BERLIN Critics of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policies called on her to change course after voters in three regional elections punished her conservatives and flocked to a new anti-immigration party that wants German borders closed. Merkel’s Ch... More »
SEOUL South Korean Lee Sedol won his first match against a computer program developed by a Google subsidiary on Sunday in the ancient board game Go, denying a clean sweep for the artificial intelligence in a five-match series. Lee, one of the world’s top playe... More »
AUSTIN, Texas Online harassment and sexism is demeaning women and can no longer be brushed aside as an ugly side of social media and the gaming industry if they are to thrive, panelists on Saturday said at the South By Southwest (SXSW) tech meeting in Austin. ... More »
SEOUL Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) program on Saturday took a 3-0 lead in a five-match series against one of the world’s top players of the complicated board game Go. The victory for the AlphaGo program, designed by Google subsidiary DeepMind, over So... More »
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. Attorneys for wrestling celebrity Hulk Hogan rested their $100 million privacy invasion case against the Gawker news outlet on Friday, wrapping up a lively week of testimony in a Florida lawsuit examining the posting of a sex tape in moder... More »
SEOUL Google’s AlphaGo computer program on Wednesday won the first of five matches against one of the world’s top players of a complex board game, Go, marking a dramatic advance for the field of artificial intelligence (AI). South Korean professional player Le... More »
CHICAGO Seniors living in Manhattan spend an average of nearly 25 days a year at doctor visits or at a hospital. But in Lebanon, New Hampshire, contact with the healthcare system is far lower – just 10 days on average. New Yorkers probably are not that much si... More »
NEW YORK Ian Wishingrad may only be 30 years old, but he already considers himself an investing veteran. So when the market began to swoon in early 2016, he kept his cool. It certainly helped that Wishingrad had someone to hold his hand. He works with a financ... More »
LOS ANGELES The 88th Academy Awards, the highest honors in the movie industry, were handed out a ceremony in Hollywood on Sunday hosted by comedian Chris Rock. Following is a list of winners in key categories for the awards, also known as the Oscars. BEST PICT... More »
HOUSTON Addicts in a new study at the University of Houston will strap on virtual reality headsets and navigate a “heroin cave” to help them try and kick their addictions. Researchers are looking to see if making their way through a simulated house party cramm... More »
A crew of goats brought in to devour invasive plants at a popular park in Oregon’s state capital, Salem, have been fired because they ate indiscriminately, cost nearly five times as much as human landscapers and smelled far worse, a city official said on Frida... More »
BRUSSELS British and EU negotiators agreed much of a reform package on Thursday to help keep Britain in the European Union, leaving Prime Minister David Cameron to settle tricky final issues, notably on migration, at a summit next week, diplomats said. After t... More »
SANTA CLARA, Calif. Coldplay headlined at Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show, but it was R&B super stars Beyonce and Bruno Mars who delivered the sizzle with a lively, upbeat production that paid homage to previous halftime performers. Known mainly for mellow h... More »
WASHINGTON Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) has shut down more than 125,000 terrorism-related accounts since the middle of 2015, most of them linked to the Islamic State group, the company said in a blog post on Friday. Twitter has said it only takes down accounts when th... More »
WASHINGTON Anyone seeking a table at Carmine’s Italian restaurant near Capitol Hill on a Tuesday or Wednesday needs to battle a mid-week crush of Congress members and their staff. But Mondays are far quieter — just like the floor of Congress. There are usually... More »
RECIFE, Brazil For scores of women in the epicenter of the Zika outbreak in Brazil, the joy of pregnancy has given way to fear. In the sprawling coastal city of Recife, panic has struck maternity wards since Zika – a mosquito-borne virus first detected in the ... More »
ROME Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have appeared to weigh in to an impassioned debate about gay people’s rights in their home country with cozy designs showing same-sex couples with children. Last year, Dolce angered many when he... More »
Companies and scientists are racing to create a Zika vaccine as concern grows over the mosquito-borne virus that has been linked to severe birth defects and is spreading quickly through the Americas. Zika is now present in 23 countries and territories in the A... More »
NEW YORK Twenty-eight year old Margaret Davis was making nice money as a writer in the legal department of a big pharmaceutical company in New York. She liked her coworkers and enjoyed the job on a day-to-day basis – except it was not going anywhere. The compa... More »
Acclaimed movie writer-director Woody Allen is turning his attention to the small screen, with a new streaming television series for Amazon starring pop star Miley Cyrus. On her Instagram account, Cyrus confirmed on Monday she had been cast for the show, posti... More »
BERLIN Facebook Inc (FB.O) began a Europe-wide campaign on Monday to thwart extremist posts on social media, after German politicians in particular raised concerns about a rise in xenophobic comments linked to an influx of refugees. The U.S.-based group launch... More »
MEXICO CITY Oscar-winning Mexican film director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has stood by U.S. actor Sean Penn for his interview with drug lord Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, saying in an article published on Sunday that Penn wrote a “fantastic” story. Speaking with S... More »
BERLIN A task force set up by the German government to determine the ownership history of more than 1,500 art works discovered in 2012 has found that only five were wrongfully taken from Jews, drawing criticism from Jewish groups. German tax inspectors discove... More »
VIENNA Austria’s Vice Chancellor said on Monday that Austria could not accept more than 100,000 migrants a year, following a pledge from its larger neighbor Germany to limit arrivals. Hundreds of thousands of people, many of them fleeing conflict and poverty i... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Wednesday that his department has been consulting social media in reviews of immigration applications since early this year, hitting back at criticism that U.S. authorities are not doing enough to... More »
STRALSUND, Germany A satirical play touring Germany aims to debunk any suggestion that the million migrants who entered Germany this year have made it to paradise. Heiko Ostendorf, director of “Asylant im Wunderland” (“Asylum Seeker in Wonderland”), said many ... More »
BOSTON/SINGAPORE Parents who gave their child a Kidizoom smartwatch or a VTech InnoTab tablet may have exposed them to identity theft after Hong Kong-based VTech said hackers stole the personal information of more than 6 million children. The breach underscore... More »
HONG KONG/SINGAPORE Almost a year after students ended pro-democracy street protests in Hong Kong, they face an online battle against what Western security experts say are China-sponsored hackers using techniques rarely seen elsewhere. Hackers have expanded th... More »
GUANGZHOU, China Automakers are betting that Chinese families will embrace the mini-van, hoping the larger, unsexy sibling of the bestselling SUV will become the next big thing just as Beijing relaxes the one-child policy. Mini-vans, or multi-purpose vehicles ... More »
(This story corrects paragraph 3 to add terms for some non-U.S. employees) SAN FRANCISCO Less than a week after Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said he would take two months of paternity leave, the social media company announced it is extending its pa... More »
NAIROBI “I have lost a lot of people I knew to crime,” says George Kiru, nursing a drink at 2 in the morning in a bar on the edge of Nairobi’s Korogocho slum. Music blares as he lists childhood friends who joined gangs, many of them now dead or in jail. “Perso... More »
BRUSSELS Soldiers patrolled the streets of Brussels on the third day of a security lockdown on Monday and the tenth day of a manhunt for the suspected mastermind of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris. Belgian national Salah Abdeslam has not been found despite 19 rai... More »
CLINTON, Iowa U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Sunday proposed a tax credit offsetting up to $6,000 in costs associated with caring for elderly and disabled family members, and allowing caregivers to accrue Social Security retirement b... More »
BERLIN Germany withdrew its contender for next year’s Eurovision song contest on Saturday following a backlash from critics who accuse the R&B artist of using anti-Semitic and homophobic slurs in his songs. Xavier Naidoo, a singer of Indian and African heritag... More »
SAN FRANCISCO Facebook Inc (FB.O) Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday he will take two months of paternity leave after his daughter’s birth, a strong statement from one of the busiest and most powerful U.S. executives on the importance of fa... More »
(Corrects headline and first paragraph. Study said the law may lead more women to self-induce abortion, not that this has already occurred. Corrects fourth paragraph to drop erroneous time frame) By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas A Texas law aimed at restricting... More »
BALTIMORE Baltimore’s police response to rioting in April showed major shortcomings, including a lack of planning, murky orders and flimsy protective gear, according to an independent review released on Monday. The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) think ... More »
SHANGHAI Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, enjoys strong support in the United States, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told Chinese officials during a visit this week to the Himalayan region, while expressing concern about human rights there. Pel... More »
CHICAGO The sound of gunshots in Harlem in 1997 was nothing new to Jamal Joseph, who was then a 44-year-old filmmaker living in the New York City neighborhood. “You’d hear gunshots every night,” he recalled. “The crack epidemic was raging- the neighborhood was... More »
WASHINGTONHillary Clinton on Saturday called for looser federal regulations governing marijuana, to boost scientific research on a drug that many tout for relieving pain, among other medical benefits, according to media reports. Speaking at a campaign event in... More »
DUBLINIrish women are tweeting details of their periods to Prime Minister Enda Kenny to help publicise a campaign to repeal restrictive abortion laws. Abortion is a divisive issue in Ireland where, after large street protests from both sides of the debate, a c... More »
KRAKOW, Poland Oscar-winning film-maker Roman Polanski said on Friday he was grateful and relieved after a Polish court rejected a U.S. request for his extradition over a 1977 child sex conviction. The case of the Polish-born Polanski, now 82, remains an inter... More »
WARSAW Poland’s eurosceptic Law and Justice party (PiS) claimed victory on Sunday in a watershed election that risks putting the ex-communist state on a collision course with key European Union allies. Run by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of Poland’s la... More »
WARSAW Poland’s Law and Justice party (PiS) would consider a partnership with rock star Pawel Kukiz and his anti-establishment grouping if they fall short of a clear majority in the final results of Sunday’s election, the party’s likely candidate for defense m... More »
LONDON Alzheimer’s disease is moving out of the shadows as new plays tackle head-on the emotional pain of a condition that robs its victims of words, memories and coherent thought. For a generation of young playwrights, dementia is proving to be a touchstone i... More »
An off-duty Maryland police officer charged with biting a man’s testicles during a fight is no longer working for the department, a spokeswoman said on Monday. Police officer Michael Flaig, 31, of Anne Arundel County, left the department for unspecified reason... More »
LONDON Some of Britain’s most senior former judicial figures criticized Prime Minister David Cameron’s government on Monday for its response to the EU migrant crisis, saying it was inadequate and was pushing people into the arms of smugglers. A statement, sign... More »
MOSCOW Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet the United Nations’ special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Tuesday, RIA news agency quoted the ministry’s press department as saying. RIA said the information came in response to a question on wh... More »
BEIJING A typhoon bringing heavy rain churned inland through southern China on Monday, a day after making landfall, killing at least six people, injuring hundreds, knocking out power and overturning cars. The storm made landfall in the southern province of Gua... More »
An investigation by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has revealed that more than 80 calls were made to ambulances by Sports Direct employees at its headquarters in Derbyshire for “life-threatening illnesses”. The figures, which came from a Freedom of... More »
WASHINGTON The nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are set to wade into contentious social matters in their new term beginning on Monday including affirmative action, union powers and voting rights, and could add major cases involving abortion and birth co... More »
MILWAUKEE Wisconsin wildlife officials have taken to social media to refute a hoax letter that suggested they had mistakenly added deer lawn ornaments to the last two annual statewide deer tallies. The state’s Department of Natural Resources said on Facebook t... More »
UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and a host of celebrities kicked off a campaign on Saturday to make Internet access universal, saying this was critical to fulfilling the United Nations’ newly adopted agenda to com... More »
NEW ORLEANS In New Orleans, a city synonymous with music and raucous revelry, government officials are launching a public health campaign aimed at turning down the volume. The city this week announced the start of “Sound Check,” the latest attempt to address r... More »
BERLIN The head of the European Parliament said on Monday that he expects European Union interior ministers to agree on a voluntary scheme to relocate 160,000 migrants at their meeting on Tuesday. “There will be some discussions, but at the end there will be a... More »
(The writer is a Reuters contributor. The opinions expressed are his own.) By Chris Taylor NEW YORK (Reuters) – For parents who dream their child will become a prodigy and stun the world with their brilliance, Chloe Hui has a message for you: Be careful what y... More »
Prolific horror filmmaker Wes Craven, who directed the slasher classic “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” died on Sunday afternoon, his family said in a statement. He was 76. Craven, who was also behind the 1990s horror hit “Scream,” died surrounded by his loved one... More »
(This 28 August 2015 story was refiled to add the dropped word “court” in the first paragraph) Planned Parenthood filed a complaint in Alabama federal court on Friday seeking to stop the state from defunding its health clinics after the release of covertly rec... More »
TORONTO The owner of adultery website Ashley Madison had already been struggling to sell itself or raise funds for at least three years before the publication of details about its members, according to internal documents and emails also released by hackers as ... More »
U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said on Monday it was ludicrous to describe his use of the term “anchor babies” as offensive to immigrants, saying his original comments referred more to Asians coming to the United States to give birth. Bush’s rem... More »
Infidelity website Ashley Madison and its parent company have been sued in federal court in California by a man who claims that the companies failed to adequately protect clients’ personal and financial information from theft, saying he suffered emotional dist... More »
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Monday said his use of the term “anchor babies” to describe U.S.-born children of non-citizen parents was taken out of context and not derogatory, saying he was referring solely to activity he views as fraudul... More »
TORONTO At least two people may have committed suicide following the hacking of the Ashley Madison cheating website, Toronto police said on Monday, warning of a ripple effect that includes scams and extortion of clients desperate to stop the exposure of their ... More »
NEW YORK Hey, remember that newsletter that let you sign up for a free trial? Didn’t think so. How about that old domain name you registered, or your kid’s gaming membership, or the magazine subscription that was initially offered as a freebie. Forgot about th... More »
LOS ANGELES Parent education loans can help your child attend the college of her dreams — and sink any dreams you had of ever retiring. The grim reality is that the federal PLUS loan program allows parents to borrow far more than they can comfortably, or even ... More »
EPIDAURUS, Greece On a stiflingly hot summer night, the ancient Greek amphitheatre of Epidaurus is packed to capacity for a performance of a 2,400-year-old play by Aristophanes — testimony to Greeks’ enduring love of theater despite years of grinding economic ... More »
TAIPEI Protests in Taiwan over textbook revisions which students say aim to brainwash them into accepting a “one China” view of history underscore the island’s growing sense of independence from its vast neighbor and geopolitical foe. Hundreds of youths storme... More »
BEIRUT Young people from two warring districts in the Lebanese city of Tripoli are taking to the stage in a comedy inspired by their own lives, trying to turn their backs on old rivalries inflamed by Syria’s civil war. “Love and War on the Rooftops” played to ... More »
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. “Breaking Bad” actor and New Mexico native Steven Michael Quezada said on Monday he is running for a county commissioner seat in Albuquerque, where he grew up and the hit television show was set. Quezada, who grew up in a gang-plagued neighbo... More »
NEW YORK A couple of years ago, Emilie Hunt had to go to the emergency room with a stomach virus. The bill took a huge chunk of money out of her savings, more than $800, and kept her from saving for a couple of months. “I’m really bad at planning for unexpecte... More »
LOS ANGELES A new study by student lender Sallie Mae found the average amount spent on college education in the United States jumped for the first time in five years, thanks to greater outlays from high-income families and parental readiness to spend more. Fam... More »
CHICAGO It was an image that shocked and angered many: a dead, black 18- year-old left face-down for hours in the middle of a street after being shot multiple times by a white police officer, his red Cardinals baseball cap knocked from his head by the fall. No... More »
NEW YORK Which would you prefer: Naked pictures of yourself circulating on the Internet or a breach of your financial data? According to a new survey from Mastercard, 62 percent of Millennials would rather have their nude photos leaked online than have their f... More »
ATHENS With banks shut and the economy seizing up, some Greek newspapers like the Empros daily on the island of Lesvos are running out of paper and could be forced to stop sales altogether until the banks open again. The island’s biggest selling newssheet, Emp... More »
SAN FRANCISCO Reddit Chief Executive Ellen Pao on Monday issued an apology to users of the popular social news platform over the way the company handled the dismissal of a well-liked employee last week, a move that drew widespread outrage from users. The site’... More »
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A new app designed to educate young people about female genital mutilation (FGM) was launched in Britain on Tuesday amid a government crackdown on people who take girls abroad to undergo the practice during the summer holi... More »
ORLANDO, Fla. Walt Disney Co will ban selfie sticks starting next week at its theme parks around the world, the company said on Friday, joining a growing list of attractions that restrict the camera accessories for safety reasons. Beginning Tuesday, the compan... More »
A Cisco office is pictured in San Diego, California November 12, 2012. REUTERS/Mike Blake Cisco’s corporate venture-capital arm said it would deploy $150 million to start-up companies over the next two to three years, accelerating its investments into areas su... More »
A woman walks past icons for Apple applications at the company’s retail store in San Francisco, California April 22, 2009. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith Tired of the same restaurants and clubs? Not sure if friends would want to venture to a new cafe or bar? New app... More »
Square Inc has been in talks with several rivals for a possible sale as the mobile payments startup looks to stem widening losses and dwindling cash, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. More »
Major technology companies like Google and BlackBerry provide mentoring services to companies within Communitech in Kitchener’s historic Tannery District in Kitchener, Ontario, March 18, 2014. REUTERS/Euan Rocha The troubles at BlackBerry Ltd, which fired more... More »
Major technology companies like Google and BlackBerry provide mentoring services to companies within Communitech in Kitchener’s historic Tannery District in Kitchener, Ontario, March 18, 2014. REUTERS/Euan Rocha The troubles at BlackBerry Ltd, which fired more... More »
