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 »
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 »
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 »
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – The management of Hungary’s prestigious University of Theatre and Film Arts resigned on Monday in protest over the imposition of a government-appointed board which they say will undermine the school’s autonomy. Prime Minister Viktor Orban’... More »
HARARE (Reuters) – Victor Mpofu is using satire to shine a light on Zimbabwe’s political problems, reaching a growing audience despite living in fear of retribution from President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government. Mpofu, aka Doc Vikela, has seen his followers o... 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 »
LONDON (Reuters) – Palmerston, the cat who has lived at the Foreign Office for four and a half years, will trade in his London residence for retirement in the countryside, where his mouse-catching duties for the diplomats will come to an end. Writing to the mo... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s 84-year-old ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, has been admitted to hospital in the capital Riyadh, suffering from inflammation of the gall bladder, state news agency SPA said on Monday. The king, who has ruled the world’s larg... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, often floated as a future Japanese premier, said on Monday the Olympics must go ahead next year as a symbol of world unity in overcoming the novel coronavirus, even as her city grapples with stubborn spikes in cas... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – A French artist has painted a large biodegradable fresco on the lawn of the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva, marking Friday’s 75th anniversary of its founding. Saype, who was born Guillaume Legros, created the “World In Progr... More »
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan’s public prosecutor on Monday announced the discovery of a mass grave east of Khartoum suspected to contain the remains of students killed in 1998 as they tried escaping military service at a training camp. An investigation had been ... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced a Jehovah’s Witness to six and a half years in prison after finding him guilty of organising the activities of a banned extremist organisation, his lawyer said. The ruling at the Pskov City Court, handed ... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s top court on Monday heard challenges to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bid to secure a governing coalition, with opposition figures arguing a deal on a new unity administration would unlawfully shield him in a corruption tri... More »
BERN (Reuters) – Environmental activists delivered a petition to a special session of the Swiss parliament on Monday demanding that a government aid package should promote a “green recovery” from the coronavirus crisis. With some lawmakers wearing protective f... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A grandiose mosaic depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin and other high-ranking officials will not be put on display in a new military church after objections from the Kremlin leader, a church official said on Friday. Russia is building... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean and Chinese officials on Tuesday cast doubt on reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was ill after media outlets said he had undergone a cardiovascular procedure and was in “grave danger”. Daily NK, a Seoul-based speciality web... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Angela Merkel’s chief of staff told German broadcasters RTL/n-tv on Monday that he did not think the chancellor’s plans not to run for a fifth term in office had changed after Bild newspaper last week raised the question of whether she might... More »
MASERU (Reuters) – Lesotho’s Prime Minister Thomas Thabane appeared in court on Monday to hear charges of murdering his estranged wife, a Reuters witness saw. Thabane, 80, is suspected of involvement in the murder of his then wife Lipolelo, who was shot dead i... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has submitted a letter of resignation to the country’s king, his office said on Monday, leaving the government in limbo amid talk of forming a new governing coalition. The fate of Malaysia’s ru... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad has quit his Bersatu party after unexpectedly resigning as prime minister on Monday amid a power tussle, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. It was not immediately clear why Mahathir lef... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison will on Tuesday front parliament for the first time in three months as he seeks to repair his standing with voters angry by his response to the country’s bushfire crisis and a scandal over sports fun... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s right-wing League leader Matteo Salvini failed to overturn decades of leftist rule in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna on Sunday in an election that brought relief to the embattled center-left. With 98 percent of the ballots count... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wants to lose weight in 2020, but will not do “Veganuary” – the popular practice of becoming vegan in January – as it would take too much concentration and mean giving up cheese. “I had thought of... More »
SEATTLE (Reuters) – Seattle, the Pacific Northwest city where home-grown online retailer Amazon.com has increasingly flexed its political muscle, is expected to approve on Monday legislation banning political contributions by companies with at least 5% foreign... More »
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – California Governor Gavin Newsom has decided against calling a special election to fill the seat U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter will leave vacant in Congress next week when he resigns following his conviction in a federal corruption sc... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Spoon-bending celebrity psychic Uri Geller, 73, has applied for a job in the British government in response to an advert for “misfits” and “weirdos”, saying no other candidate would possess his powers. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Olaf Scholz will carry on for now as finance minister despite losing a bid to lead his Social Democratic Party because he sees it as his duty not to sink the ruling coalition, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Scholz ... More »
BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan’s parliament on Monday formally asked President Ilham Aliyev to dissolve it and to schedule new parliamentary elections. The next election is not due until November 2021, but the president has the right to dissolve the parliament an... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The coalition deal forming the basis of Germany’s ruling alliance is not up for renegotiation and the new leaders of the Social Democrats (SDP) must decide whether or not they want to stay in government, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s protegee s... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Matteo Salvini has recently dropped threats to take Italy out of the euro zone but the hard-right leader is now alarming European authorities with a new target for his eurosceptic anger: a planned reform of the region’s bailout fund. Euro zone... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Istanbul has secured 110 million euros ($121 million) of financing from Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) for an underground transport project, the mayor of the Turkish city said on Sunday. Speaking at a news conference, Ekrem Imamoglu gave no furt... More »
LEIPZIG, Germany (Reuters) – Bidders for German 5G rollout contracts must guarantee the network will be free of foreign state influence, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats agreed on Saturday, stopping short of singling out China’s Huawei. After a h... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Proposals to reform the euro zone’s bailout fund are creating a political storm in Italy, where parties and institutions are battling over whether Rome should try to block the reform at the EU level. A draft of the reform was agreed by euro zo... More »
ROME (Reuters) – A right-wing coalition scored a net victory in a local election in the central Italian region of Umbria, official data from the Interior Ministry showed on Monday, giving a boost to Matteo Salvini’s League party. The vote in tiny Umbria, a tra... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For President Donald Trump, the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a signature achievement that may help quell growing criticism from his own ranks, but it is unlikely to offer much relief from Democratic-led scrutiny ... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday he wanted “innovative” ministers in his cabinet for a second term, as the co-founder of tech startup Gojek said he would join and a former chairman of Inter Milan soccer club was tipped for a ... More »
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s acting prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said he would travel to Barcelona on Monday to visit police officers injured in protests that have rocked the Spanish region of Catalonia. Protesters on Sunday took to the streets for the seventh... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Gojek CEO and co-founder Nadiem Makarim said on Monday he had resigned to join Indonesia’s cabinet, and the ride-hailing and payments company said two senior officials would jointly take over running operations of the $10 billion firm. Pres... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s approval rating has jumped sharply as voters back his government’s approach on Brexit ahead of a parliamentary election he wants to hold in May, a poll showed on Tuesday. However, the surge in Varadkar’s p... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition said on Sunday a dialogue mediated by Norway’s Foreign Ministry to try to resolve the country’s political crisis had ended, six weeks after President Nicolas Maduro’s government suspended participation. The talks, mos... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Named after the Olympic flame when she was born days before Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964, Seiko Hashimoto has lived up to her name by taking part in seven Olympics and doing it in two sports. The 54-year-old ruling party lawmaker ... More »
BERUWALA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Sri Lanka presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been a polarizing figure for much of his political life. It is an image he is trying to change. When he was defense chief in his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government he c... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in his first state of the union address on Sunday, doubled down on his approach to managing Latin America’s second-largest economy, saying the interests of private firms would be subordinat... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – The United States is not seeking a military intervention as a solution to the economic and political crisis in Venezuela, the U.S. envoy to the troubled South American nation said in an interview published by a Venezuelan online news site o... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s prime minister said on Sunday he expected to finalize talks over a new government by Wednesday, as the 5-Star Movement and Democratic Party were in intense discussions during the weekend to hammer out a deal on a common agenda and Cab... More »
BOGOTA (Reuters) – More than 85,000 Venezuelan migrants crossed into Ecuador from Colombia in the last month, ahead of new visa restrictions from Quito that took effect on Monday, the Colombian government said. The number of migrants entering Ecuador at the Ru... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – There is no sign of a looming euro zone crisis due to political upheaval in Italy, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday. Asked if he feared a new euro zone crisis, Scholz told German television: “No, there is no sign of that... More »
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe police have banned an anti-government demonstration planned for Monday by the country’s main opposition party in the city of Bulawayo, saying it would likely result in “public disorder”. Police banned another demonstration planned b... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s state communications watchdog has asked Google (GOOGL.O) to stop advertising “illegal mass events” on its YouTube video platform, it said on Sunday. Tens of thousands of Russians staged what observers called the country’s biggest po... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The Singapore prime minister’s estranged brother has thrown his support behind a newly-formed opposition party in an intriguing twist ahead of elections expected to be held as soon as this year. In Facebook comments made late Sunday, Lee ... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was hospitalized over the weekend after suffering an acute allergic reaction, is in a satisfactory condition, a hospital representative said on Monday. Navalny, 43, was rushed to hospital on Sund... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. cable networks CNN and MSNBC have invited Democratic presidential candidates to participate in televised town hall events in September focused on climate change after activists and some candidates pressured party officials for month... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Former South African President Jacob Zuma told a corruption inquiry on Monday that he had never broken the law with the Gupta family, describing the businessmen at the center of an influence-peddling scandal as friends. Zuma also said ... More »
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Former South African president Jacob Zuma told a corruption inquiry on Monday that there was a conspiracy against him and that his enemies had subjected him to a “character assassination” because they wanted him out of power. “This com... More »
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s Arturo Herrera looks grim in a viral video in which President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador names him finance minister, a job Herrera’s predecessor left in a huff at a time when Latin America’s second largest economy is signaling... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s opposition will meet with representatives of President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Barbados for talks mediated by Norway, the parties involved said on Sunday, as part of efforts to resolve an ongoing political crisis. Opposit... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday announced he will maintain Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino in his post, following months of rumors that top military brass would be replaced after a failed uprising in April. The Trump adminis... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – A controversial plan for Italy to issue so-called mini-bills to settle overdue state payments is opening cracks within the country’s ruling League party, after a prominent party official on Sunday dismissed it as “unrealistic.” Mini-bills, or... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The frontrunner to be Britain’s next prime minister, Boris Johnson, came under renewed pressure on Sunday to explain the circumstances of a late-night row between him and girlfriend that led to the police being called to their home. Polls co... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela on Monday freed opposition lawmaker Gilber Caro, who was detained in April in what allies said was a violation of his parliamentary immunity, the opposition-controlled National Assembly said on Twitter. The move by President Nicol... More »
BARCELONA (Reuters) – The Spanish government has violated the rights of three Catalan leaders elected to the European Parliament by blocking them from collecting their credentials, 76 MEPs said in a letter sent to the governing body of the European legislature... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s ruling parties could expose the nation to market shocks and put its savings at risk if they were not ready to compromise with the European Union over their budget plans, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Corriere della Sera newspaper... More »
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – A campaign of civil disobedience to demand civilian rule left the streets of Sudan’s capital Khartoum largely deserted as the working week began on Sunday, while a 20-year-old man was shot dead in Omdurman, witnesses and opposition medics ... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s prime minister and economy minister have formed an unofficial alliance with the president to prevent the euro zone’s third-largest economy being dragged into financial crisis by its ruling parties, sources say. Prime Minister Giuseppe ... More »
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudanese forces entered the site of a sit-in in central Khartoum early on Monday amid gunfire, witnesses and Arab television stations said, in what activists described as an attempt to disperse protesters demanding civilian rule. A medical... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – The Pentagon has told the White House that the U.S. military will not be politicized, a U.S. official said on Sunday, in response to a controversy after officials directed the United States Navy to keep the USS John S. McCain out of sight dur... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Two Thai political parties were meeting leaders of a pro-army party on Monday to discuss a possible deal to keep military junta chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha on as prime minister more than two months after a disputed election. An agreemen... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – League’s loyalty to Italian coalition partner M5S is unreasonable and can’t last for ever, cabinet secretary Giancarlo Giorgetti said on Monday. “Faced with the 5Stars movement’s reiterated attacks, (Italian Deputy Prime Minister and League l... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday she was surprised when her long-time partner proposed to her over the Easter holidays and has no idea when the wedding will be. Ardern was addressing her first weekly media briefin... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British police will not investigate the sacked defense minister, Gavin Williamson, after a senior officer said the information that was leaked about Chinese telecoms company Huawei was too minor to count as a criminal offence. Prime Minister... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – After weeks of power cuts and limited access to water, tens of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets on Saturday to back opposition leader Juan Guaido and protest against President Nicolas Maduro, who they accuse of wrecking the econ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry have made winners out of Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc, Gulf of Mexico offshore heavyweights, as refiners in need of substitutes are scooping up oil produced in the region. Those two companies ... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian prosecutors on Monday said they would issue summonses to units of U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong, requiring them to respond by June to criminal charges filed against them last year. Soon after bein... More »
(Reuters) – Reuters reporter Joseph Menn exclusively revealed on Friday that Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke belonged to one of the best-known groups of computer hackers as a teenager. Within minutes, his special report was the most popular sto... More »
(Reuters) – The United States is pressing India to stop buying oil from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government, Washington’s top envoy for Venezuela said, as the Trump administration this week threatened more U.S. sanctions to cut off Maduro’s financ... 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 »
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 »
RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) – Virginia’s congressional Democratic delegation have hinted at a possible pathway for easing a week-old political crisis that has embroiled Governor Ralph Northam and two fellow Democrats at the top of the state’s executive branch. A s... More »
RICHMOND, Va. (Reuters) – A firestorm of scandals embroiling Virginia’s governor and two fellow Democrats at the top of the state’s executive branch spread to the Republican leader of the state Senate on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in to st... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s phasing out of coal-fired power stations could be delayed beyond 2038 if the deadline creates problems for the security of electricity supply, a senior legislator in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party said. The phase-out, proposed la... More »
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro oversaw a display of the army’s Russian hardware on Sunday, with anti-aircraft flak and tank rounds pounding a hillside to show military force and loyalty in the face of an international ultimatum for new... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was left red-faced on Wednesday after a family photograph, doctored by his staff, inadvertently left him with two left feet – an embarrassing image as he tries to end missteps months before an electio... More »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s new curbs on e-commerce companies may not be enough to win over small store owners and traders in next year’s general election, with the key voting bloc still seething over what it sees as broken promises by Prime Minister Narendr... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese police detained a group of students on Friday who were protesting against a crackdown on a campus Marxist society, whose former head was held by police on the 125th birthday of the founder of modern China, Mao Zedong.China has an aw... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia is seeking $7.5 billion in reparations from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) over its dealings with scandal-linked state fund 1MDB, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Friday, citing the finance minister. Separately, Bloomberg ... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Michel Temer has signed a decree making official a federal “intervention” in the state of Roraima which borders Venezuela, the government’s official newspaper said on Monday. Waves of Venezuelan migrants have ente... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives gained support in a poll published on Monday after her Christian Democrats (CDU) chose centrist Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as the new party leader. Kramp-Karrenbauer, often dubbed “mini Merkel”... More »
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – A Hungarian artist has a new exhibition depicting political leaders in the style of iconic paintings with the aim of shocking viewers and holding a mirror to current times. Bela Marias, or DrMarias, has been painting politicians for about ... 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 »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The squabbling residents of a dilapidated building at risk of collapse serve as an allegory for Lebanon’s political and religious divisions in a new drama by satirical playwright Georges Khabbaz. The play “Only If – Something Changes” is int... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday denied any wrongdoing a day after reports that his onetime attorney Michael Cohen had recorded them both discussing buying the rights to a story by a woman who said she had an affair with Trump. Th... 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 »
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A Pakistani court on Friday sentenced ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to 10 years in prison for corrupt practices linked to his family’s purchase of upscale London flats, in a major blow to his party ahead of general elections on July ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that further euro zone reform was needed to nip possible future crises in the bud, after aid programs to some member states had been successful. Addressing parliament before heading to an EU l... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s opposition Free Democrats joined the far right on Monday in calling for a parliamentary inquiry into Chancellor Angela’s migrant policy and the country’s migration agency after one of its branches wrongly granted asylum to some new... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – There is no threat of a new sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone despite an anti-establishment coalition government taking power in Italy, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in remarks published on Saturday. Asked by th... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Political turmoil in Italy, the euro zone’s third largest economy, could hit economic growth in Germany and affect the whole euro zone, the Berlin-based DIHK Chambers of Industry and Commerce said on Wednesday. The likelihood of snap Italian... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany is worried by signs of weakening in the network of multilateral organizations and agreements designed to foster international cooperation, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday. Merkel blamed the fraying of the multilateral order o... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday she would work with any coalition government formed in Italy, but she also warned that any discussions on economic policy would have to be within the rules governing the euro zone. Anti-establis... More »
