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 »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean prosecutors indicted Samsung Group’s Jay Y. Lee on Tuesday on suspicion of accounting fraud and stock price manipulation in connection with a 2015 merger, dealing a new blow to the head of one of Asia’s most valuable companies. L... 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 »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – K-Pop band BTS roared to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts in the United States on Monday, becoming the first Korean pop act to debut at No. 1. “Dynamite,” the first all-English language single from the seven-member boy ba... More »
(Reuters) – At a North California supermarket last week, one visitor likely had only one thing in mind – the bear necessities. Shoppers at the Kings Beach Safeway by Lake Tahoe found an otherwise routine trip to the store on Aug. 25 disrupted by an inquisitive... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) on Tuesday said it would stop Australians sharing news content on its platforms if a proposal to make it pay local media outlets for their content becomes law, escalating tension with the Australian government. Under Aust... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s second-most populous state Victoria, the epicentre for COVID-19 infections in the country, on Tuesday reported its lowest rise in virus-related deaths in two weeks as a second-wave outbreak eases. Victoria said five people died f... More »
(Reuters) – Zoom Video Communications Inc raised its annual revenue forecast by more than 30% after comfortably beating quarterly estimates on Monday as it converts more of its huge free user base to paid subscriptions. Shares of Zoom, which have surged almost... More »
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish President Michael D. Higgins joined a virtual celebration of Van Morrison’s 75th birthday on Monday, namechecking U.S. civil rights champion John Lewis and author James Baldwin in a spoken-word rendition of one of the Northern Irishman... More »
(Reuters) – Lady Gaga dominated the MTV Video Music Awards show on Sunday, with a series of visually arresting outfits, masked performances and four wins, including artist of the year. Gaga, who went into the show sharing a leading nine nominations with Ariana... More »
(Reuters) – A three-year-old girl entangled in the tail of a giant kite survived a terrifying ride after being swept more than 100 feet (30 metres) into the air during a kite festival in Taiwan, video footage posted on social media on Sunday showed. Horrified ... More »
DONG HOA, Vietnam (Reuters) – While coronavirus lockdowns caused many men across the world to grow their hair longer than usual, none compare with Vietnam’s Nguyen Van Chien who has gone almost 80 years without a trim. The 92-year-old from the southern Mekong ... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – The gunman who killed 51 Muslim worshippers in New Zealand’s worst mass shooting faces a life prison term, possibly without parole, with multi-day sentencing hearings taking place this week. Brenton Tarrant, an Australian, has pleaded gu... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Finding the pandemic scary? A Japanese group is trying to take people’s minds off COVID-19 – by putting them in coffins surrounded by chainsaw-wielding zombies. Customers this weekend in Tokyo can lie in a 2-metre (6 1/2-foot) windowed box, l... More »
LAGOS (Reuters) – Two young women fill the screen, reclining on a bed, talking about their hope of having children. They are protagonists in a new Nigerian film called “Ife” depicting their love story. The topic is controversial in Nigeria, where same-sex rela... More »
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand’s prime minister postponed the country’s general election on Monday by a month to Oct. 17 as the city of Auckland remains in lockdown due to a growing coronavirus outbreak. Jacinda Ardern bowed to pressure to delay the polls ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The leader of Australia’s New South Wales state apologised on Monday for failing to stop people carrying the novel coronavirus from disembarking from a cruise ship in Sydney in March, triggering what was at the time Australia’s worst outbrea... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Two decades of Maya Husseini’s work to restore stained glass windows destroyed in the Lebanese civil war was lost in an instant in the seismic port explosion in Beirut. “I can say that in this blast, 20 years of my professional life was on t... More »
(This August 13 story corrects to show that 2019 and 2020 H1 results are based on different accounting standards in paragraph 3, changes percentage change to profit figure in paragraph 1) By Joyce Lee SEOUL (Reuters) – Big Hit Entertainment, the management lab... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – Four famous amateur model grandmothers took off their masks during a saunter down the streets of Beijing on Thursday to demonstrate life returning to normal as the COVID-19 pandemic eases. Glamma Beijing, a group of four women who met durin... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British actress Naomie Harris and musician Brian Eno have teamed up to produce a short film backing calls for urgent action to slow climate change, in support of civil disobedience campaign Extinction Rebellion. Harris, who plays Eve Moneype... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – One creature’s droppings can be another’s treasure, as Germany’s Krone Circus is finding out during the new coronavirus pandemic. Home to 26 lions and tigers, the circus has found an unusual side income and raised money despite coronavirus-r... More »
HAVANA (Reuters) – Havana was once dubbed the ‘Paris of the Caribbean’ for its beautiful architecture, vibrant arts scene, and flourishing nightlife. Now it even has its own Eiffel Tower. The illuminated four-meter (13-ft) high replica by Cuban blacksmith Jorg... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Curtains flutter through broken windows, piles of debris block the streets and top-floor apartments with their roofs blown off are exposed to the sky. As the residents of Beirut try to pick up their lives after an explosion that shook the co... 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 »
MINSK (Reuters) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko won a landslide re-election victory, the central election commission said on Monday, after bloody clashes between riot police and thousands of protesters who said the poll was rigged. Figures from the... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai became the highest-profile person arrested under a new national security law on Monday, detained over suspected collusion with foreign forces as around 200 police searched the offices of his Apple Daily ne... More »
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Chinese air force jets briefly crossed the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait on Monday and were tracked by Taiwanese missiles, Taiwan’s government said, as U.S. health chief Alex Azar visited the island to offer President Donald Trump’s support.... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia recorded its biggest one-day rise in COVID-19 deaths on Monday although a slowdown in new cases gave hope that a second wave of new infections in the state of Victoria may have peaked. Nineteen people had died from the virus, all i... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Looking for a new way to communicate during the pandemic? A Los Angeles company has created phone booth-sized machines to beam live holograms into your living room. The device made by PORTL Inc lets users talk in real time with a life-s... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Singer-actress Selena Gomez has been cooking up a storm during the coronavirus lockdown and is now ready to share her hilarious and sometimes embarrassing efforts with the rest of the world. “Selena + Chef,” a 10-episode unscripted seri... More »
(Reuters) – Eleven years after the sudden death of actress Natasha Richardson, her husband Liam Neeson and their son have found renewed healing in their first film together, “Made in Italy.” “Reading the script was like, what? This is so weird. Like, surely Mo... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Two years after part of Genoa’s Morandi motorway bridge collapsed, killing 43 people, a new structure opens in its place on Monday, an achievement in stark contrast to stalled infrastructure projects elsewhere in Italy. The new kilometre-long... More »
BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) – A potential shotgun wedding to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) for TikTok’s U.S. operations provoked an outcry on Monday on Chinese social media as well as criticism from a prominent Chinese investor in TikTok owner ByteDance. The U.S. te... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Flash floods killed at least two people and swept through hundreds of houses in northern Thailand, authorities said after tropical storm Sinlaku dumped heavy rains on 18 provinces over the weekend. Muddy, waist-high waters poured into homes... More »
BELFAST (Reuters) – John Hume, a key Roman Catholic architect of Northern Ireland’s 1998 Good Friday peace agreement who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending 30 years of sectarian violence, died on Monday at the age of 83, his SDLP party said. Hume... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization warned on Monday that, despite strong hopes for a vaccine, there might never be a “silver bullet” for COVID-19, and the road to normality would be long. More than 18.14 million people around the world are report... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong reported 80 new coronavirus cases on Monday, dropping below 100 infections for the first time in 12 days, as a team of Chinese officials began preparations for widespread testing in the global financial hub, which has seen a res... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, who flew to the International Space Station in SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon, splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday after a two-month voyage that was NASA’s first crewed mission from home soil in nine... More »
(Reuters) – The two NASA astronauts who rode to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon are heading home for a Sunday splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, capping a two-month voyage in space that marked NASA’s first crewed mission from hom... More »
(Reuters) – Arsenal skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice to help his side secure a 2-1 win over 10-man Chelsea in the FA Cup final on Saturday for a record-extending 14th crown in the competition – and a spot in next season’s Europa League. Victory a... More »
(This July 30 story refiles to add details on previous NASA rovers, landers) By Joey Roulette (Reuters) – NASA’s next-generation Mars rover Perseverance blasted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Thursday atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a $2.4 billion mission to s... More »
(Reuters) – Facebook Inc said on Friday that its users in the United States would be able to view and share official music videos on its platform, in a move to better compete with Alphabet Inc’s video platform YouTube. Facebook, which had 2.7 billion monthly a... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Ellen DeGeneres on Thursday sent an emotional message to the staff of her television talk show saying she was taking steps to improve the culture on set following accusations of a hostile working environment. The email followed an inter... More »
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Most of us have accepted COVID-19 face masks as an inconvenient, albeit necessary, safety measure. For the style conscious like James Maina Mwangi, however, they are an unmissable fashion opportunity. Mwangi’s brightly coloured suits and ha... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A 9-tonne sculpture of a giant swirl of whipped cream with a cherry on top, as well as a fly and a drone, was unveiled on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth in London on Thursday. The sculpture by Heather Phillipson, entitled “THE END”, is the... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Madame Tussauds’ most famous figures led by example and formed a socially distanced queue outside the soon-to-be reopened wax museum on Thursday, with Queen Elizabeth leading the way followed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson then musi... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Stuck at home during lockdown, Dutch researcher Wouter van der Veen finally found time to look through old postcards of the French village where Vincent Van Gogh died and made a remarkable discovery. One postcard showing gnarled roots and tre... More »
DEL MAR, Calif. (Reuters) – Scientists are using drones and other technology to study great white sharks along the coast of Southern California to better understand interactions between these marine predators and people and assess the risks to human beachgoers... More »
(Reuters) – Scientists have solved an enduring mystery about Stonehenge, determining the place of origin of many of the megaliths that make up the famed monument in Wiltshire, England, thanks to a core sample that had been kept in the United States for decades... More »
(Reuters) – NASA is set to launch an ambitious mission to Mars on Thursday with the liftoff of its next-generation Perseverance rover, a six-wheeled robot tasked with deploying a mini helicopter, testing out equipment for future human missions and searching fo... More »
(Reuters) – Jazz artist Gregory Porter, whose new single “Concorde” is an ode to space exploration, is set to perform on Thursday as part of a ceremony marking the launch of NASA’s next generation rover that will search for signs of habitable conditions on Mar... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian scientists said on Wednesday they have given five fly species scientific names that pay tribute to the Marvel comic universe, including one named for wise-cracking anti-hero Deadpool and another after superhero creator Stan Lee. T... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian scientists are poring over the stunningly well-preserved bones of an adult woolly mammoth that roamed the earth at least 10,000 years ago, after local inhabitants discovered its remains in the shallows of a north Siberian lake. Part ... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway began tearing down a landmark building adorned with giant murals by Pablo Picasso on Monday as part of efforts to rebuild government headquarters after a deadly far-right bombing. Oslo’s ‘Y block’ office building, with a Picasso drawing... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Bans on international travel cannot stay in place indefinitely, and countries are going to have to do more to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus within their borders, the World Health Organization said on Monday. A surge of infection... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The NBA basketball jersey given to Michael Jordan on the day in 1984 when he first signed with the Chicago Bulls will go up for auction in December, Julien’s Auctions announced on Monday. The red and white jersey emblazoned with Jordan’... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – The airport in the central Vietnamese tourism hotspot of Danang was packed on Monday after three residents tested positive for the coronavirus and the evacuation of 80,000 people began. The Southeast Asian country is back on high alert after ... More »
KYIV (Reuters) – A full and comprehensive ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists has entered into force in eastern Ukraine, opening the prospect of an end to military and civilian casualties, the two sides said on Monday. Ukr... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Johnny Depp was a drug addict prone to violent rages and a misogynist who assaulted his wife and used abusive language about women, a London court was told on Monday as the actor’s libel trial against a British tabloid neared its ending. The... More »
WASHINGTON(Reuters) – Joyce Elliott, an Arkansas state senator who is seeking a U.S. congressional seat in November, was the second Black student to attend her local public high school- the first was her older sister. If elected in November, she will be the fi... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong banned gatherings of more than two people on Monday, closed down restaurant dining and introduced mandatory face masks in public places, including outdoors, as it tries to rein in a new coronavirus outbreak. The measures, which ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Johnny Depp is suing the publisher of Britain’s Sun newspaper and its executive editor Dan Wootton for libel over an article that described the movie star as a “wife beater”. The Sun’s lawyers told the court they would show the allegation in... More »
(Reuters) – “Gone With the Wind” star Olivia de Havilland, considered the last surviving actress of the Golden Age of Hollywood, died on Sunday at the age of 104, the Hollywood Reporter said. She died of natural causes at her home in Paris, where she had lived... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Taylor Swift on Friday won some of the best reviews of her career with an album produced entirely during the coronavirus crisis that breaks new ground for the Grammy-winning artist. “Folklore” features the 30-year-old singer, who began ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Works by Rembrandt, Miro and Picasso are being offered to entice life back to the auction world next week when Sotheby’s holds its first face-to-face sale since the coronavirus in London with a line-up from the Renaissance to the European Av... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Signs emerged that leaders of northern European Union countries were willing to compromise on a 1.8 trillion euro ($2 trillion) coronavirus stimulus plan on Monday as talks in Brussels extended to a fourth day. Divided and slow to respond ... More »
(Reuters) – Jon Rahm’s two-shot penalty at the 16th hole of the Memorial Tournament on Sunday had no impact on the final placings but the Spaniard says it took the shine off one of the greatest shots of his career. Rahm’s final round three-over-par 75 was enou... More »
(Reuters) – Spain’s Jon Rahm overcame nerves and a two-shot penalty to claim victory at the Memorial Tournament on Sunday and replace Rory McIlroy at the top of the world rankings. Rahm began the final round at a steamy and gusty Muirfield Village Golf Club wi... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Actress Amber Heard will be questioned about her allegations that she suffered domestic abuse at the hands of ex-husband Johnny Depp when she begins giving evidence on Monday as part of the Hollywood star’s libel case against a British tablo... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Johnny Depp is suing the publisher of Britain’s Sun newspaper and its executive editor Dan Wootton for libel over an article that described the movie star as a “wife beater”. Depp has given five days of testimony. This week, London’s High Co... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Actress and #MeToo campaigner Katherine Kendall said on Friday Britain’s Sun newspaper had deliberately misused her quotes in an article which labelled Hollywood star Johnny Depp a “wife beater”. Depp, 57, is suing the publisher of that news... More »
LAGOS (Reuters) – Oreoluwa Akinnawo is in his element. Lagos’s bars and restaurants are shut and Nigerians are struggling to socialise. The pandemic is his perfect time to find a soul mate online. “The dating thing during this restriction works perfectly for m... More »
(Reuters) – Young YouTube sensation Ryan Kaji’s star has kept rising during the coronavirus lockdowns. The eight-year-old, who first began his channel “Ryan’s World” on YouTube to review toys for family members and other youngsters, raked in $26 million as 201... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Italy on Tuesday handed back to France a mural painted by British street artist Banksy which was stolen from the Paris Bataclan theatre, where militant Islamist gunmen killed scores of people in an attack in November 2015. In June 2018, Banksy... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates wants to see a return of Libya’s oil production as soon as possible but with safeguards in place to prevent proceeds from fuelling further conflict in the north African country, a senior Emirati official tweeted on Mo... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Movie star Johnny Depp on Monday concluded giving evidence in his libel action against Britain’s Sun newspaper after five days in the witness box, again rejecting accusations he had hit his ex-wife Amber Heard and accusing her of using viole... More »
(Reuters) – Six times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton praised his Mercedes team for taking a stance against racism but said after winning Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix that Ferrari and others should do more. The Briton took a knee with 11 drivers befor... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A little-known member of one of rock ‘n’ roll music’s royal families, Benjamin Keough, grandson of the late Elvis Presley and only son of the “The King’s” daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, has died aged 27, her spokesman said on Sunday. The... More »
(Reuters) – Mickey waved from a distance and visitors wore colorful face masks with mouse ears on Saturday as Florida’s Walt Disney World opened to the public for the first time in four months amid a surge of coronavirus cases in the state. Walt Disney Co (DIS... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France will back Spanish Economy Minister Nadia Calvino for the presidency of the Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday, a stance echoed by France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Dri... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – With their stadium devoid of fans due to coronavirus restrictions, Japanese baseball team Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks have come up with an imaginative replacement: dancing robots. Before their most recent Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) game ag... More »
(Reuters) – The Dalai Lama made a bid for music chart stardom on Monday, his 85th birthday, with the release of an album of mantras and teachings. “Inner World” kicks off with the track “One Of My Favourite Prayers” and continues with the exiled Tibetan spirit... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Ennio Morricone, the Italian composer whose haunting scores to Spaghetti Westerns like “A Fistful of Dollars” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” helped define a cinematic era, has died, his lawyer said on Monday. He was 91. Morricone had bro... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Several dozen Paris tour guides wearing masks and holding Mona Lisa portraits protested outside the Louvre museum on Monday for more support from the government to help them ride out the coronavirus crisis and a dearth of tourists. They gathe... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Elton John on Monday became the second artist to be honoured by Britain’s Royal Mint with a commemorative coin paying tribute to the decorated British singer-songwriter. The coin, designed by artist Bradley Morgan Johnson, depicts John’s dis... More »
PRAGUE (Reuters) – A Czech film festival disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic unveiled a scaled-down programme of movies on Friday with an opening ceremony in an empty auditorium and a star-free red carpet. The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, central a... More »
LUANDA (Reuters) – When the Angolan government imposed its coronavirus lockdown in late March, local entrepreneur and innovator Claudio Kiala saw a gap in the market when it came to virtual entertainment. Kiala and his team had been developing a performance pl... More »
(Reuters) – Hollywood came under intense scrutiny for a lack of diversity in 2015 when the #OscarsSoWhite movement spotlighted the dearth of Black nominees for the film industry’s highest honors. Following the mass protests after the death of African American ... More »
CARACAS(Reuters) – With Venezuela now three months into a coronavirus quarantine that has kept children locked indoors, music and art teachers and storytellers are for the first time moving their classes online. The change is an uphill battle in the South Amer... More »
HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s parliament passed national security legislation for Hong Kong on Tuesday, setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony’s way of life since it returned to Chinese rule 23 years ago. Details of... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Louisa Sumagui and her family wanted a final momento of their 12 years in Dubai before returning to Australia after losing jobs in the tourism industry due to the coronavirus pandemic. The moment was captured for Sumagui, her husband and two ... More »
LEICESTER, England (Reuters) – Britain has imposed a stringent lockdown on the English city of Leicester following a local flare-up of the novel coronavirus, overshadowing Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s attempts to nudge the country back to normality. The Unit... More »
KINSHASA (Reuters) – In central Kinshasa, freshly painted murals show traditional idols wearing medical masks or applying hand sanitiser, part of an art initiative to counter public disbelief in the face of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping Democratic Republic... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Sunday he was never briefed about the reported Russian efforts to pay bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan, blasting a New York Times report on the bounties. “Nobody brief... More »
(Reuters) – Black power, suffering and the fight for justice took center stage at the BET awards on Sunday, the first Black celebrity event in the United States since nationwide mass protests broke out this month over systemic racism. The show, which celebrate... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Soundtracks from the golden age of Italian cinema are to be made available to a new generation of music and film lovers under a new partnership between Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sugar, Italy’s leading independent label. More than 2,000... More »
BRUSSELS/MADRID (Reuters) – Finance ministers of Spain, Ireland and Luxembourg are in the running to chair meetings of the powerful Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers, with euro zone officials saying it is likely to be a close race between the Spanish an... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Louvre Museum is getting ready to reopen almost four months after COVID-19 forced it to close, but visitors will find one feature missing: the heaving crowd jostling to get a view of the “Mona Lisa”. With many foreign tourists not ex... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – The Musee d’Orsay in Paris, home of the French Impressionists, reopened to the public on Tuesday, three months after being forced to shut by the COVID-19 pandemic, and its head called for state help to recover from the financial costs of the ... More »
