally peaceful” march at the weekend, police said on Monday. The comments came... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Four Katyusha rockets struck a military base next to Baghdad International Airport on Monday wounding “six fighters”, a statement from the military said. Security forces found a rocket launcher and several rockets in a search of the area, t... More »
GISENYI, Rwanda (Reuters) – An Ebola survivor has fallen ill with the disease for a second time in eastern Congo, the Congolese health authorities said on Sunday, saying it was not yet clear if it was a case of relapse or reinfection. The Ebola outbreak in Dem... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Turkey’s presidential administration has said that the purchase date for more S-400 missile systems from Russia is just a technicality and that it thinks a deal will happen before too long, the RIA news agency reported on Monday. Moscow hope... More »
