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 »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia does not know why Chinese authorities have detained Australian citizen and television anchor Cheng Lei, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said on Tuesday, adding to the mystery why the journalist has been taken into custody. The Aust... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines will not halt infrastructure projects involving Chinese firms blacklisted by ally the United States and will act in its own interests, not those of a foreign power, the president’s spokesman said on Tuesday. President Rodrigo... 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 »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A small independent Russian teachers’ union is urging members not to be coerced into accepting shots of the “Sputnik V” coronavirus vaccine which is to be mandatory for military personnel. Moscow clinics last week began receiving supplies of... 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 »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, moved a step closer to becoming the next premier after the ruling party decided on Tuesday on a slimmed-down leadership vote that favours the long-time lieutenant of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s trade minister, Simon Birmingham, said Canberra didn’t know why Chinese authorities had detained Australian citizen Cheng Lei, as he warned that the risks for Australian businesses engaged with China had changed. The Australian g... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Two South Korean military intelligence officers have been indicted on charges of raping a North Korean defector, the South’s defense ministry said on Tuesday. According to Yonhap news agency, the victim filed a criminal complaint last year, a... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines will not halt infrastructure projects involving Chinese firms blacklisted by ally the United States and will make its own decisions, not those of a foreign power, the president’s spokesman said on Tuesday. President Rodrigo D... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration and Senate Republicans have been in regular contact over possible coronavirus relief measures and the Senate’s top Republican will “hopefully” unveil a new bill next week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said o... More »
(Reuters) – Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley may have fired up speculation about a 2024 presidential bid on Monday, delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention that praised President Donald Trump while touting her own accomplishments and life s... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Tuesday it agreed with the United States to continue pushing forward the implementation of the bilateral Phase 1 trade deal reached earlier this year during a call between the two countries’ top trade negotiators. Vice Premier... 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 »
(Reuters) – Evidence used by the United States to justify the extradition of Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou is “unreliable and defective” and should not be considered by a Canadian court, Meng’s lawyers argued in documents released to... More »
(Reuters) – British Trade Secretary Liz Truss pledged to fight U.S tariffs on Scotch whisky, calling them “unacceptable and unfair” in an op-ed in the Telegraph on Sunday. “I will fight to consign these unfair tariffs to the bin of history”, she wrote (AIR.PA)... More »
BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he could exert pressure on more Chinese companies such as technology giant Alibaba (BABA.N) after he moved to ban TikTok. Asked at a news conference whether there were other particular C... 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 »
KUANTAN, Malaysia (Reuters) – Some skin, eggs and tissue samples are all that remain of Malaysia’s last rhino, Iman, who died last November after years of failed breeding attempts. Now scientists are pinning their hopes on experimental stem cell technology to ... 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 »
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 »
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Chinese air force jets briefly crossed the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait on Monday and were tracked by Taiwanese missiles, Taiwan’s government said, as U.S. health chief Alex Azar visited the island to offer President Donald Trump’s support.... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said it would apply sanctions against 11 U.S. citizens including officials from Monday in response to Washington’s move on Friday to impose sanctions on 11 Hong Kong and Chinese officials whom it accused of curtailing political freedo... 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 »
KABUL (Reuters) – Long-awaited peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban were expected to start in Qatar within a week once the final batch of Taliban prisoners were released, the U.S. special envoy and Afghan government sources said on ... More »
KYIV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that it was a matter of Ukraine’s national security to stay out of U.S. internal politics, particularly its election. “#Ukraine did not and will not allow itself to interfere in the elec... More »
SHANGHAI/SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – Huawei Technologies Co [HWT.UL] will stop making its flagship Kirin chipsets next month, financial magazine Caixin said on Saturday, as the impact of U.S. pressure on the Chinese tech giant grows. U.S. pressure on Huawei’s ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Palmerston, the cat who has lived at the Foreign Office for four and a half years, will trade in his London residence for retirement in the countryside, where his mouse-catching duties for the diplomats will come to an end. Writing to the mo... 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 »
BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) – A potential shotgun wedding to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) for TikTok’s U.S. operations provoked an outcry on Monday on Chinese social media as well as criticism from a prominent Chinese investor in TikTok owner ByteDance. The U.S. te... 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 »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti resigned on Monday, blaming a lack of political will to enact reforms to halt a financial meltdown which he warned could turn Lebanon into a failed state. Foreign donors have made clear there will be no... More »
BELFAST (Reuters) – John Hume, a key Roman Catholic architect of Northern Ireland’s 1998 Good Friday peace agreement who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending 30 years of sectarian violence, died on Monday at the age of 83, his SDLP party said. Hume... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization warned on Monday that, despite strong hopes for a vaccine, there might never be a “silver bullet” for COVID-19, and the road to normality would be long. More than 18.14 million people around the world are report... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam has no plans for a widespread lockdown and will only put areas considered epicentres under strict quarantine, the government’s spokesperson said on Monday. “We will only implement social distancing in areas considered virus epicentres... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam reported 21 more novel coronavirus infections late on Monday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 642. All of the new cases are linked to Danang, the new coronavirus epicentre where Vietnam more than a week ago detect... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Several Republican senators on Sunday backed a plan by China’s ByteDance to divest the U.S. operations of TikTok after President Donald Trump said on Friday he had decided to ban the popular short-video app. Senator John Cornyn, a Texas ... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Bans on international travel cannot stay in place indefinitely, and countries are going to have to do more to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus within their borders, the World Health Organization said on Monday. A surge of infection... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – The airport in the central Vietnamese tourism hotspot of Danang was packed on Monday after three residents tested positive for the coronavirus and the evacuation of 80,000 people began. The Southeast Asian country is back on high alert after ... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli military said a there has been a “security incident” on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon on Monday and ordered residents in the area to remain indoors. Israel’s N12 TV News reported an exchange of fire between Israeli for... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain is closely watching rises in coronavirus cases in other European destinations such as France and Germany after slapping a 14-day quarantine on travellers from Spain at the height of the summer vacation season. The imposition of a Bri... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will drop its policy of requiring people returning from the Spanish Canary Islands or Balearics to quarantine for two weeks, the Sun newspaper said on Monday. On Saturday, Britain announced a 14-day quarantine on travellers from Spai... More »
(Reuters) – Chinese telecom company Huawei Technologies Co has cut its India revenue target for 2020 by up to 50% and is laying off more than half of its staff in the country, the Economic Times reported on Monday, amid calls to boycott Chinese goods. Huawei’s... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The danger to the euro zone economy from the coronavirus pandemic is not yet over, European Central Bank board member Fabio Panetta told La Repubblica, adding that he saw no need to make any tweaks to the bank’s massive asset purchase progra... More »
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Huawei Technologies’ founder Ren Zhengfei’s global ambitions are marked in bricks and mortar at a new company campus in southern China, where the buildings are replicas from European cities. Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance, the ... 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 »
LONDON/ROME (Reuters) – Activist hedge fund TCI Fund Management said it has complained to the European Commission over “illegitimate expropriation” by the Italian government of Atlantia’s motorways unit Autostrade per l’Italia. TCI, an investor in Atlantia, sa... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The British government has asked Japan to help build its 5G wireless networks without Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL], the Nikkei said on Sunday, a further step in a global technology and security war between the United States and China. Britain... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia is scrutinising the popular Chinese-owned social media TikTok platform for any risks it may pose to users from around potential foreign interference and data privacy issues, government sources told Reuters. Owned by Bytedance, TikT... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Global wealth managers are examining whether their clients in Hong Kong have ties to the city’s pro-democracy movement, in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the crosshairs of China’s new national security law, according to six people ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Signs emerged that leaders of northern European Union countries were willing to compromise on a 1.8 trillion euro ($2 trillion) coronavirus stimulus plan on Monday as talks in Brussels extended to a fourth day. Divided and slow to respond ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – EU leaders reported some progress on Monday after three days of haggling over a coronavirus stimulus plan, sending the euro to a four-month high and Italy’s borrowing costs to lows not seen since March. An attempt to reach a compromise faile... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Investigators have begun work on the flight recorders from the Ukrainian jet accidentally shot down by Iran in January, France’s BEA accident investigation bureau said on Monday. Iranian forces say they downed the Ukraine International Airlin... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain does not reject the setting of conditions on the disbursement of European Union funds to help countries recover from the coronavirus pandemic, nor strong governance to oversee their distribution, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya ... 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 »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday. The king, who has ruled the world’s larg... 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 »
PARIS (Reuters) – While the cinema drive-in may have gotten a boost as lockdowns gradually come to an end amid the COVID-19 outbreak, in Paris film fans can now munch on their popcorn watching a movie from a boat on the river Seine. As part of Paris Plages, th... More »
DETROIT (Reuters) – Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said on Friday he is now getting intelligence briefings, and has been told Russia continues to try to meddle in November’s U.S. election. China also was conducting activities “designed f... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates has rescheduled the launch of its mission to Mars to a preliminary window between July 20 and July 22, depending on weather conditions at the launch site in Japan, the government’s communications office said on Thursd... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates has postponed the launch of its mission to Mars for a second time due to weather conditions at the launch site in Japan, the government’s communications office said on Wednesday. A new launch date in July will be anno... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said Tuesday he still expected support from Russia’s space corporation in its Artemis moon program despite Moscow’s space chief slamming the U.S.-led lunar effort. Bridenstine said in an interview with ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government will ban Huawei from Britain’s 5G network by ordering telecoms companies to remove its equipment by 2027, Media Secretary Oliver Dowden said on Tuesday. Operators will not be able to purchase 5G comp... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s environment ministry warned on Tuesday that the electricity industry, which accounts for 40% of its carbon emissions, will miss its target for cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) by 2030, calling for it to take further measures. The warning ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to ban Huawei from Britain’s 5G network in a landmark decision that will anger Beijing but win plaudits from President Donald Trump as the United States grapples with China’s rising economic and technologi... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s government on Monday started restricting Chinese airlines to one passenger flight to France per week, saying it was acting in response to restrictions imposed by Beijing on French carriers flying to China. “From July 13, Chinese comp... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia charged former military journalist Ivan Safronov with state treason on Monday, his lawyer said, accusations that have sent a chill through Russia’s media community which has protested over what it says is his unfair treatment. Securit... More »
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia has asked four countries to delay debt repayments, it said on Monday as it announced more pessimistic economic and budget forecasts for 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. It is negotiating with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, France and I... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates wants to see a return of Libya’s oil production as soon as possible but with safeguards in place to prevent proceeds from fuelling further conflict in the north African country, a senior Emirati official tweeted on Mo... More »
(Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies has requested a meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to work out a deal to delay its potential removal from the country’s 5G phone network, the Sunday Times newspaper reported on Sunday. The Chinese telecoms equi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned executive order on immigration will not include amnesty for migrants who are in the United States illegally but arrived in the country as children, a White House spokesman said on Friday. “This does ... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A Turkish court on Friday annulled a 1934 government decree that had turned Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a museum, opening the way for the sixth-century building to be converted back into a mosque. President Tayyip Erdogan, whose ruling AK... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France will back Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calvino for the presidency of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday, a stance echoed by France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Dri... More »
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan would welcome a visit by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, its foreign ministry said on Monday, a trip that would infuriate Beijing which views him as a dangerous separatist. The Dalai Lama has not visited the Chinese-cl... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s decision to allow China’s Huawei to play a limited role in building its 5G network is not “fixed in stone” and is being reviewed following the imposition of U.S. sanctions, culture minister Oliver Dowden said on Monday. Britain gra... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain hopes to permit outdoor and socially distanced performances at cultural venues, minister Oliver Dowden said on Monday, after announcing a nearly $2 billion investment in the arts. “I want all our cultural institutions to return to no... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The head of the French cybersecurity agency ANSSI said there would not be a total ban on using equipment from Huawei in the rollout of the French 5G telecoms network, but that it was pushing French telcos to avoid switching to the Chinese com... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Social media app TikTok distanced itself from Beijing after India banned 59 Chinese apps in the country, according to a correspondence seen by Reuters. In a letter to the Indian government dated June 28th and seen by Reuters on Friday, Ti... 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 »
BRUSSELS/TOKYO (Reuters) – The European Union expressed anger while Britain and Japan voiced concern on Tuesday after China passed a national security law for Hong Kong that threatens to usher in the starkest changes for the former British colony since its ret... 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 »
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 »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was never briefed about the reported Russian efforts to pay bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan, blasting a New York Times report on the bounties. “Nobody brief... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Both Democrats and President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress demanded more information from the White House on Monday after reports that Russian military intelligence offered militants bounties for killing U.S. troops in Af... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States began eliminating Hong Kong’s special status under U.S. law on Monday, halting defense exports and restricting the territory’s access to high technology products as China prepares new Hong Kong security legislation. The... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The European Union will plough more money into rocket launches, satellite communication and space exploration to preserve its often unsung successes in space and keep up with US and Chinese ambitions, its space chief said on Sunday. Over the ... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – A French artist has painted a large biodegradable fresco on the lawn of the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva, marking Friday’s 75th anniversary of its founding. Saype, who was born Guillaume Legros, created the “World In Progr... More »
BRUSSELS/MADRID (Reuters) – Finance ministers of Spain, Ireland and Luxembourg are in the running to chair meetings of the powerful Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, with euro zone officials saying it is likely to be a close race between the Spanish an... More »
JORDAN VALLEY, West Bank (Reuters) – Amid the barren hills of the Jordan Valley, Palestinian artist Khadeeja Bisharat paints scenes of bulldozers and demolitions, a reflection of fears of what may happen to her isolated Bedouin community if Israel annexes land... More »
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday he expects the country’s economy to recover quickly from the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “We have a chance for a V-shaped recovery,” Morawiecki told a conference. Poles... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron will travel to the Netherlands on Tuesday to try to break Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s resistance to the European Union’s 750 billion euro aid package that the French president wants to see approved at an EU summit in Jul... 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 »
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Chinese air force jets, including at least one bomber, briefly entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone on Monday, before being warned off by its air force, the island’s military said, the eighth such encounter in two weeks. The enco... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Monday it reserves the right to respond to a Japanese city’s decision to rename the administrative area that includes remote islands claimed by both China and Japan and have long been a source of friction between the neighbour... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Accounts by former U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton of discussions between leaders of the United States and the two Koreas in his upcoming book are inaccurate and distorted, South Korea said on Monday. Bolton gives details in the bo... More »
