SYDNEY/TOKYO/PARIS/NEW YORK Stocks in major markets are set for a short-term sell-off on Monday after suspected Islamist militants launched coordinated attacks across Paris that killed more than 130 people, but few strategists expect a prolonged economic impac... More »
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. From Seattle to New York, the National Football League stepped up security inside and outside of stadiums on Sunday as America’s most popular sports league responded to a series of coordinated attacks across Paris that left at least 129 d... More »
AMES, Iowa A top aide to U.S. Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that criticism of her remarks in Saturday’s debate regarding 9/11 and Wall Street campaign contributions would not resonate with average voters. “They were attacking... More »
WASHINGTON The deadly attacks in Paris pushed terrorism and the Syrian refugee crisis to the center of the U.S presidential campaign on Sunday, as Republicans hammered Obama administration plans to take in more refugees as well as Democratic front-runner Hilla... More »
DES MOINES, Iowa U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton played defense over her 2003 vote backing the U.S. invasion of Iraq and inched away from President Barack Obama on Syria and the rise of Islamic State militants during a contentious deb... More »
All the musicians performing with the California-based rock band Eagles of Death Metal emerged unharmed from the lethal terror attack inside a Paris concert hall, but a member of their entourage was killed in the violence, relatives said on Saturday. The band’... More »
SHANGHAI Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, enjoys strong support in the United States, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told Chinese officials during a visit this week to the Himalayan region, while expressing concern about human rights there. Pel... More »
WASHINGTON/DES MOINES, Iowa The lethal attacks in Paris have the potential to reshape the U.S. presidential race, placing a new emphasis on issues of national security, border control, and counterterrorism, while perhaps bolstering candidates who talk toughest... More »
WASHINGTON The United States needs to increase its efforts in Syria and Iraq “directly” and expand its support to other nations where Islamic State militants operate, U.S. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said in a statement on Saturday responding to the Pa... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama still plans to attend a global climate summit in Paris at the end of November despite the attacks claimed by Islamic State, a senior U.S. administration official said on Saturday. The Paris summit is focused on curbing climate... More »
WASHINGTON The Obama administration should reconsider plans to bring thousands of Syrian refugees into the Unites States after at least 127 people died in Paris in gun and bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State, two Republican candidates said on Saturday. “Pres... More »
LOS ANGELES The California-based rock band Eagles of Death Metal was in the midst of a European tour, promoting its fourth album release, when the musicians found themselves caught up in a terror attack at the Paris concert hall where they had begun to perform... More »
MOSCOWRussia and Iran have signed a contract for Moscow to supply Tehran with S-300 surface-to-air missile systems, Sergei Chemezov, the chief executive of Russian state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec, was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying on Monday. ... More »
LONDONBritain’s security agencies will receive a significant boost to staff numbers as part of a multi-pronged effort to stave off threats from terrorist plotters, finance minister George Osborne said on Monday. “I can confirm that over the next five years we ... More »
BANGKOKA Thai fortune teller arrested as part of a high-profile royal insult investigation has died, the government said on Monday, the second suspect in as many weeks to die in police custody. Suriyan Sucharitpolwong, a well-known soothsayer and former aide t... More »
CAIRO Iraq’s parliament voted on Monday to bar the government from passing key reforms without its approval in an effort to restrict Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, parliamentarians said. The chamber took the step after Abadi unilaterally passed reforms in Aug... More »
SEOUL The U.S. and South Korean defense chiefs urged North Korea on Monday to immediately cease all activities related to its nuclear program and said they will have no tolerance for any military provocation by Pyongyang. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and ... More »
SEOUL South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed on Monday to try to resolve as soon as possible a row over “comfort women” forced into prostitution in Japanese wartime military brothels, a feud that has been a major obs... More »
SEOUL Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told South Korea’s president on Monday he wanted cooperation between the two countries and the United States in maintaining an open and peaceful South China Sea, a Japanese government spokesman said. Abe has in the past... More »
ASTANA U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit London this week to discuss the situation in Syria and other matters, his spokesman said on Monday. “While in London, he will meet with British Foreign Secretary Hammond to discuss a range of bilateral and g... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidates accused President Barack Obama on Sunday of showing weakness in U.S. policy in Syria, doubting that his small deployment of special operations troops will make much difference without a coherent broader strategy. “... More »
(This October 28 story has been corrected in 13th paragraph to fix 100 mph metric conversion to 160 kph from 60kph) By Joe McDonald and Phil Stewart EXCHANGE, Pa./WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A high-tech U.S. military blimp designed to detect a missile attack came l... More »
ISTANBUL Disparate ideas like a sea-borne zoo, an Aboriginal peace treaty and the lost birdsong of a ruined Armenian capital form a cohesive body of work at this year’s Istanbul Biennial, a top international art show taking place in turbulent times. “Saltwater... More »
LONDON The Western-backed Free Syrian Army said on Monday it had not refused an offer of military support from Russia and that Moscow needs to stop targeting its bases in Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview broadcast on Saturday ... More »
LONDON British broadband provider TalkTalk said on Sunday it had hired defense company BAE Systems to investigate a cyber attack that may have led to the theft of personal data from its more than 4 million customers. TalkTalk said on Friday it had received a r... More »
LONDON British broadband provider TalkTalk said on Saturday it did not believe the authors of a cyber attack against it this week would be able to steal money from its customers. The firm said on Friday it had received a ransom demand from an unidentified part... More »
Hackers associated with the Chinese government have tried to penetrate at least seven U.S. companies in the three weeks since Washington and Beijing agreed not to spy on each other for commercial reasons, according to a prominent U.S. security firm. CrowdStrik... More »
BERKASOVO, Serbia Thousands of migrants clamored to enter European Union member Croatia from Serbia on Monday after a night spent in the cold and mud of no-man’s land, their passage west slowed by a Slovenian effort to impose limits on the flow to western Euro... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush transitioned from defense to offense on Sunday after criticism from rival Donald Trump that his brother, former President George W. Bush, carried some blame for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Trump, the flamb... More »
WASHINGTON When President Barack Obama announced this week that the United States would leave more troops than planned in Afghanistan, his vice president, Joe Biden, stood right at his side. And for Biden, still mulling a presidential bid, that could pose a pr... More »
WASHINGTON Turmoil swirled again around the Republican-controlled Benghazi committee on Friday as it questioned a senior aide to Hillary Clinton, prompting fresh accusations that the panel was created to damage the Democratic front-runner’s presidential campai... More »
KARACHI The lean days appear to be over for Mor Sahib, an 87-year-old crocodile venerated by Pakistan’s tiny Sheedi community, as pilgrims once again flock to a shrine in Karachi that has been shunned for years amid fears of Taliban attacks. The aging reptile,... More »
MOSCOW Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet the United Nations’ special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Tuesday, RIA news agency quoted the ministry’s press department as saying. RIA said the information came in response to a question on wh... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama said Donald Trump was “the classic reality TV character” who had tapped into something real in the Republican Party but was unlikely to end up as president. “He is a great publicity-seeker – and at a time when the Republican P... More »
WASHINGTON A former investigator for the Republican-led U.S. House committee on Benghazi – who accused it of targeting Hillary Clinton – never expressed unhappiness about Clinton’s treatment in discussions leading up to his firing, the panel’s head said on Sun... More »
MINSK The Belarussian recipient of the Nobel prize for literature charged Russia on Thursday with carrying out an “invasion” of Ukraine by backing separatists in its eastern regions. Author Svetlana Alexievich, who was awarded the prize for her portrayal of li... More »
KABUL Police and residents said Afghan government forces had regained control of most of the besieged city of Kunduz on Monday, and some shops in the center of the provincial capital opened for the first time since it fell to Taliban fighters a week ago.Reside... More »
BANGKOK Thailand’s military government, which took power in May last year, appointed a committee to draft the country’s 20th constitution on Monday after a previous draft was rejected, delaying promised elections until at least 2017. The junta-appointed legisl... More »
UNITED NATIONS Russia appeared to seize the initiative in international efforts to end the conflict in Syria on Sunday as Washington scrambled to devise a new strategy for the war-ravaged country and France sent warplanes to bomb Islamic State targets. As lead... More »
BEIJING/WASHINGTON On Friday morning, Chinese President Xi Jinping enjoyed the symbolic high point of his first state visit to the United States – a 21-gun salute as he stood with President Barack Obama outside the White House. For most Americans, it was a sid... More »
MALE The president of the Maldives was unhurt but his wife and two aides were injured in an explosion on board their launch as it approached Male, capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago, a senior aide told Reuters. The cause of Monday’s blast, witnessed by jo... More »
ANKARA Turkey remains opposed to any political transition in Syria involving President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying on Monday in an apparent clarification of its policy. Turkey has been Assad’s most outspoken cri... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Sunday the politically damaging “drip, drip, drip” of revelations about her use of a private email server is out of her control and she is unsure when the controversy might end. Clinton, who ... More »
WASHINGTON Former U.S. President Bill Clinton likened the controversy over his wife Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email account while secretary of state to the same Republican and media tactics to stir controversy during his presidency, according to an i... More »
BERLIN The head of the European Parliament said on Monday that he expects European Union interior ministers to agree on a voluntary scheme to relocate 160,000 migrants at their meeting on Tuesday. “There will be some discussions, but at the end there will be a... More »
AMMAN/BEIRUT Rebels who have inflicted big losses on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad say Russia’s intervention in support of its ally will only lead to an escalation of the war and may encourage the rebels’ Gulf Arab backers to pour in more military aid. Russ... More »
TOKYO Public support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fell after the passage of controversial national security bills, which could let troops fight overseas for the first time since the end of World War Two, polls published on Monday showed. Support for ... More »
HAVANA Pope Francis met Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Sunday, hours after warning Cubans to beware the dangers of ideology and the lure of selfishness as their country enters a new era of closer ties with the United States. Latin America’s first ... More »
BERLIN The United States will increase the number of refugees it takes in by 15,000 over each of the next two years, bringing the total to 100,000 by 2017, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said after talks with his German counterpart on Sunday. The remarks m... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Eric Fanning to become the next secretary of the Army, the White House said on Friday, paving the way for the first openly gay leader of a military service branch in U.S. history. Fanning is currently serving as... More »
BELFAST When IRA-linked gunmen turned their fire on one other this summer they triggered a political crisis in Northern Ireland’s fragile government of pro-British unionists and republicans working for a united Ireland. They also revealed an uncomfortable trut... More »
WASHINGTON Senior U.S. and Chinese officials concluded four days of meetings on Saturday on cyber security and other issues, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month, the White House said. Cyber security has been a divisive ... More »
WASHINGTON A senior Pentagon official on Friday expressed concerns about Aerojet Rocketdyne Holding Inc’s reported $2 billion bid for United Launch Alliance (ULA), a 50-50 rocket launch venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, and said the deal would req... More »
ISTANBUL Turkey’s military said on Monday its warplanes bombarded Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets overnight after the militants staged a deadly attack in which, one security source told Reuters, 16 Turkish soldiers were killed. The PKK said it had killed... More »
BEIRUT The overpowering stench of the rubbish piling up in Lebanon’s streets has become a potent symbol of the political rot protesters blame not only for the garbage crisis but a gridlocked sectarian power system unable to meet citizens’ most basic needs, fro... More »
BEIRUT/MOSCOW While the desperate flight of Syrians from their country’s war was dominating news bulletins this summer, yet another diplomatic push to end the four-year-old conflict was quietly running into the sand. That largely unnoticed failure has reinforc... More »
TOKYO Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looks set to win a rare second consecutive term but economists predict he won’t use that victory to push through bold reforms such as labor market changes that are considered vital for long-term growth. Instead, Abe, wh... More »
KABUL Plastic surgeon Abdul Ghafar Ghayur is practicing his own brand of welfare in Afghanistan, where access to healthcare is limited and many cannot afford private treatment. The money he makes from the hundreds of nose jobs and Botox injections he performs ... More »
WASHINGTON Saudi Arabia is satisfied with assurances from U.S. President Barack Obama about the Iran nuclear deal and believes the agreement will contribute to security and stability in the Middle East, a senior Saudi official said on Friday. Saudi King Salman... More »
BERLIN Returning from her summer break in mid-August, German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised some eyebrows by describing Europe’s refugee problem as a bigger challenge than the Greece crisis, which had overshadowed all else in the first half of 2015. No one in... More »
WASHINGTON The White House is considering applying sanctions against companies and individuals in China it believes have benefited from Chinese hacking of U.S. trade secrets, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. The newspaper, citing several unidentified Ob... More »
ISLAMABAD U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice warned Pakistani political and military leaders on Sunday that recent attacks in Afghanistan by militants based in Pakistan threaten regional security, an official said. Rice also delivered an invitation from... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, said on Sunday he would support the nuclear deal with Iran, moving President Barack Obama a step closer to having sufficient backing to ensure the deal stands. “I believe the agreement, titled the J... More »
SAN FRANCISCO Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] has hired two top vehicle security researchers, the company said on Friday, high-profile additions that come as the ride-hailing service ramps up its work on technology for self-driving cars. Charlie Miller, who ha... More »
BEIRUT Two people were killed in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon in renewed overnight clashes between the mainstream Palestinian faction Fatah and hardline Islamists, security sources said. The two sides exchanged heavy gunfire in Ain al-Hilweh refugee c... More »
ANKARA The leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP opposition said on Tuesday his party was ready to take part in an interim power-sharing government but that he would not be surprised if the prime minister tried to form a cabinet without the HDP. President Tayyip ... More »
SEOUL North and South Korea agreed early on Tuesday to end a military standoff that sparked an exchange of artillery fire and had ratcheted up tension on one of the world’s most heavily-fortified borders. Under an accord reached in the early hours, following m... More »
GUATEMALA CITY Guatemalan Finance Minister Dorval Carias resigned on Monday amid a deepening corruption scandal that has also featured calls for the impeachment of President Otto Perez. A statement released by Carias’ office did not give a reason for his decis... More »
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Monday said his use of the term “anchor babies” to describe U.S.-born children of non-citizen parents was taken out of context and not derogatory, saying he was referring solely to activity he views as fraudul... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Tuesday attacked Democrat Hillary Clinton for her handling of Iraq as secretary of state, saying she must share the blame for the rise of Islamic State militants, in a prelude to a potential general elec... More »
BERLIN British artist and anti-surveillance activist James Bridle is illuminating Germany with artwork exploring the darkest state secrets, cover-ups and information blackouts. Bridle’s “The Glomar Response”, showing this month at the newly opened Nome gallery... More »
BEIRUT Rebels fired dozens of rockets at central Damascus on Wednesday, a monitor and state media said, ahead of an expected visit to the Syrian capital by Iran’s foreign minister. The bombardment killed at least one person and injured more than 20 others, the... More »
BEIRUT A Syrian military source said on Tuesday the army had retreated to new defensive lines in a region of vital strategic importance to President Bashar al-Assad, seeking to avoid losses at the hands of advancing rebels. The insurgent advance into the Sahl ... More »
TOKYO Seventy years after Japan’s defeat in World War Two, the conflict’s legacy haunts East Asia and reconciliation remains elusive. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may hope to lay the ghosts to rest with a statement on Friday marking the 70th anniversary of the wa... More »
NEW YORK Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is giving the U.S. Justice Department her private email server and a thumb drive of work-related emails from her tenure as secretary of state, a spokesman for her campaign said on Tuesday. Clinton’s us... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has instructed her attorney to give the U.S. Justice Department her private email server and a thumb drive of work-related emails from her tenure as secretary of state, CNN reported on Tuesday, quoti... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Tuesday will launch an attack on Democrat Hillary Clinton’s handling of Iraq when she was secretary of state, saying she must bear some of the blame for the rise of Islamic State militants. Bush is to de... More »
LAS VEGAS A team of security researchers has demonstrated the ability to hijack standard equipment inside computers, printers and millions of other devices in order to send information out of an office through sound waves. The attack program takes control of t... More »
(This August 2 story was corrected to change number of Palestinians held in detention without trial in paragraph 10 to 391 as of May not 5,442 as of June) By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s security cabinet approved on Sunday the detention of citiz... More »
DOHA U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry began talks with Gulf states in Qatar on Monday, seeking to convince them of the merits of last month’s nuclear deal with Iran and to discuss the battle against Islamic State militants and the war in Syria. Most Gulf Ara... More »
CAIRO The United States and Egypt are returning to a “stronger base” in bilateral ties despite tensions and human rights concerns, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday after talks with his Egyptian counterpart. “Egypt remains vital … to engagement... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. backers of the Iran nuclear deal are increasingly confident of enough Democratic support to ensure it survives review by Congress, despite fierce opposition by majority Republicans and a massive lobbying drive. By the time the House of Represen... More »
WASHINGTON The United States has decided to allow airstrikes to defend Syrian rebels trained by the U.S. military from any attackers, even if the enemies hail from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. officials said on Sunday. The decision by... More »
BEIRUT Young people from two warring districts in the Lebanese city of Tripoli are taking to the stage in a comedy inspired by their own lives, trying to turn their backs on old rivalries inflamed by Syria’s civil war. “Love and War on the Rooftops” played to ... More »
BUJUMBURA A policeman and an opposition official died in violence marring the start of Burundi’s presidential election, already hit by opposition boycotts and protests over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a third term. Blasts and gunfire echo... More »
ADEN, Yemen Yemeni fighters backed by Saudi-led air strikes battled to take back northern suburbs of Aden from Houthi opponents on Tuesday, residents said, a day after completing their capture of the center of the strategic port city. The country’s dominant Ho... More »
WASHINGTON Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, wrote to colleagues on Monday backing the nuclear agreement with Iran, as congressional Republicans railed against a U.N. vote on the deal. “As you may be aware, I believe tha... More »
HUSSEIN LOOKOUT, Israel As U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter walked along an Israeli lookout near the border with Lebanon, Israel’s Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon turned to him and said: “Probably Hezbollah is watching us.” Israel warned during Carter’s visit o... More »
VIENNA A senior Iranian negotiator voiced hope on Monday that a nuclear deal with six major powers would be completed but cautioned that there was work to be done and he could not promise the talks would finish by Tuesday night, Iranian media reported. “I cann... More »
WASHINGTON The top Senate Republican said on Sunday that Congress is likely to block any nominee that President Barack Obama names as ambassador to Cuba and retain broad economic sanctions, even as Obama moves to establish diplomatic and economic ties with the... More »
WASHINGTON The top Republican in the U.S. Senate cast doubt on Sunday on whether President Barack Obama would be able to win approval in Congress for any nuclear deal with Iran, and some Democrats also expressed reservations. “I think it’s going to be a very h... More »
WASHINGTON The chief of the U.S. federal hiring office resigned on Friday after massive computer hacks at the agency that put the personal data of more than 22 million Americans at risk, including people seeking sensitive security clearances. The White House s... More »
GUATEMALA CITY Guatemala’s forensic authority declared on Tuesday that ex-dictator Efrain Rios Montt is mentally unfit to be tried again on genocide charges, two years after a historic conviction of the former strongman was thrown out on a technicality. The Na... More »
CARACAS Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday that a recently created diplomatic back-channel with the United States is “working very well” at improving communication between the two countries following more than a decade of tensions. Maduro said ... More »
VIENNA A dispute over U.N. sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program and a broader arms embargo were among issues holding up a nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers on Monday, the day before their latest self-imposed deadline. “The Iranians want... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama pledged to increase U.S. support for the moderate opposition in Syria’s civil war on Monday and said the United States needed to do more at home to prevent attacks and combat Islamic State efforts to recruit followers. Obama, ... More »
WASHINGTON The White House criticized Republicans in the U.S. Senate on Monday for not approving appointments aimed at fighting the Islamic State. White House spokesman Josh Earnest called on the Senate to confirm Adam Szubin as Treasury undersecretary for ter... More »
TUNIS Tunisia expects to lose at least $515 million this year, or about a quarter of its estimated annual tourism earnings, following last Friday’s attack on a beach hotel that killed 39 people, mostly British holidaymakers. The attack by a gunman on the Imper... More »
DUBAI Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, departed Tehran for Vienna with nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi and Hossein Fereydoon, a brother and close aide to President Hassan Rouhani, for nuclear talks, state news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday. Zari... More »
