BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday gave Lebanese politicians until the end of October to start delivering on reforms, saying financial aid would be withheld and sanctions imposed further down the line if corruption gets in the... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron marked Lebanon’s centenary on Tuesday by planting a cedar tree, the emblem of the Middle East country that is collapsing under the weight of a crippling economic crisis. In his second trip to Lebanon in less ... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it had appealed for $76 million in aid for Lebanon after last week’s massive explosion in Beirut destroyed or damaged hospitals, clinics and medical supplies. Lebanon was already strugglin... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese police fired tear gas to try to disperse rock-throwing protesters blocking a road near parliament in Beirut on Sunday in a second day of anti-government demonstrations triggered by last week’s devastating explosion. Fire broke out a... More »
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) – International music and film stars will headline a globally televised and streamed fundraising concert on Saturday to help fight COVID-19 as part of a joint initiative by the advocacy group Global Citizen and the European Commission. The ini... More »
KINSHASA (Reuters) – The Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded up to 17 Ebola cases in a new outbreak of the deadly virus in the western province of Equateur, and 11 of those infected have died, medical authorities said on Monday. The authorities had repor... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – A United Nations human rights expert voiced alarm on Tuesday at what he called “widespread food shortages and malnutrition” in North Korea, made worse by a nearly five-month border closure with China and strict quarantine measures against CO... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – World leaders launched a pledging “marathon” on Monday – without the United States – to raise at least $8 billion for research into a possible vaccine and treatments for the coronavirus. Organisers included the European Union, non-EU state... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – The Saudi-led coalition engaged in Yemen on Monday urged a leading separatist group that declared self-rule in the south to rescind its move, saying it was an “escalatory action” at a time all parties should focus on confronting the novel co... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Democrats and Republicans are near agreement on extra money to help small businesses hurt by the coronavirus pandemic and could seal a deal as early as Monday, President Donald Trump said on Sunday. Trump told his daily White House ... More »
BARCELONA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – British actor and filmmaker Idris Elba launched a new United Nations fund on Monday to help farmers in poorer nations, calling on richer economies to provide aid to prevent “needless hunger and suffering” stemming from ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and congressional leaders will hold bipartisan negotiations on a new coronavirus-response bill with the goal of reaching a deal by early next week, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on Fri... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Ventilators delivered by Russia to the United States to help treat patients of the new coronavirus were manufactured by a Russian company that is under U.S. sanctions, Russia’s RBC business daily reported on Friday. A Russian military plane ... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – With the euro zone economy in need of help from the coronavirus pandemic, officials have until April 9 to design a package that satisfies members with completely opposing views: those calling for joint debt issuance and those fiercely agai... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will propose on Monday a 21% cut in foreign aid and slashes to social safety-net programs in his $4.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2021, according to senior administration officials. The budget would sp... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump will propose cutting billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid in his fiscal 2021 budget while seeking an increase in funds to counter developing economic threats from China and Russia, senior administration official... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Tear gas engulfed central Beirut as security forces chased protesters near Lebanon’s parliament on Sunday in a second night of street clashes that wounded dozens of people. Protesters had returned despite a fierce crackdown by security force... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – The South Pacific island nation of Samoa on Saturday extended a state of emergency due to a measles outbreak which has killed 72 people, mostly infants, as New Zealand announced NZ$1 million ($640,700) to help combat measles in the Pacifi... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Volunteers in the New Zealand city of Rotorua are preparing two dozen white-lined coffins to be transported to Samoa at the end of the week as the measles-ravaged Pacific island nation languishes under a growing death toll that has now hit 7... More »
GISENYI, Rwanda (Reuters) – An Ebola survivor has fallen ill with the disease for a second time in eastern Congo, the Congolese health authorities said on Sunday, saying it was not yet clear if it was a case of relapse or reinfection. The Ebola outbreak in Dem... More »
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – International organizations warned on Friday of a potential resurgence of Ebola in Congo after deadly militia attacks on health centers forced aid groups to suspend operations and withdraw staff from the epidemic’... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – On the first day of November, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent an internal email to thousands of State Department staff that began: “As champions of American diplomacy, we are in the truth-telling business.” While the email seen ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An official on the White House’s National Security Council said he heard the U.S. ambassador to the European Union explicitly press Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden and his son, according to a transcript released on Friday by... More »
BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday said they had withdrawn from the border town of Ras al Ain under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, but a spokesman for Turkish-backed Syrian rebels said the withdrawal was not yet... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists who resurrected a 50,000-year-old gene sequence have analyzed it to figure out how the world’s deadliest malaria parasite jumped from gorillas to humans – giving insight into the origins of one of human history’s biggest killers. ... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – U.S.-based economists Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for work fighting poverty that has helped millions of children by favoring practical steps over theory. French-American D... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian politicians and academics cheered the Nobel economics prize awarded on Monday to Indian-born American Abhijit Banerjee, whose proud mother told visitors crowding into her apartment that he came from “a family of economists”. Nirmal... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday the United States was “locked and loaded” for a potential response to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, after a senior U.S. administration official said Iran was to blame. Trump also ... More »
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Venezuelan migrants will be provided with a regional vaccination card beginning in October, health officials from 10 countries agreed on Monday, in an effort to ensure they receive needed vaccines and are not given double doses. More than 4 ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Hal Rogers urged President Donald Trump on Friday to drop planned “sweeping and indiscriminate” foreign aid cuts, joining a chorus of lawmakers opposing what they consider a bid to sidestep Trump... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States could bolster the battle against the Ebola virus in Democratic Republic of Congo by allowing more of its experts to travel to the outbreak zone, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Friday. The virus ha... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – More than two years after U.S. President Donald Trump first proposed a plan to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, its first phase will be formally unveiled on Tuesday at an economic workshop in Bahrain. The ‘Peace to Prosperity... More »
AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) – The Syrian war has inflicted all kinds of hardships on Najwa Abdelaziz but she still manages to make light of one of them. “The uprising ruined my teeth,” she jokes while getting dental care for the first time in years in the back of a ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, after Trump blasted the three countries because thousands of their citizens had sought asylum at th... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House will not invite Israeli government officials to a Bahrain conference devoted to gaining support for a Palestinian economic plan in order to keep the event apolitical, a senior administration official said on Monday. The o... More »
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenyan farmer Victor Kyalo’s chickens have doubled the number of eggs they are laying. The reason: Human excrement. He is feeding them food from a Nairobi-based organics recycling company. Sanergy harvests waste from toilets it operates in ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday said aluminum exporters are complying with the terms of a deal with the United States after the New York Times reported President Donald Trump had considered imposing tariffs on Canberra. Th... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will visit the Solomon Islands next week, he said on Monday, as Western nations seek to rein in China’s influence on the tiny Pacific island. With the United States and its allies keen to ensure China... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump, declaring a national emergency because of tensions with Iran, swept aside objections from Congress on Friday to complete the sale of over $8 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates ... More »
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A deadly surge in violence in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel petered out overnight and Palestinian officials reported that Egypt had mediated a truce early on Monday. The latest round of fighting erupted three days ago, peaking o... More »
KINSHASA (Reuters) – An Ebola treatment center at the epicenter of the current outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has resumed operations after it was closed in response to an attack last week, the Congolese health ministry said on Sunday. The fac... More »
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) – Egypt on Sunday completed a project to restore the catacombs of Kom el-Shuqafa in western Alexandria, which have been prone to groundwater leaks since they were discovered in the first decade of the 20th century. The restoration, ... More »
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s migration office on Friday said it canceled over 300 daily entrance passes for Venezuelan politicians and their families who support President Nicolas Maduro. Colombia has borne the brunt of the exodus of Venezuelans fleeing malnu... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A partial U.S. government shutdown over President Donald Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border entered its 22nd day on Saturday, making it the longest shuttering of federal agencies in U.S. history,... More »
LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) – At least $14 billion is needed to accelerate the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and quell stubborn epidemics that still kill millions, the head of a global health fund said on Friday. Announcing a fundraising target for... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As a partial U.S. government shutdown neared the three-week mark, Democrats on Wednesday were set to test Republicans’ resolve in backing President Donald Trump’s drive to build a wall on the border with Mexico, which has sparked an impa... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump urged Congress in a televised speech on Tuesday to give him $5.7 billion this year to help build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico but stopped short of declaring a national emergency to pay for the barrier with... 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 »
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 »
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 »
PARIS (Reuters) – Malta appears ready to allow the rescue ship Lifeline, stuck in international waters in the Mediterranean sea with more than 230 migrants aboard, to enter one of its ports after Italy refused, a French government spokesman said on Tuesday. In... More »
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – A high-level delegation from Eritrea was due to arrive in its neighbor and long-time foe Ethiopia on Tuesday to discuss recent peace overtures, raising hopes of a breakthrough in one of Africa’s most intractable military stand-offs. Eth... More »
AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordan’s police chief said security forces had detained 60 people for breaking the law during major protests over tax hikes in recent days. Major General Fadel al-Hamoud said at a press conference that 42 members of the security forces were i... More »
AMMAN (Reuters) – Hundreds of Jordanians took to the streets of the capital Amman on Sunday in a fourth day of nightly protests against IMF-backed price increases that have shaken the kingdom, witnesses said. They said demonstrators who converged near the cabi... More »
MBANDAKA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – Health workers in Democratic Republic of Congo will begin a vaccination campaign on Monday aimed at containing an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus, a spokeswoman for the health ministry said. Jessica Ilunga ... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo reported 39 suspected, probable or confirmed cases of Ebola between April 4 and May 13, including 19 deaths, the World Health Organization said on Monday. It said 393 people who identified as contacts of Ebola pa... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization has been given the go-ahead by officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo to import and use an experimental Ebola vaccine in the country, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday. “We ha... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday froze more than $200 million in funds for recovery efforts in Syria as his administration reassesses Washington’s role in the long-drawn conflict there, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials. Trump... More »
FILE PHOTO: A boy is seen in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria March 8, 2018. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh/File Photo AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s rebel-held city of Douma faces a “catastrophic” situation after becoming the main have... More »
People hold a warning leaflet dropped by plane entitled “Keep yourself and your family aware” in the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus, Syria March 11, 2018. REUTERS/ Bassam Khabieh BEIRUT (Reuters) – As the Syrian army pushes deeper into eas... More »
A handicapped man rides a bicycle past damaged buildings in the besieged town of Douma in eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, March 1, 2018. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army and its allies have captured more than a third of the rebel en... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Syrian government officials removed trauma kits and surgical supplies from trucks that are part of an inter-agency convoy heading into the besieged Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, a World Health Organization (WHO) official told Reuters on ... More »
Locals surround a house that was covered by a landslide in the town of Mendi after an earthquake struck Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands, in this image taken February 27, 2018 obtained from social media. Francis Ambrose/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THI... More »
FILE PHOTO – Myanmar military commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, attends a military exercise at Ayeyarwaddy delta region in Myanmar, February 3, 2018. REUTERS/Lynn Bo Bo/Pool BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand awarded Myanmar’s army chief a royal de... More »
UNHCR Special Envoy actor Angelina Jolie takes part in a news conference at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, January 31, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.N. refugee agency special envoy Angelina Jolie called on NATO on Wednesday to h... More »
Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Duterte gestures during a news conference on the sidelines of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Pasay, metro Manila, Philippines, November 14, 2017. REUTERS/Dondi Tawatao NEW DELHI (Reu... More »
Rohingya refugees stand in a queue to collect aid supplies in Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, January 21, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain PALONGKHALI, Bangladesh (Reuters) – Bangladesh has delayed the repatriation of Rohingya Muslim re... More »
Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa arrives to attend the Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad, Pakistan, March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s army chief told a top U.S. general the nation... More »
FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators hold placards calling for the release of Raza Mehmood Khan, a member of Aghaz-i-Dosti (Start of Friendship), a group that works on peace building between Pakistan and India, during a protest in Lahore, Pakistan December 11, 2017. REUT... More »
FILE PHOTO: 70th Cannes Film Festival – Model Petra Nemcova poses on the red carpet prior to the screening of the film “Nelyubov” (Loveless) in Cannes, France, May 18, 2017. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo NEW YORK (Reuters) – If Petra Nemcova’s life were a m... More »
Ibrahim Tommy (L), head of the Centre for Accountability and the Rule of Law, and Yusuf Kabbah, head of Sierra Leone Association of Ebola Survivors, attend a news conference in Freetown, Sierra Leone December 15, 2017. REUTERS/Umaru Fofana FREETOWN (Reuters) –... More »
People are seen during shelling in the town of Hamoria, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, December 3, 2017. REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh AMMAN (Reuters) – Jets believed to be Syrian and Russian struck heavily crowded residential areas in a besieged rebel enclave ne... More »
United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura (2R) sits opposite to Syria’s U.N. ambassador and chief negotiator Bashar al-Ja’afari during a meeting of the Intra Syria talks in Geneva, Switzerland December 1, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse GENEVA (R... More »
Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the 13th Asia Europe Foreign Ministers Meeting (ASEM) in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, November 20, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer NAYPYITAW (Reuters) – China called for a ceasefire in Myanmar’s Rakhine State so that Rohingya Mus... More »
FILE PHOTO: A destroyed home is seen from a Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey surveying the aftermath from Hurricane Maria in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands September 21, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Friday said it had asked C... More »
Irish musician and activist Bob Geldof called Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi "a hand maiden to genocide" on Monday as he returned his Freedom of the City of Dublin award in protest over his fellow recipient's response to the repression of Rohingya Muslims. More »
A Saudi-led military coalition said it will temporarily close all air, land and sea ports to Yemen to stem the flow of arms to Houthi rebels from Iran, said a statement on Monday on state news agency SPA. More »
Almost every country in the world now has serious nutrition problems, either due to over-eating leading to obesity or a lack of food leading to undernutrition, according to a major study published on Saturday. More »
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told his cabinet on Friday he had no fear of Western sanctions after some U.S. senators threatened to push for travel restrictions over his arrest of the main opposition leader, the government spokesman said. More »
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke on Thursday with Myanmar's army chief and expressed concern over reported atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, the U.S. State Department said in a statement. More »
Nearly one million Rohingya refugees who have fled violence in Myanmar are now in Bangladesh, which is an "untenable situation", Bangladesh told a U.N. meeting on Monday. More »
Charles Schumer, the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, called on President Donald Trump on Sunday to name a single official to oversee and coordinate relief efforts in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. More »
The U.N. refugee agency urged Bangladesh on Tuesday to speed up vetting of up to 15,000 Rohingya refugees "stranded" near the border after crossing into the country from Myanmar and move them further inland to safety and better conditions. More »
U.S.-backed militias will capture Islamic State's last foothold in the jihadists' former Syrian capital of Raqqa within hours, a militia spokesman said on Tuesday. More »
Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi is "appalled" at the Rohingya refugee crisis in her country and is determined to fix it, but needs to be careful not to inflame the situation further, an adviser to Suu Kyi told reporters on Friday. More »
A new package of U.S. disaster assistance sailed through the House of Representatives on Thursday, despite President Donald Trump expressing impatience with having to devote federal resources for hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico's recovery. More »
Hamilton musical creator Lin-Manuel Miranda on Friday released a new song for hurricane relief charity efforts in Puerto Rico featuring many of the music industry's biggest Latin stars. More »
Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh were skeptical on Tuesday about their chances of ever going home to Myanmar, even though the government there has given an assurance it would accept people verified as refugees. More »
Puerto Ricans still living largely in darkness 12 days after Hurricane Maria leveled their island reveled in small victories on Sunday in what promises to be a months-long slog back to some semblance of normal life. More »
New York police and a host of federal agencies are preparing for the annual traffic and security nightmare known as the United Nations General Assembly, featuring a week of speeches by U.S. President Donald Trump and a parade of other dignitaries. More »
Communal tensions appeared to be rising across Myanmar on Monday after two weeks of violence in Rakhine state that have triggered an exodus of about 300,000 Rohingya Muslims, prompting the government to tighten security at Buddhist pagodas. More »
The top U.N. human rights official on Monday denounced Myanmar's "brutal security operation" against Muslim Rohingyas in Rakhine state which he said was "clearly disproportionate" to insurgent attacks carried out last month. More »
Malaysia's coast guard will not turn away Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar and is willing to provide them temporary shelter, the maritime agency's chief said on Friday. More »
An estimated 270,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Myanmar in the past two weeks and sought refuge in Bangladesh, where two existing refugee camps are "bursting at the seams", the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Friday. More »
Critics of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen have grown used to following upstart news service Fresh News to find out what the government’s next target might be. More »
North Korea's firing of a ballistic missile over Japan could increase pressure on Washington to consider shooting down future test launches, although there is no guarantee of success and U.S. officials are wary of a dangerous escalation with Pyongyang. More »
Nearly 9,000 Rohingya Muslims, many sick and fearing for their lives, have fled the worst violence to grip northwest Myanmar in at least five years, while thousands more are stuck at the Bangladesh border or preparing to reach it in coming days. More »
About 18,000 Rohingya Muslims are estimated to have crossed into Bangladesh in the last week, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday, seeking to escape the worst violence in Myanmar's northwest in at least five years. More »
Bangladesh border guards on Monday moved to push back thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing the worst violence in Myanmar in five years, with 104 people killed and the United Nations and aid groups forced to pull out some staff. More »
