WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States sent Navy and Coast Guard ships through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, the U.S. military said, as part of an increase in the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China. The voyage r... More »
NOVOVOLYNSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukrainian police are investigating two companies and a factory over a coal deal which some anti-corruption campaigners say epitomizes the difficulties of doing business in the east European country. The sums involved in the dea... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will withdraw or deny visas to any International Criminal Court personnel investigating possible war crimes by U.S. forces or allies in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday. The court, which sits i... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sharply criticised U.S. military intervention in the Middle East on Monday as he began a first official visit to Iraq, aimed at shoring up Tehran’s influence and expanding trade ties. The visit also sends a ... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India will hold a general election in seven stages starting on April 11, the election commission said on Sunday, in what will be the world’s biggest democratic exercise with Prime Minister Narendra Modi likely to benefit from tensions wit... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, which serves Palestinians, will be absorbed into the new U.S. Embassy to Israel on Monday, the State Department said, a planned merger that has angered Palestinian leadership. The decision to create a sin... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, which serves Palestinians, will be absorbed into the new U.S. Embassy to Israel on Monday, the State Department said, a merger that has angered Palestinian leadership. The decision to create a single dipl... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Sunday the reason he wanted to curb military drills with South Korea was to save the United States hundreds of millions of dollars in costs, and suggested it could also reduce tensions with North Korea. “Th... More »
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) – A Russian tanker violated international trade sanctions by transferring fuel to a North Korean vessel at sea at least four times between October 2017 and May 2018, two crew members who witnessed the transfers said. Such transact... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. senators said on Monday a Trump administration briefing had not changed opinions on the need to push back at Saudi Arabia over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its conduct in the war in Yemen, and predicted a Senate vote... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Islamic State is far from defeated, and instead is morphing into an asymmetrical warfare force after the militant group lost almost all of the territory it once controlled in Syria, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday. Merkel’s re... More »
TRIPOLI. (Reuters) – Libyan authorities have arrested a suspected al Qaeda leader who fled from the eastern city of Derna, once a jihadist bastion, a source in the attorney general’s office said on Friday. Abdel Qader Azuz was arrested in the western city of M... More »
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – The Olympic spirit is back in Sarajevo after rival Bosnian ethnic elites set aside their differences to host the largest sport event in the country since the 1984 Winter Olympics and war of the 1990s. The Winter European Youth Olympic Fest... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle attended an awards ceremony on Thursday evening for the Endeavour Fund, which supports the physical and mental recovery of injured and sick servicemen and women. The fund was launched by the ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – From the battles of the Vietnam War to starving African villages and the destitute streets of London, photographer Don McCullin has documented violence, suffering and deprivation for more than half a century.His pictures brought home to the ... More »
MOSUL, Iraq(Reuters) – A raven perched on the shoulder of a woman with flaming hair is Iraqi artist Marwan Fathi’s symbol for the terrible events he and his home city Mosul have had to endure. Three years under the oppressive and violent rule of Islamic State ... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Philippines security forces investigating a deadly twin bombing at a church on a predominantly Muslim southern island are zeroing in on what they say is an affiliate of the militant Abu Sayyaf Group. Twenty people were killed and more than 1... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Roseanne Barr, the American comedian whose television show was canceled last year after she made a racist remark on Twitter, visited Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday as part of a tour of Israel. Barr arrived in Israel last week with celebri... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The pictures – three anemic watercolours showing a mountain scene, a river and a distant figure sat beneath a tree – are little different from wares on sale at flea markets the world over, except for the autograph scratched in the corner: “A... More »
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – In the National Museum of Damascus, archaeologist Muntajab Youssef works on an ancient stone bust from Palmyra, one of hundreds of artifacts his team is painstakingly restoring after they were damaged by Islamic State. Centuries-old statue... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan on Wednesday demanded talks with South Korea over a Korean court compensation award against a Japanese company for using forced laborers during World War Two, saying all such claims were settled decades ago. Ties between the Asian neigh... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump would almost certainly face a legal challenge if he makes good on his threat to get funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall by declaring a national emergency and circumventing Congress’s purse-strings power. Legal sc... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army said it entered Manbij on Friday for the first time in years, after the Kurdish YPG militia urged Damascus to protect the town from the threat of Turkish attacks. It was unclear whether the government forces had spread out in... More »
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Authorities in Sudan have arrested at least nine opposition leaders and activists, a group of civil society groups said on Friday, ahead of fresh anti-government protests expected after weekly Muslim prayers. The head of the media office a... More »
KINSHASA (Reuters) – Opposition candidate Martin Fayulu is the clear favorite to win Democratic Republic of Congo’s long-delayed election on Sunday, a poll showed on Friday, though the outcome remains uncertain after voting was canceled in several opposition s... More »
KABUL/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – As moves toward peace pick up in Afghanistan, the Taliban are trying to show they have changed since the brutal days of the 1990s when they banned music and girls’ education and carried out public executions in Kabul’s foot... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army entered Manbij on Friday for the first time in years, it said in a statement, after the Kurdish YPG militia urged the government of President Bashar al-Assad to protect the town from Turkish attacks. The army said it would gu... More »
AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq (Reuters) – President Donald Trump made a surprise Christmas visit to U.S. troops in Iraq on Wednesday, his first trip to a conflict zone nearly two years into his presidency and days after announcing a pullout of American troops from ne... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi political and militia leaders condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise visit to U.S. troops in Iraq on Wednesday as a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, and lawmakers said a meeting between Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Ab... More »
(Reuters Health) – Military personnel trained to change their own brain responses with a neurofeedback program may be able to reduce their risk of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers say. “If something can change in the brain to help soldi... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi that the U.S. is still committed to fighting Islamic State in Iraq and other areas despite its planned troop withdrawal from Syria, Abdul Mahdi’s office said on... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said that the U.S. military presence in Syria had been “a mistake, illogical and a source of tension”, in Tehran’s first reaction to President Donald Trump’s planned pull-out. Trump has begun what will be a total withdrawal of U.S. troop... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Nearly 300,000 Syrians have returned to their country after Turkey’s two cross-border operations in northern Syria, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was quoted as saying on Saturday. Turkey has carried out two operations, dubbed “Euphrates... More »
ADEN (Reuters) – The head of a United Nations advance team tasked with monitoring a ceasefire between the Iranian-aligned Houthi group and Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen’s Hodeidah has arrived in Yemen, U.N. and local officials said on Saturday. The s... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards launched war games in the Gulf on Saturday, state television reported, after a U.S. aircraft carrier entered the waterway amid rising tension with Washington over reimposed U.S. sanctions. Television showed a... More »
BELBEK, Crimea (Reuters) – More than a dozen SU-27 and SU-30 fighter jets which Russia is deploying to boost its air force, amid heightened tensions with Ukraine, arrived in Crimea on Saturday. A Reuters witness saw the jets land at Belbek air base in Crimea, ... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will quit in February after falling out with Donald Trump over the president’s foreign policies, including the surprise decision this week to pull troops out of Syria and plan a drawdown in Afghanistan. Mattis, a r... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – By plainly stating his policy differences in his resignation letter, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has sparked an incipient challenge to President Donald Trump’s foreign and security agenda that sets his departure apart from scores o... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – The United States has agreed to help South Korea send flu medication to North Korea, a South Korean official said on Friday, after the United States said it would help deliver aid to the North despite stalled nuclear talks. North Korean leade... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Iran has the ability to build ballistic missiles with a broader range, a senior commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Monday, according to the semi-official Fars News agency. Iran’s missiles currently cover a range of 2000 kilo... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has backed plans to request $750 billion from Congress for defense spending next year, a U.S. official said on Sunday, signaling a Pentagon spending hike at a time of potential belt-tightening elsewhere in the... More »
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – The last shadow puppeteer in Damascus lost most of his equipment to war and endured life as a refugee in Lebanon, but he now believes the old Syrian art form might survive after the United Nations said it needed to be saved. Traditional sh... More »
COLOMBO (Reuters) – A Sri Lankan court issued an order preventing Mahinda Rajapaksa and his disputed cabinet from holding office on Monday, heightening the island’s political drama and drawing an immediate vow to appeal from the prime minister. The South Asian... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday condemned what he described as Iran’s testing of a medium-range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads as a violation of the international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear pro... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is quietly pushing ahead with a bid to create a new security and political alliance with six Gulf Arab states, Egypt and Jordan, in part to counter Iran’s expansion in the region, according to U.S. and Arab offic... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Two Silicon Valley firms have stopped shipping some electronic components to Russian customers even though they are not on the list of firms subject to U.S. sanctions, according to sources who work in the sector and a document seen by Reuter... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel launched its newest air defense system on Monday on the Syrian frontier, where Damascus’s Russian-backed forces have been routing rebels, as Moscow sent envoys for what it called “urgent” talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin ... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Lebanese army killed a suspected drug dealer and seven others during a raid in northeast Lebanon on Monday, the army said. During the raid, which took place near the town of Brital, not far from the border with Syria, soldiers were fired... More »
WASHINGTON/ANKARA (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump told Iran it risked dire consequences “the like of which few throughout history have suffered before” if the Islamic Republic made more threats against the United States. His words, spelled out in capit... More »
ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Kurdish security forces killed gunmen who had stormed a government building in the Kurdish city of Erbil on Monday and took hostages in an attack suspected of being carried out by Islamic State, security officials said, Armed with pisto... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he ‘gave up nothing’ at last week’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin but continued to remain elusive about details of their controversial private conversation in Helsinki. “I gave u... More »
BEIRUT/DEBAGA CAMP, Iraq (Reuters) – U.S. photographer Brian McCarty wants you to see the horrors of war, but through the eyes of a child. There is no blood or mangled bodies. Instead there are pink dolls and blue tanks. A bird from a video game represents bom... More »
KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide bomber in Afghanistan killed at least 12 people, including several children, on Tuesday, in an attack in the eastern city of Jalalabad claimed by Islamic State militants. The attacker detonated his explosives near a petrol pump, kil... More »
RIGA (Reuters) – Canada will extend its military presence in Latvia by four years, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday during a visit to Riga a day before a NATO summit. The three small Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all NATO... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan appointed his son-in-law as Turkey’s finance minister on Monday hours after he was sworn in with sweeping new executive powers, promising a “strong government and a strong Turkey”. The lira TRYTOM=D3, which has lost ... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday pledged a package of $20 billion in loans, and about $106 million in financial aid, to Middle East nations, as part of what he called an “oil and gas plus” model to revive economic growth in the regio... More »
TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brushed off North Korean charges that he used “gangster-like” diplomacy in negotiations in Pyongyang, saying on Sunday after meeting his Japanese and South Korean counterparts that he would keep ... More »
AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) – South Syrian rebels said on Friday they had agreed to cease fire and start handing over heavy weapons in a deal mediated by Russia that will restore state sovereignty over areas they hold in Deraa province after a fierce government off... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian government forces seized control of the Nassib border crossing with Jordan on Friday, a military news service run by the Lebanese group Hezbollah said, after Russia concluded a surrender agreement with rebels in the area. Source: http... More »
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian rebels in Deraa province who are not willing to reconcile with the government will leave to insurgent-held areas of the north under a Russian-brokered agreement that will also restore Syrian state sovereignty over a border crossing wit... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey ordered the detention of 331 soldiers on Friday in two operations targeting alleged supporters of the U.S.-based Islamic cleric who Ankara says orchestrated an attempted coup two years ago, state media and Istanbul police said. The ... More »
JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) – An explosion hit the center of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday, killing at least 20 people, including several members of the small Sikh minority, provincial government officials said. The blast, hours after Pre... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors have sharply increased their use of hedging strategies, signaling concerns that the intensifying trade battle between the United States and China might hit economies from Germany to South Korea. Money managers say that mounting bar... More »
(Reuters Health) – National Guard soldiers may be plagued with sleep problems when they return home from the battlefield, according to a small study. For the new analysis, published online in Sleep Health, researchers first surveyed 928 veterans on National Gu... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – A formation of Chinese warships has been holding daily combat drills for more than a week in waters near Taiwan, China’s state media said on Tuesday, amid heightened tension between Beijing and the self-ruled island. The news comes as U.S. ... More »
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Britain, which has condemned Russia over the nerve agent poisoning of an ex-spy, is pushing to give more teeth to the global chemical weapons watchdog so that it can identify those responsible for attacks with banned toxic substances. The... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army has seized a chunk of territory from rebels in the southwest, Syrian state media and a war monitor said on Tuesday, the first major government advance in an offensive near the Jordanian border. Meanwhile two Israeli missiles ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he was ordering the creation of a sixth branch of the military to focus on space, a move critics said could harm the Air Force. “It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish forces are waiting for the right time to carry out an operation in northern Iraq’s Qandil region where high-ranking members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are located, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Monday.... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore has designated a central region of the wealthy city state as a “special event area” from June 10 to 14 for a planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the government said on Monday. ... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Former North Korea spy chief and senior official Kim Yong Chol is headed to the United States after stopping over in Beijing, presumably for talks with U.S. officials regarding a possible summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Pre... More »
WASHINGTON/BERLIN (Reuters) – The United States on Sunday said it hopes to use strong shared interests that have emerged with its European Union partners in recent months to move forward on addressing Iran’s nuclear program, missile development and role in reg... More »
TEHRAN (Reuters) – The European Union is not doing enough to preserve the benefits for Iran from the 2015 international nuclear pact following the withdrawal of the United States, Iran’s foreign minister told the EU’s energy chief on Sunday. Miguel Arias Canet... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army resumed its offensive against Islamic State militants in south Damascus on Monday after a short ceasefire to allow women, children and old people leave, state television said. The Syrian army and its allies have been battling... More »
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Unidentified gunmen killed five mine-clearance workers in Afghanistan on Monday who were preparing for construction of an international gas pipeline, while one worker was kidnapped, officials said. The $8 billion TAPI pipeline... More »
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli troops shot dead dozens of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border on Monday when the high-profile opening of the U.S. embassy to Israel in Jerusalem by the Trump administration raised tension to boiling point after weeks o... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea and South Korea agreed on Tuesday to hold high-level inter-Korea talks on May 16 to discuss steps needed to uphold the pledge to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said. The meeting will discuss ... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea will invite South Korean reporters from one news agency and from one television broadcaster to observe the dismantling of a nuclear test site between May 23 and May 25, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification said on Tuesday. The So... More »
HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Taliban fighters threatened the provincial capital of Farah in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, with fighting underway on the outskirts of the city where government forces were defending two police districts, officials and residen... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Iran-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah and its political allies won more than half the seats in Lebanon’s first parliamentary election in nine years, according to unofficial preliminary results cited by politicians and Lebanese media. The r... More »
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Kurdish electrician Sukru Gunduz was out on a job when a friend came running to tell him his house was being knocked down, with five members of his family inside. Angry and alarmed, he rushed home. By the time he got there, a mec... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday said the date and location have been set for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, building suspense for the unprecedented talks, as South Korea said it would oppose a withdrawal of U.S. troops ... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – President Donald Trump is expected to pull the United States out of the Iran nuclear agreement on May 12. Tehran signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with China, France, Germany, Russia, Britain, and the United States in 2015. Iran... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Iran’s foreign minister said on Thursday U.S. demands to change its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers were unacceptable as a deadline set by President Donald Trump for Europeans to “fix” the deal loomed. Trump has warned that unless E... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to prepare options for reducing the number of U.S. troops in South Korea, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing several people briefed on the deliberations. Reduced U.S. troop lev... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean trust in North Korea has surged since last week’s feel-good summit at which their leaders declared an end to hostilities and to work towards denuclearization of the peninsula. A survey taken on Friday, the day North Korean leader... More »
AMMAN (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested on Monday he was open to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, saying a “two-party solution” was likely in his first extensive comments on peace efforts since taking the job las... More »
KABUL (Reuters) – Twin blasts in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least 25 people on Monday, including eight journalists who had arrived to report on the first explosion and who were apparently targeted by a suicide bomber, officials said. Several hours late... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – A Saudi Arabian court began the trial of two Jordanians accused of spying against the kingdom for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya said on Monday. The charges under consideration by the Specialized Criminal Court i... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army began an intense bombardment of a rebel enclave near Homs on Monday, a war monitor said, as President Bashar al-Assad pushed to recapture all the remaining areas his forces have besieged. The attack comes as Syrian state tele... More »
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – The United States is deeply concerned by Iran’s “destabilizing and malign activities”, new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. The former CIA director was speaking on a fly... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday on a hastily-arranged visit to the Middle East as the United States aims to muster support for new sanctions against Iran. The visit to Riyadh, Jerusalem and Amman just two d... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Veteran’s Affairs committee should resign after the President’s pick to lead the Veterans Affairs department withdrew from consideration amid numero... More »
(Reuters Health) – Talk therapy for insomnia is effective at reducing insomnia, as well as mental fatigue, among military personnel, according to a new study. For the new analysis, published online in Sleep, researchers recruited 151 active-duty U.S. Army pers... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A day after being sworn in as the new U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo landed in Brussels for talks with key allies in Europe on heightened Russian aggression and ways to strengthen the NATO military alliance. Pompeo, a former Army off... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – Smiling and holding hands, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met at the heavily fortified demilitarized zone between the countries on Friday, pledging to pursue peace after decades of conflict. Kim became ... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – The golden doors on the stately North Korean building swung open and leader Kim Jong Un, in a black Mao suit and surrounded by a gaggle of officials, descended the steps toward the border. Not since the 1950-53 Korean War had a North Korean l... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in wrapped up the first round of talks on Friday for their countries’ first summit in over a decade, the South’s presidential office said on Friday. Kim and Moon will meet la... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state on Thursday, and the former CIA director set off immediately on a trip to meet key allies in Europe and the Middle East. Pompeo, a former Army officer w... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army bombarded a jihadist enclave in south Damascus on Monday, state television and a war monitor said, as President Bashar al-Assad seeks to regain all ground near the capital. The military focus on the area, where Islamic State ... More »
