(Reuters) – Over two dozen large trade fairs and industry conferences in China and overseas have been postponed due to travel curbs and concerns about the spread of the 2019 coronavirus, potentially disrupting billions of dollars’ worth of deals. In order of s... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – An additional 99 people on a quarantined cruise ship off Yokohama have been confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus, Japanese media reported on Monday. The widening impact of the outbreak, which began in China in December and has... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan said on Monday it would limit public crowds in Tokyo to prevent a further spread of the deadly coronavirus, scrapping the emperor’s birthday celebrations and closing next month’s Tokyo Marathon to all but elite professional runners. The... More »
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (Reuters) – An influx of Chinese that some Cambodians resented for bringing noise, dust and chaos to the port of Sihanoukville, is the cause of more pain now that it has gone into reverse. The new coronavirus has meant yet another setba... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – A small factory in Malaysia’s capital is preparing thousands of ready-to-eat halal meals, from fried rice to chicken biryani, to be shipped off to Japan for 2020’s biggest sporting event. Food firms from Muslim-majority Malaysia, are e... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Workers began trickling back to offices and factories around China on Monday as the government eased some restrictions on working during a coronavirus epidemic that has killed more than 900 people, most of them on the mainland. The death to... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Foreign Ministry said that 27 foreigners in the country have been confirmed infected with the new coronavirus as of Monday morning, and two had died. An American died on Feb. 6 and a Japanese died on Feb. 8, ministry spokesman Geng ... More »
(Reuters) – Here are the latest developments around the new coronavirus outbreak: * China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said on Monday the death toll rose to 908, as employees began trickling back to offices and factories around China after the government... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Monday that the new coronavirus was a serious and imminent threat to public health, a step that gives the government additional powers to fight the spread of the virus. “The Secretary of State declares that the incidence or t... More »
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – When marketing Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s national tourism agency typically focuses on the city’s world-class beaches, samba-filled music scene and caipirinha-fueled parties. Violent crime is rarely listed among the attractions. But in... More »
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The economic and diplomatic costs of China’s coronavirus epidemic mounted on Monday with investors knocking $400 billion off the value of stocks and the government accusing the United States of over-reacting to the outbreak and whi... More »
(Reuters) – The number of deaths in China from the newly identified virus, which emerged in Wuhan city in the central province of Hubei in December, has risen to 361, as of Sunday, up 57 from the previous day, the National Health Commission said. Here are the ... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Some technology firms in China have maintained operations to manufacture parts and products despite government calls in various cities and provinces for companies to halt work to help stop the spread of a new coronavirus. Chinese telecom g... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Initial tests carried out on around 20 people who were repatriated to France from China presented negative results for coronavirus, French junior health minister Adrien Taquet told BFM TV on Monday. More than 250 people from 30 countries arri... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam confirmed an additional three cases of the new coronavirus, the health ministry said, bringing the country’s total to eight cases. The latest confirmed case were in the same flight from Wuhan, China, to Vietnam and had close contact w... More »
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese stock and commodity markets fell heavily on Monday as the death toll from a coronavirus epidemic in China rose to 361 and investors retreated into safe-haven assets in the first trading session after an extended Lunar New Y... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The Shanghai government has said companies in the city are not allowed to resume operations before Feb. 9, an official at the municipality announced at a press conference on Monday. The measure is applicable to government and private compa... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Macau said on Monday it will deny entry to visitors from China’s Hubei province or those who visited the province 14 days prior to arrival unless they can provide documentation showing they are not infected with the virus that broke out in ... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The mayor of Wuhan, the city where China’s coronavirus outbreak originated, said on Monday the city’s management of the virus was “not good enough”. Zhou Xianwang made the remarks in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV. The death toll... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Oman’s energy minister Mohammed bin Hamad al-Rumhy told Reuters on Monday he fully supported Saudi Arabia’s readiness to react to any impact the new coronavirus could have on the oil market. “Oman fully supports the statement (and the spirit)... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s finance ministry and National Health Commission have extended 60.33 billion yuan ($8.74 billion) to help contain a spreading virus, according to a statement on the ministry’s website. The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak ro... More »
(Reuters) – The coronavirus outbreak that began in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, in the province of Hubei, has killed 81 people in China so far and infected more than 2,750 globally, most of them in China. The virus has caused alarm because it is still to... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s state planning agency, plans to invest 300 million yuan ($43.5 million) for the construction of hospitals in Wuhan serving patients affected by the coronavirus, offic... More »
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Big businesses across China are temporarily shutting stores or advising staff to work from home, to guard against the spread of a flu-like virus as the tally of deaths rose to 80, with more than 2,700 people infected. Companies are... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore said on Monday that the coronavirus outbreak will hurt its economy this year, as it announced new measures to tackle the disease which originated in China and has spread to the city-state and several other countries. The Southea... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea reported on Monday its first confirmed case of a new coronavirus that has broken out in China, South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said. The patient is a 35-year-old Chinese woman and resident of Wuhan,... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) say a new strain of coronavirus is behind the outbreak of pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan, which has erupted just ahead of the Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest festival... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) say a new strain of coronavirus is behind the outbreak of pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan, which has erupted just ahead of the Lunar New Year, the country’s biggest festival... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will step up efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays as a rise in confirmed cases fanned fears the virus could spread to other countries. The National Health Commission said on Sunday ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways-owner IAG (ICAG.L), will step down from the airlines group he helped to build later this year and hand the reins to a key lieutenant, Luis Gallego. Walsh had said in November that successi... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A lovelorn singing whale, a world-famous feline sourpuss and ravenous goats credited with thwarting a dangerous California wildfire were among animals whose escapades across the United States made news in 2019. Animal antics drawing attent... More »
(Reuters) – At least five people were killed, up to 20 injured and several were reported missing after a volcano suddenly erupted off the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island on Monday, spewing a plume of ash thousands of feet into the air. Here are some p... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – At least one person was killed, several injured and others reported missing in New Zealand after a volcano erupted off the east coast of its North Island on Monday, spewing a plume of ash thousands of feet into the air. Twenty-three peop... More »
(Reuters) – Some of the tourists on New Zealand’s White Island during Monday’s volcano eruption were passengers on a cruise ship visiting the area, cruise line officials say. The ship, Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas, is in port in Tauranga, a coastal ci... More »
(Reuters) – Tourist Michael Schade stood at the crater of New Zealand’s White Island volcano minutes before it erupted on Monday and shared his terrifying experience in a series of messages and videos posted on social media. “My God, White Island volcano in Ne... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police laid siege to a university on Monday, firing rubber bullets and tear gas to pin back anti-government protesters armed with petrol bombs and other homemade weapons from fleeing amid fears of a bloody crackdown. Dozens, cho... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – No one should underestimate China’s will to safeguard its sovereignty and Hong Kong’s stability, foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily news briefing on Monday. The Asian financial hub is witnessing a violent standoff between p... More »
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Cambodian authorities and volunteer divers were searching on Monday for a 21-year-old British woman who has been missing for five days from its southwestern coast popular with backpackers. Amelia Bambridge was last seen on Thursday leavi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The collateral damage of the United States’ trade wars is being felt from the fjords of Iceland to the auto factories of Japan. Central bank governors and finance ministers traded grim tales of suffering economies at the International Mo... More »
KEY WEST, Fla. (Reuters) – Emily Hower, a research assistant at Nova Southeastern University doing field work on coral off Key West in Florida, bobs up out of the water and removes her diving mask. The news is not good. Most of the pillar coral that her team h... More »
(Reuters) – Aircraft leasing companies are launching moves to recover dozens of Airbus passenger planes after the collapse of British travel group Thomas Cook (TCG.L), market sources said. The overall group operates a fleet of 85 Airbus planes and 31 Boeing je... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s businesses and underground rail stations re-opened as usual on Monday morning, after a chaotic Sunday that saw police fire water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters who blocked roads and threw petrol bombs outsid... More »
BAYEUX, France (Reuters) – The French town of Bayeux has been home for nearly a millennium to a tapestry depicting a bloody battle for power. Now it has another. An exhibition featuring a tapestry illustrating the events of hit HBO TV show “Game of Thrones” op... More »
BAYEUX, France (Reuters) – The French town of Bayeux has been home for nearly a millennium to a tapestry depicting a bloody battle for power. Now it has another. An exhibition featuring a tapestry illustrating the events of hit HBO TV show “Game of Thrones” op... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Alaa al-Habashi was looking for ingredients for a Ramadan feast when he stumbled on an Ottoman-era mansion being used as a slaughterhouse and butcher’s shop in Cairo’s historic Islamic district. “I was blindsided by the beauty,” the U.S.-trai... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Alaa al-Habashi was looking for ingredients for a Ramadan feast when he stumbled on an Ottoman-era mansion being used as a slaughterhouse and butcher’s shop in Cairo’s historic Islamic district. “I was blindsided by the beauty,” the U.S.-trai... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Thousands of Indonesians prayed for rain in haze-hit towns on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo on Wednesday, as forest fires raged at the height of the dry season, the state Antara news agency reported. Fires have burnt through parts of Su... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The number of Chinese visitors to Australia ticked up in July though the annual pace of growth slowed to the equal weakest in nine years, in a sign the Sino-U.S. trade war and sluggish economic growth were hurting mainland tourists’ travel p... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) hopes that Tokyo 2020’s “urban festival”, which will offer fans the chance to try out Olympic sports, will help the governing body remain relevant and increase long-term youth engagement with the Game... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hundreds of Hong Kong university and school students swapped classes for democracy demonstrations on Monday, the latest act of defiance in an anti-government movement that has plunged the Chinese-ruled city into its biggest political cris... More »
LARNACA, Cyprus (Reuters) – A 96-year-old celebrated his birthday on Saturday by breaking his own record as the world’s oldest active scuba diver for the third year running, plunging to the depths of the equivalent of a 15-storey building to explore a shipwrec... More »
KOMODO, Indonesia (Reuters) – Almost every day 20-year-old Rizaldian Syahputra puts on his blue uniform, laces up his high boots and leaves his wooden house on stilts for a job many nature-lovers would envy. But by next year, he may no longer be employed. Syah... More »
BIARRITZ, France (Reuters) – Iran has an opportunity to come back into compliance with the nuclear deal and resume dialogue about its nuclear activities, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier he would mee... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s seaside towns are at war with their seagulls, urging visitors not to feed the birds in an effort to stop them snatching titbits like potato chips from tourists’ hands. Warning signs deck promenade railings from Scarborough to Broad... More »
(Reuters) – Swarms of grasshoppers have descended upon America’s Sin City in unusual abundance this week, disrupting weather radars, deterring tourists and invoking hysteria on social media. The clouds of buzzing insects, whose migration through the Las Vegas ... More »
UNWATUNA/GALLE, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Pearl Divers, a diving school on one of Sri Lanka’s most popular southern beaches, shut shop for two months after suicide bombers attacked churches and hotels on the island on Easter Sunday, killing about 250 people. It ha... More »
(Reuters) – Delta Air Lines flight attendants restrained a passenger on a flight from Puerto Rico to New York after he shouted “I am God!” and claimed he would save the world, forcing the plane to return to the airport in San Juan, Puerto Rican police and the ... More »
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of tourists scattered across the north Chilean desert on Tuesday to experience a rare, and irresistible combination for astronomy buffs: a total eclipse of the sun viewed from beneath the world’s clearest skies. A sol... More »
By Natalia A. Ramos Miranda CACHIYUYO, Chile (Reuters) – In the minutes before a solar eclipse plunged Chile into darkness, a loudspeaker projected a deep baritone to a group of blind men and women who had traveled to the Atacama desert to “hear” what hundreds... More »
PUNTA PERDIZ, Cuba (Reuters) – Some artists like to go on a countryside retreat to foster their creative process. For Cuba’s Sandor Gonzalez, there is no better place to sketch than several meters below the surface of the sea, surrounded by iridescent Caribbea... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt on Sunday launched a revamp of the Egyptian Museum, promising to preserve and enhance the storied site even as it loses its most famous collection. Located in the heart of Cairo on Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum has long been the fo... More »
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s battered tourism industry is trying to woo visitors back to beaches deserted after deadly Easter bombings, slashing hotel rates and pushing promotions in key markets like Russia. Tourism, which accounts for 5% of Sri Lanka’s gro... More »
LA SERENA, Chile (Reuters) – The total solar eclipse expected in northern Chile early next month is already drawing flocks of visitors eager to glimpse a rare view of the phenomenon through the region’s clear skies. In Coquimbo, a region spanning the Pacific c... More »
WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) – NASA will allow private citizens to stay at the International Space Station (ISS) for month-long getaways at a cost of about $35,000 per night, the U.S. space agency said on Friday. The shift reverses a long-standing prohibition ... More »
TAIPEI (Reuters) – A Taiwanese artist has created giant inflatables of a tank and “tank man” – the lone protester who stood in front of a convoy of tanks on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square – to mark 30 years since China’s bloody crackdown on the pro-democracy movem... More »
DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – Tanzania wants to boost tourist numbers by putting a cable car on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s tallest mountain, and is in talks about the project with a Chinese and a Western company. Around 50,000 tourists climb Kilimanjaro annually.... More »
BATTICALOA/COLOMBO (Reuters) – State schools in Sri Lanka resumed classes on Monday amid tight security after the Easter Sunday bombings, but many anxious parents kept their children at home over fears of more attacks by Islamic militants. Two weeks after suic... More »
(Reuters) – A Church of Scientology cruise ship quarantined by the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia for measles is due to arrive on Saturday back at its home port on the island of Curacao, where it will face similar restrictions, a top health official there said.... More »
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Authorities lifted a curfew in Sri Lanka on Monday, a day after a string of bombings at churches and luxury hotels across the Indian Ocean island killed 290 people and wounded about 500, but there were warnings more attacks could come. Ther... More »
(Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said in a revised travel advisory ‘terrorist groups’ were continuing to plot possible attacks in Sri Lanka after 290 people were killed and about 500 wounded in blasts in churches and luxury hotels on Sunday. “Terrorists m... More »
COLOMBO (Reuters) – The death toll from attacks on churches and luxury hotels across Sri Lanka rose significantly to 290, and about 500 people were also wounded, police said on Monday. The death toll overnight had stood at 207. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunaseker... More »
JINCHANG, China (Reuters) – About 100 excited Chinese teenagers completed a five-hour tour of a space colony against a desolate backdrop not unlike the desert planet of Tatooine, the home world of Luke Skywalker. They were not on the set of Star Wars, but at a... More »
KAMPALA (Reuters) – An American tourist and her driver have been rescued unharmed after being kidnapped in a national park in southwestern Uganda last week, the Ugandan authorities said on Sunday. Kimberley Sue Endecott, 35, was abducted by gunmen in Queen Eli... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The new Bauhaus museum opens its doors to the public for the first time in the east German city of Weimar on Saturday after three years of construction, giving admirers of the world-famous “form follows function” aesthetic a new place of pil... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Californian group Red Hot Chili Peppers played in front of Egypt’s great pyramids of Giza on Friday, entertaining more than 10,000 people at the site and many more over a livestream link. With the three ancient monuments silhouetted behind th... More »
(Reuters Health) – Teen drivers who wisely stow away their cell phones while they’re behind the wheel still need to be aware of another important risk factor for accidents, a small study suggests. Even when not distracted by their phones, adolescents who reach... 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 »
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) – There is more than a century of Iraqi history in Sheikh Yousif Akar’s house, a modest home in the holy city of Najaf which the retired teacher has crammed full of local antiques collected over 50 years. Rifles dating back to when the ci... More »
MOJAVE, Calif. (Reuters) – A Virgin Galactic rocket plane on Friday soared to the edge of space with a test passenger for the first time, nudging British billionaire Richard Branson’s company closer to its goal of suborbital flights for space tourists. Virgin ... More »
CYRENE, Libya (Reuters) – Graffiti covers the walls of a Greek amphitheatre in Cyrene, an ancient ruined city in eastern Libya now struggling with neglect, vandals and illegal confiscation of land by locals. The deserted souvenir shops and cafes on the mountai... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Ice and snow sculptures carved by nearly 10,000 artists in the city of Harbin have melted during a sudden warm spell, forcing the earliest closure of the main venue at China’s biggest winter festival. Daytime temperatures have poked above f... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – A mural by British street artist Banksy on a fire-exit door at Paris’ Bataclan theater, where Islamist militants killed 90 people three years ago, has been stolen, the venue said on Saturday. The work, one of a series of murals painted last J... More »
(Reuters Health) – Shareable, two-wheeled standing scooters, which are the rage in some West Coast cities, may be more risky to riders – and pedestrians – than people think, researchers say. The battery-powered devices look like a skateboard with handlebars. R... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – At 130 years old, one of Vincent van Gogh’s famous paintings of sunflowers in a vase has become too delicate to keep touring the world and will have to stay at home in Amsterdam. That’s one of the key findings of experts conducting a six-... More »
(Reuters) – A shutdown of about a quarter of the U.S. government reached its 18th day on Tuesday, with lawmakers and the White House divided over Republican President Donald Trump’s demand for money for a border wall ahead of his prime-time address to push the... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Joshua Tree National Park in California will be closed at least temporarily so that staffers can grapple with sanitation and maintenance issues that have mushroomed during the partial government shutdown, officials said on Tuesday. The ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Police have arrested a man and a woman after rogue drone operators crippled London’s Gatwick Airport for three days by repeatedly flying onto the airfield, sparking a major security response. Britain’s second-largest airport was back in oper... More »
(Reuters) – While U.S. National Parks will generally remain open with a skeleton staff through the federal government shutdown, Republican governors in at least two states are working to make sure public restrooms get cleaned and visitor centers stay open. The... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A hive of honeybees in the heart of New York City, a monkey with a photographer’s eye, a brothel full featuring robotic sex dolls and a political candidate who carried the day from his grave were among the characters featured in the strang... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israeli airliners would be able to overfly Sudan en route to South America, part of Israel’s drive to improve ties with Muslim countries and isolate arch-foe Iran. Encouraged by the Tr... More »
GAZIANTEP, Turkey (Reuters) – Missing fragments from one of Turkey’s most striking ancient treasures, the haunting, wide-eyed “Gypsy Girl” mosaic, have returned home more than half a century after they were plundered and smuggled to the United States. On Satur... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France braced on Friday for another wave of protests against high living costs that could inflict more pain on tourism and transport stocks in the euro zone’s No. 2 economy, after retailers, airlines and hoteliers suffered their worst week in... More »
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s traditional cobblestone pavements, a distinctive feature of the streets of Lisbon, are under threat as young people spurn the centuries-old craft because of low salaries. Made using small black and white stones that are crafted in... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Visitors to a Belgian art gallery were stunned when security guards ordered them away from nude paintings by Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens, in what turned out to be a stunt to protest at Facebook blocking the pictures on the grounds of ... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish tourism grew by 6.7 percent in the first half of the year, data showed on Thursday, as British visitors began to shrug off a weak pound that has made trips to the euro zone more expensive since the vote to leave the European Union in J... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek archaeologists have discovered a virtually intact grave of an ancient noblewoman buried with her golden jewelry at a Roman burial monument in the island of Sikinos. Her name, according to a burial inscription, was Neko – or Νεικώ using... More »
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) – Egyptian archaeologists on Thursday dashed local hopes that a newly discovered ancient sarcophagus might contain the remains of Alexander the Great, finding instead the mummies of what appeared to be a family of three. Workmen ina... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Archaeologists in Greece have discovered what they believe to be the oldest known extract of Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey”. A team of Greek and German researchers found it on an engraved clay plaque in Ancient Olympia, the birthplace of th... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – British graffiti artist Banksy, known for his politically charged sketches on walls from London to New York to Gaza City, has descended on Paris, painting a series of murals that are sparking debate among residents and tourists. The satirical... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai rescuers deployed helicopters on Friday in a search for 29 people missing after the sinking of a boat carrying Chinese tourists, with one official saying he feared “no chance” of any more survivors, which would mean a death toll of nea... More »
