(This August 31 story is refiled to add dropped word founding to Ertl’s title in paragraph 13) By Allison Martell and Julie Steenhuysen TORONTO/CHICAGO (Reuters) – High-profile COVID-19 vaccines developed in Russia and China share a potential shortcoming: They... More »
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 »
(Reuters) – A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck near the coast of Northern Chile on Tuesday, the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said, with local news media reporting some damage and minor landslides in areas near the epicenter. Chile’s interior minis... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean prosecutors indicted Samsung Group’s Jay Y. Lee on Tuesday on suspicion of accounting fraud and stock price manipulation in connection with a 2015 merger, dealing a new blow to the head of one of Asia’s most valuable companies. L... 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 »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Heavily indebted Indian telecoms firm Vodafone Idea (VODA.NS) won some reprieve on Tuesday as the country’s top court gave mobile carriers 10 years to settle government dues, but the company’s longer-term problems are not over. Vodafone I... More »
SINGAPORE/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Low yields at home are sending some previously shy European investors into Asia’s credit markets, money managers say, lured by the promise of higher returns and a hope that rebounding economies can hold defaults at bay. Unlike i... 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 »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday he was moderately optimistic about the country’s economic recovery from its worst downturn on record caused by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Sanchez reiterated that gross domesti... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – As major oil companies prepare to spend billions on renewable energy assets to stay relevant in a low-carbon future, the industry’s patchy track record on takeovers is a red flag for some investors. Ten years ago, the world’s top energy comp... 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 »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese ruling party heavyweight Fumio Kishida, who has declared his candidacy for the party leadership, said on Tuesday he can show strength in the economic and foreign policy fields and he wants to be a leader who listens to the people. Ki... More »
(Reuters) – A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck near the coast of Northern Chile on Tuesday, the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences said, and some damage and minor landslides were reported in areas near the epicenter, according to local media. A number o... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s top court on Tuesday gave telecom firms 10 years to pay back dues they owe to the federal government after they failed to make the payment by the January deadline. Telecom providers in India pay the Department of Telecommunication... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) on Tuesday said it would stop Australians sharing news content on its platforms if a proposal to make it pay local media outlets for their content becomes law, escalating tension with the Australian government. Under Aust... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Whoever succeeds Shinzo Abe as Japan’s prime minister will be confronted with growing signs that the job market is deteriorating in an economy laid low by the coronavirus pandemic. Top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga is emerging as a fron... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean prosecutors indicted Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee on charges of manipulating stock prices and breach of trust in order to cement control of the group, a prosecution official said on Tuesday. Considering the gravity of manipula... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s second-most populous state Victoria, the epicentre for COVID-19 infections in the country, on Tuesday reported its lowest rise in virus-related deaths in two weeks as a second-wave outbreak eases. Victoria said five people died f... 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 »
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 »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s health ministry on Monday reported 3,719 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections and 256 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 599,560 cases and 64,414 deaths. The government has said the real number... 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) – AstraZeneca Plc said on Monday it has begun enrolling adults for a U.S.-funded, 30,000-subject late-stage study of its high profile COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Trial participants will receive either two doses of the experimental vaccine, dubbed AZD... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Monday urged a federal appeals court not to let Manhattan’s top prosecutor have his tax returns, saying “the deck was clearly stacked against” him, and said he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if necessary... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain has registered more than 23,000 new COVID-19 cases since Friday, health emergency chief Fernando Simon told a news conference on Monday, suggesting the infection rate had declined slightly from an Aug. 21 peak. Health ministry data sho... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Countries with significant active spread of coronavirus must prevent amplifying events, as opening up without the virus being under control would be a “recipe for disaster”, the World Health Organization said on Monday. WHO director-general ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – California fire officials on Sunday reported significant headway battling the two largest of dozens of lightning-sparked blazes raging in and around the greater San Francisco Bay area since mid-August, though 60,000 people remained unde... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The option of a one-time payment holiday during times of intense crisis might enable countries to pandemic-proof their bonds, a prominent debt fund believes. Economic fallout from COVID-19 has triggered a record number of sovereign defaults ... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The gunman who killed 51 Muslim worshippers in New Zealand’s worst mass shooting faces a life prison term, possibly without parole, with multi-day sentencing hearings taking place this week. Brenton Tarrant, an Australian, has pleaded gu... 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 »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese artist Hiroko Takahashi fought through sexism and suspicion from traditional kimono artisans to establish a globally known brand that sold hundreds of her original garments every month – until the coronavirus devastation hit. Takahas... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – U.S streaming giant Netflix is ramping up its mobile-only subscription plans in Southeast Asia and expanding local content, senior executives told Reuters, just as arch-rival Disney arrives in the fast-growing market. The world’s biggest ... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s prime minister postponed the country’s general election on Monday by a month to Oct. 17 as the city of Auckland remains in lockdown due to a growing coronavirus outbreak. Jacinda Ardern bowed to pressure to delay the polls ... 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 »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan was hit by its biggest economic slump on record in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic emptied shopping malls and crushed demand for cars and other exports, bolstering the case for bolder policy action to prevent a deeper rec... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian politicians are trading barbs over a media report that Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) content policies favoured Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, putting the social network at the centre of a political storm in its biggest market by use... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon should be locked down for two weeks after a spike in COVID-19 infections, the caretaker government’s health minister was quoted as saying on Monday. “We declare today a state of general alert and we need a brave decision to close (th... More »
DUTTA NAGAR, India (Reuters) – Until late March, Ashish Kumar was helping to make plastic boxes for Ferrero Rocher praline chocolates and the plastic spoons tucked inside Kinder Joy eggs to scoop out the milky sweet cream inside. With a diploma in plastic moul... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd on Monday booked a 43% drop in half-year profit and trimmed its full-year sales goal, sending its shares down 4%, as the coronavirus outbreak continues to trouble the world’s biggest auto market. The results c... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s northern state of Penang has barred entry by overseas visitors seeking medical treatment until it finalises new health and safety procedures in light of the coronavirus crisis, the chief minister said on Monday. Authorities ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian shares crept back toward recent peaks on Monday as Chinese markets swung higher, while investors waited to see if the recent sell-off in longer-dated U.S. Treasuries would extend and maybe take some pressure off the beleaguered dollar.... More »
1/WALL STREET WATCHES WASHINGTON U.S. lawmakers negotiating a fresh dose of stimulus have reached an impasse. Trillions of dollars injected by the Federal Reserve and huge government spending increases have stemmed coronavirus-linked economic damage, fuelling ... More »
(Reuters) – Oil refiners are permanently closing processing plants in Asia and North America and facilities in Europe could be next as uncertain prospects for a recovery in fuel demand after the coronavirus pandemic triggered losses. The pandemic initially cut... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s economy saw its biggest annual contraction in 22 years and a record quarterly fall in the April-June period, as the coronavirus pandemic and restriction measures hit tourism, exports and domestic activity, prompting an outlook do... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The leader of Australia’s New South Wales state apologised on Monday for failing to stop people carrying the novel coronavirus from disembarking from a cruise ship in Sydney in March, triggering what was at the time Australia’s worst outbrea... 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 »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson said on Monday that the new wage subsidy scheme is forecast to cost about NZ$510 million ($333.80 million) and cover 470,000 jobs. The scheme was announced last week after New Zealand locked... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he is considering a pardon for Edward Snowden, the former U.S. National Security Agency contractor – now living in Russia – whose spectacular leaks shook the U.S. intelligence community in 201... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has held presidential nominating conventions for almost 200 years, and they have served in recent decades as an important televised introduction to each party’s candidate in the final months before the election. Here is... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that she is recalling the chamber later this week to vote on legislation to protect the Postal Service. A senior Democratic aide said the likely plan is for the House to return on Saturday. ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may recall lawmakers from a summer recess to address changes at the Postal Service that have prompted anger among Democrats and alarm about possible impact on the 2020 election. A Democratic congressional ... 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 »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – United Parcel Service and FedEx on Friday shot down social media calls that they step in to deliver mail-in ballots from the U.S. Postal Service, which is warning states of potentially “significant” delays. “State ballots must be postma... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks fell on Friday as data out of China, the euro zone and the United States put a lid on expectations for a sustained global rebound, with traders already worried about a delay in U.S. fiscal stimulus. A review of the U.S.-China trade ... 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) – Curtains flutter through broken windows, piles of debris block the streets and top-floor apartments with their roofs blown off are exposed to the sky. As the residents of Beirut try to pick up their lives after an explosion that shook the co... 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 »
OSLO (Reuters) – Equinor (EQNR.OL) on Monday announced the appointment of Anders Opedal as chief executive effective from Nov. 2 as the Norwegian oil and gas group looks to speed up a move into renewable energy. The new CEO, who had been executive vice preside... 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 »
BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) – President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Saturday partly restoring enhanced unemployment payments to the tens of millions of Americans who lost jobs in the coronavirus pandemic, as the United States marked a grim milestone... More »
(Reuters) – After failing to reach a deal with the U.S. Congress for a fresh round of coronavirus pandemic relief, President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at pumping up America’s pandemic-hit economy. The orders are likely to face some... 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 »
LONDON (Reuters) – European shares rose on Monday as industrial activity in China gained strength, another sign of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic that added to hopes the global economy would also return to health. The broader Euro STOXX 600 rose 0.6%, ... 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 »
LONDON (Reuters) – BP (BP.L) will need to invest tens of billions of dollars over the next decade and may have to accept lower returns than it can get from oil if it is to meet its target of becoming one of the world’s largest renewable power generators. The B... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia recorded its biggest one-day rise in COVID-19 deaths on Monday although a slowdown in new cases gave hope that a second wave of new infections in the state of Victoria may have peaked. Nineteen people had died from the virus, all i... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – State oil giant Saudi Aramco’s profit plunged 73% in the second quarter of the year, as a slump in energy demand and prices due to the coronavirus crisis hit sales at the world’s biggest oil exporter. But the company stuck with plans to pay $... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s factory deflation eased in July, driven by a rise in global oil prices and as industrial activity climbed back towards pre-coronavirus levels, adding to signs of recovery in the world’s second-largest economy. The producer price ind... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s health ministry reported on Sunday 4,376 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 292 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 480,278 cases and 52,298 deaths. Officials have said the real number of infected ... More »
(Reuters) – The UK’s official COVID-19 daily death count could be scrapped following an investigation into Public Health England’s method of counting the toll, The Telegraph newspaper reported. The conclusions of the investigation, which was ordered by Health ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Chinese government-linked hackers have been targeting U.S. election infrastructure ahead of the 2020 presidential election, White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said on Sunday, indicating a more active level of alleged Ch... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s plan to regulate “non-personal” data has jolted U.S. tech giants Amazon, Facebook and Google, and a group representing them is preparing to push back against the proposals, according to sources and a letter seen by Reuters. A gove... 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 »
WASHINGTON/BEDMINSTER, N.J. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to unilaterally suspend payroll taxes and extend expired coronavirus unemployment benefits after negotiations with congressional Democrats on a broad pandemic aid package collapsed on Fr... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – As countries scramble to test for the novel coronavirus, a Chinese company has become a go-to name around the world. BGI Group, described in one 2015 study as “Goliath” in the fast-growing field of genomics research, is using an opening crea... 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 »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Late in March, Laura Gross, 72, was recovering from gall bladder surgery in her Fort Lee, New Jersey, home when she became sick again. Her throat, head and eyes hurt, her muscles and joints ached and she felt like she was in a fog. Her dia... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican schools will not reopen when the academic year begins on August 24 in order to safeguard the health of students and teachers because cases of coronavirus are still too high, education minister Esteban Moctezuma said on Monday. T... 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 »
LONDON (Reuters) – World stocks and the dollar rallied after a cautious European morning as thin summer trading led to sharp swings in the market, and worries about U.S. gridlock over the next round of coronavirus aid eased. In Europe, stocks were up 1.2% as t... 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 »
LONDON (Reuters) – Irish peacemaker John Hume was a “political giant” who did so much to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. Hume, a key Roman Catholic architect of Northern Ireland’s 1998... 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 »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc wants to hire another 10,000 employees in coming months as its sales rebound, an official said, one of several big restaurant chains looking to add staff in an economy otherwise dimmed by the coronavirus pandemic... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong reported 80 new coronavirus cases on Monday, dropping below 100 infections for the first time in 12 days, as a team of Chinese officials began preparations for widespread testing in the global financial hub, which has seen a res... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The survival of J.C. Penney Co Inc hangs on whether the department store chain can reach a complex deal within days to sell itself to an alliance of retail mavens and distressed-debt investors. The 118-year-old retailer blew through a Frid... More »
(Reuters) – As the world awaits a COVID-19 vaccine, the next big advance in battling the pandemic could come from a class of biotech therapies widely used against cancer and other disorders – antibodies designed specifically to attack this new virus. Developme... More »
FRANKFURT/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – – While millions of U.S. workers thrown into unemployment by the coronavirus pandemic fret about feeding their families, idled German airline purser Marco Todte is mainly concerned about his next vacation. Todte, 41, hasn’t fl... More »
LONDON/TOKYO (Reuters) – Euro zone manufacturing activity expanded modestly last month, its first growth since early 2019, and Asia’s pain eased as the contraction slowed in export-reliant nations, adding to hopes the sector is emerging from the hit of the cor... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s monetary policy will be more flexible and targeted in the second half of the year, the central bank said on Monday. China will actively and steadily push forward yuan internationalisation and capital account convertibility, the Peop... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian oil and gas condensate output increased to 9.8 million barrels per day (bpd) on Aug. 1-2 from 9.37 million bpd in July as the country eases production curbs under an OPEC+ deal, a source familiar with data said on Monday. The Energy ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Democrats in Congress are not close to a deal with the White House to pump more money into the U.S. economy to ease the coronavirus’ heavy toll, both sides said on Saturday, after an essential lifeline for millions of unemployed ... More »
