World
26th August
Nauru president loses his seat in elections – media reports
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Nauru President Baron Waqa was voted out of office in the tiny South Pacific island nation after six years in power, media reports said on Sunday. Waqa was beaten in his seat...
Florida man guilty of manslaughter in test of ‘stand your ground’ law – reports
(Reuters) – A Florida man has been convicted of manslaughter for a fatal shooting during an argument about a parking spot, local media reported on Saturday, in a case that made headlines when police initially declined to arrest the suspect due to the state’s “stand your ground” self-defense law. A jury found Michael Drejka, 49,...
Australia to block internet domains hosting extremist content during terror attacks
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia will block access to internet domains hosting terrorist material during crisis events and will consider legislation to force digital platforms to improve the safety of their services, officials said on Sunday. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is in France to take part in the G7 leaders’ forum, said the government...
Brazilian states ask for military help as Amazon fires rage
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Six states in Brazil’s Amazon region requested military help on Saturday to combat record fires that are tearing through the rainforest, provoking an international outcry because of the Amazon’s central role in combating global warming. The states of Para, Rondonia, Roraima, Tocantins, Acre and Mato Grosso – out of the region’s nine...
South Korea begins military drills around disputed island amid feud with Japan
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s military will conduct two days of drills around a tiny island also claimed by Japan, Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday, just days after Seoul decided to scrap an intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo amid worsening relations. Tokyo and Seoul have long been at loggerheads over the sovereignty of the group...
Trade and economy in focus as G7 leaders get down to work
BIARRITZ, France (Reuters) – Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations will discuss global trade woes at their annual summit on Sunday, likely laying bare a yawning divide between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Western allies. The G7 gathering is taking place against a backdrop of growing worries about a global economic downturn...
UK PM Johnson seeks legal advice on five-week parliament closure – The Observer
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has asked his attorney general whether parliament can be shut down for five weeks from Sept. 9 in what appears to be an attempt to stop lawmakers forcing a further extension to Brexit, The Observer reported. An email from senior government advisers to an adviser in Johnson’s...
25th August
Family stayed in Syrian town during offensive as rebels ouste
KHAN SHEIKHOUN, Syria (Reuters) – Russia-backed Syrian forces found Abu Abdo and family this week in Khan Sheikhoun, a town which almost all other residents had fled during shelling in an offensive to take the area from rebel fighters. “The last month was very bad. We couldn’t stand by the door because of the shelling...
China warns U.S. to stop ‘wrong’ trade actions or face consequences
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Saturday it strongly opposes Washington’s decision to levy additional tariffs on $550 billion worth of Chinese goods and warned the United States of consequences if it does not end its “wrong actions”. The comments made by China’s Ministry of Commerce came after the U.S. President Donald Trump announced on...
Hong Kong police arrest 29 after overnight clashes, more protests planned
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police said on Sunday they arrested 29 people after clashes overnight in which volleys of tear gas were fired to disperse anti-government protesters, as the Asian financial hub braced for more demonstrations later in the day. Activists threw petrol bombs and bricks on Saturday in the gritty industrial area...
North Korean leader Kim oversaw test of ‘super-large multiple rocket launcher’: KCNA
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test of a “super-large multiple rocket launcher” on Saturday, state news agency KCNA reported on Sunday. North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, the South Korean military said, the latest in a series...
Six spectators hurt after lightning strike at Tour Championship
(Reuters) – Six spectators were injured when lightning struck a tree during the third round at the Tour Championship in Atlanta on Saturday, the PGA Tour said in a statement. “At 4.45 p.m., there were two lightning strikes at East Lake Golf Club; a tree near the range/15 green/16 tee was hit, and debris from...
Squabbles erupt as G7 leaders arrive for summit in France
BIARRITZ, France (Reuters) – Squabbles erupted among G7 nations on Saturday even before their leaders had gathered for an annual summit, exposing sharp differences on global trade tensions, Britain’s exit from the EU and how to respond to the fires raging in the Amazon rainforest. French President Emmanuel Macron, the summit host, planned the three-day...
Russian spacecraft carrying robot fails to dock with space station
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a humanoid robot failed to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported, citing a live broadcast. The FEDOR (Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research) robot on its way to the ISS on a planned two-week mission to support the crew and test...
Measles-stricken New Zealand girl visited Disneyland, other California destinations
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A teenage girl from New Zealand sick with measles visited Disneyland and other popular tourist stops across Southern California earlier this month, possibly infecting others, local government health officials warned. The alert comes amid the worst outbreak of measles in the United States in a quarter century, with more than 1,200...
Britain’s Prince Andrew denies seeing any sex crimes during time with Epstein
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Prince Andrew said on Saturday he never saw or suspected any sex crimes during the time he spent with U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew has faced weeks of scrutiny over his friendship with Epstein, who committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell earlier this month while being held on sex-trafficking charges....
As EU threatens trade retaliation, Brazil sends army to fight Amazon fires
BRASILIA/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European leaders on Friday threatened to tear up a trade deal with South America, reflecting growing international anger at Brazil as a record number of fires in the Amazon rainforest intensified an unfolding environmental crisis. Amid a global chorus of concern and condemnation, Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro pledged in an address...
Indian opposition leaders denied entry to Kashmir, sent back from airport
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian opposition leaders including former Congress president Rahul Gandhi were barred from leaving the airport on Saturday in Kashmir, where local authorities had warned that their visit could stoke heightened tension in the region. The Jammu and Kashmir government said late on Friday political leaders had been asked not to visit...
Missile hits Tripoli airport car park, grounding flights for three hours
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – A missile hit the car park of Libya’s only functioning airport in Tripoli on Saturday, forcing flights to be grounded for almost three hours before operations resumed, the airport and a witness said. The airport said on its website that Mitiga airport “was exposed to a missile, coinciding with the arrival of...
Psychologist approved Jeffrey Epstein’s removal from suicide watch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A psychologist at the federal detention centre in New York City where financier Jeffrey Epstein was jailed on sex-trafficking charges had approved his removal from suicide watch before he killed himself, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday. The disclosure came in a letter dated on Thursday from Assistant Attorney General Stephen...
CDC flags one death and nearly 200 cases of lung illnesses in U.S, possibly tied to vaping
(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday it had identified 193 potential cases of severe lung illness tied to vaping in 22 states as of Aug. 22, including one adult in Illinois who died after being hospitalized. The CDC has been investigating a “cluster” of lung illnesses that it...
Smoke forces Hawaii Airlines Airbus to make emergency landing
(Reuters) – A Hawaiian Airlines jetliner made an emergency landing in Honolulu on Thursday after smoke filled the cabin and cargo hold, and seven people were taken to hospital, officials said. Hawaiian Airlines Flight 47, an Airbus A321neo flying from Oakland, California, was about 20 minutes away from its scheduled noon landing in Honolulu when...
Kentucky clerk who refused same-sex marriage licenses can be sued
(Reuters) – The Kentucky county clerk who in 2015 gained widespread attention for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples may be sued for damages by two of those couples, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. In a 3-0 decision, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said Kim Davis can...
Mexican families scour arid plains for graves of disappeared
TORREON, Mexico (Reuters) – Fifteen years after her daughter’s disappearance, 55-year-old Silvia Ortiz spends day after day raking through arid scrubland in northern Mexico hoping to find her remains. Ortiz belongs to a group of families working to uncover graves of some of the 40,000 people who have gone missing in mounting lawlessness since the...
Brazil’s indigenous people swear to fight for Amazon ‘to last drop of blood’
CANUTAMA, Brazil (Reuters) – Members of Brazil’s Mura indigenous tribe painted their bodies with orange-red paint and took up long bows and clubs as they headed into the jungle this week, prepared for battle. Their enemy? The deforestation and destruction of their home, the Amazon rainforest. There are more than 18,000 Mura that live in...
Israeli teenager killed by bomb near settlement: Israeli officials
DEIR IBZI’, West Bank (Reuters) – An Israeli teenager was killed and her father and brother were injured by a Palestinian bomb near a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Friday, Israeli officials said. The family were visiting a spring in a popular hiking area when an improvised explosive device (IED) blew up, the...
Russia’s first seaborne nuclear power plant sets sail across Arctic
MURMANSK, Russia (Reuters) – Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant set sail on Friday from the Arctic port of Murmansk to provide power to one of the country’s most remote regions, sparking environmental concerns. Developed by the Russian state nuclear company Rosatom, the plant, known as “Akademik Lomonosov”, set off on a 5,000 km (3,100...
UK PM Johnson says Britain will send back migrants who cross channel illegally
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will send back migrants who illegally try to cross the channel from France, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday. “We will send you back,” Johnson told media, when asked what his message was to illegal immigrants after authorities intercepted a boat of migrants off the south coast of England. “The...
Ebola appears contained in Goma, but flares in other parts of Congo: WHO
GENEVA (Reuters) – Ebola appears to be under control in the city of Goma in Congo but it has flared in other parts of the country, where aid workers are combating insecurity and disinformation on social media, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. The latest infections include the mysterious case of a woman...
24th August
South Africa to roll out sweeping health reform in stages
PRETORIA (Reuters) – A proposed move to universal health coverage in South Africa will be rolled out in stages as the budget improves, a senior presidential aide told Reuters, forecasting the landmark reform would cost $2.2 billion per year by 2025/26. The National Health Insurance (NHI) program, to be debated in parliament soon, is a...
