World
13th November
Ferocious winds whip California fires as death toll rises to 31
PARADISE, Calif. (Reuters) – The death toll from wildfires raging in California rose to 31 on Sunday after six more people were found killed in what was poised to become the deadliest wildfire in state...
In Saudi, Hunt calls for end to Yemen war, Khashoggi justice
LONDON (Reuters) – British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Monday to press for an end to the war in Yemen and to call on Saudi leaders to cooperate with an investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The visit comes at a time when Riyadh,...
Australian woman charged with contaminating strawberries with needles
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A 50-year-old woman will face court on Monday after police charged her with contaminating strawberries with needles, an episode that spurred one of Australia’s biggest food scares. Australia’s strawberry industry, worth A$160 million (89.44 million pounds), was rocked in September after nearly 200 complaints were made of sewing needles found in strawberries...
China shows J-20 jet’s missiles for the first time at airshow – Global Times
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China has shown the missiles in its advanced J-20 stealth fighter jet to the public for the first time at its largest airshow, the Global Times newspaper reported on Monday. The newspaper said two J-20 fighter jets opened their missile bay doors during a flypast on Monday, revealing that each jet had...
Central American migrants resume their march towards U.S. border
QUERETARO, Mexico (Reuters) – Hundreds of Central American migrants resumed their march north through Mexico on Saturday, en route to the U.S. border where President Donald Trump has effectively suspended the granting of asylum to migrants who cross illegally. Trump’s Friday order, which went into effect on Saturday, means that migrants will have to present...
China proposes new laws on vaccine management
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China has proposed new draft laws on vaccine management which seek to tighten the supervision and management of how vaccines enter the country’s market and will also require stricter management of their production, research and distribution. The State Administration for Market Regulation, which published the draft laws on its website late on...
12th November
Big Oil spent 1 percent on green energy in 2018
LONDON (Reuters) – Top oil and gas companies jointly spent around 1 percent of their 2018 budgets on clean energy, but investments by Europe’s giants vastly outpaced their U.S. and Asian rivals, a study showed. Companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP have in recent years accelerated spending on wind and solar power...
Australian government says future ‘lone wolf’ attacks hard to prevent
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Future “lone wolf” attacks in Australia will be difficult to stop despite heightened security in the aftermath of an Islamic State-inspired attack in Melbourne last week, a senior government minister said on Monday. A Somali-born man set fire to a pick-up truck laden with gas cylinders in the centre of Australia’s second-largest...
Florida Republican Scott asks that ballots be guarded in U.S. Senate race recount
(Reuters) – Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott, whose lead has narrowed in the state’s U.S. Senate race, filed more lawsuits against local election officials on Sunday, asking a judge to order police to impound voting machines and ballots when they are not in use. On Saturday, a machine recount began in the race between Scott...
Israeli fire kills seven during Gaza raid, Israeli officer killed
GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in air strikes and an undercover raid that Hamas said targeted one of its commanders and the Israeli military said left one of its officers dead. The Israeli incursion and air attacks drew rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled enclave, with sirens...
Street battles rage in Yemen’s Hodeidah, civilians caught in crossfire
ADEN (Reuters) – Street battles raged on Sunday in residential areas of Yemen’s main port city of Hodeidah, forcing medical staff to flee the largest hospital, as Houthi insurgents tried to repel forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition. Residents said they saw bodies of seven civilians killed in clashes in southern suburbs, with both sides...
Trump discussed Khashoggi response with Turkey’s Erdogan – White House official
PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, discussed how to respond to the killing last month of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a White House official said on Sunday. The conversation took place during a Saturday dinner with heads of state and government gathered in Paris to mark the World...
‘New normal’ ferocious winds whip up deadly California fires
PARADISE, Calif. (Reuters) – Two deadly wildfires fuelled by “devil winds” tore through opposite ends of California on Sunday, with residents urged to heed evacuation orders by officials forced to leave their own homes. In northern California, the Camp Fire is one of the deadliest and most destructive in the state’s history, killing at least...
Change tack or face defeat, Brexit critics tell British PM May
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May was under growing pressure on Sunday to change her plan for Britain to leave the European Union to avoid defeat in a parliamentary vote. With both Britain and the EU suggesting an agreement is close, eurosceptic lawmakers and a leading member of a small Northern Irish party that...
Iraq urges U.S. to consider its position in talks on Iran sanctions
KUWAIT (Reuters) – Iraq’s president on Sunday urged the United States to consider Baghdad’s political and economic position as the countries negotiate on relief for Iraq from Washington’s reimposed sanctions against Iran. The United States said on Friday Iraq can continue to import natural gas and energy supplies from Iran for a period of 45...
Alibaba Singles’ Day tops $30 billion but growth rate plunges
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd cashed a record 213.5 billion yuan ($30.70 billion) in sales on Sunday during its 24-hour online retail frenzy Singles’ Day, but the event’s annual growth dropped to its slowest-ever rate. Shoppers in China and across the world snapped up hot items including iPhones, furniture and...
Finland’s GPS was disrupted during NATO war games and Russia could be responsible – PM
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland’s GPS signal was intentionally disrupted during NATO war games in the Nordic countries over the past few weeks and the culprit could be Russia, Prime Minster Juha Sipila said on Sunday. Finland’s air navigation services on Tuesday issued a warning for air traffic due to a large-scale GPS interruption in the...
Myanmar prepares for first Rohingya returnees, but UN warns against rushing
YANGON/COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) – Myanmar officials said on Sunday the country was ready to receive more than 2,000 Rohingya Muslims sheltering in Bangladesh on Nov. 15, the first group from 5,000 people to be moved under a deal between the neighbours struck last month. But more than 20 individuals on a list of potential...
Slovakia’s ruling party wins regional elections but support shrinks after journalist’s murder
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) – Slovakia’s ruling Smer party won regional elections this weekend but saw support shrink in the wake of the killing of an investigative journalist that prompted mass protests and led long-serving prime minister Robert Fico to resign in March. The leftist Smer party won mayorships in 592 of Slovakia’s 2,919 towns and cities,...
Thousands protest in Bulgaria against high fuel prices, car taxes
SOFIA (Reuters) – Thousands of Bulgarians blocked major highways and roads in the Balkan country on Sunday in protest at higher fuel prices, tax increases for older, more polluting cars and an expected increase in car insurance premiums. Over 2,000 people waving national flags marched in central Sofia chanting “Mafia” and “Rubbish”, frustrated with the...
Extreme ‘devil winds’ may worsen deadly California fires
PARADISE, Calif. (Reuters) – Crews faced hot dry “devil winds” as they battled two giant wildfires raging at opposite ends of California on Sunday, including a blaze in the north that is now one of the deadliest and most destructive in the state’s history. At least 23 people have been killed by the Camp Fire...
Sri Lanka PM, 44 ex-MPs defect from party led by president ahead of election
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s new prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and 44 former lawmakers have defected from the party led by President Maithripala Sirisena, splitting with the president barely two weeks after he installed Rajapaksa in office. Sirisena dissolved parliament on Friday night and called a general election for Jan. 5 in a move that...
Iran sells more oil to private exporters to bypass U.S. curbs
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran sold 700,000 barrels of crude oil to private companies for export on Sunday in a second round of sales aimed at countering U.S. sanctions on the country’s exports, oil ministry news website SHANA reported. Three unnamed companies paid $64.97 per barrel for two crude shipments of 245,000 barrels each and one...
China reports new African swine fever outbreak in Anhui province
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has confirmed a new outbreak of African swine fever in the eastern province of Anhui. China, home to the world’s largest hog herd, has reported more than 50 cases of the highly contagious disease, including in Anhui, since the first detected outbreak in early August. The fever was found on a...
Sri Lanka skipper out of second test due to groin injury
(Reuters) – Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal has been ruled out of the second test against England in Kandy due to a groin strain, with the uncapped Charith Asalanka called up to the squad as a replacement on Sunday. Batsman Chandimal suffered a tear in his groin on day one of the first test in...
Britain’s armed forces making contingency plans for ‘no deal’ Brexit – defence officials
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s armed forces are making contingency plans for how they could support the country if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal, senior British defence officials said on Sunday. Asked what role the armed forces could play if there was a ‘no deal’ Brexit, British defence minister Tobias Ellwood said: “The...
Topless female protester runs at Trump’s motorcade in Paris
PARIS (Reuters) – A topless female protester with “Fake Peacemaker” scrawled across her chest ran at the motorcade carrying U.S. President Donald Trump along the Champs Elysees in Paris ahead of a ceremony on Sunday to mark the end of World War One. She came within a few metres of Trump’s motorcade before she was...
British PM cannot expect Labour to save her Brexit vote – Thornberry
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May cannot expect the opposition Labour Party to save her in a parliamentary vote on any Brexit deal, Emily Thornberry, Labour’s foreign affairs policy chief, said on Sunday. “What we’ve said is that you cannot simply come to the House of Commons with a bit of nonsense …...
Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’ tour jacket sold at auction
(Reuters) – Michael Jackson’s iconic black “Bad” jacket, which he wore on his first solo tour, sold for $298,000 late Saturday, about three times its original asking price, at a New York auction which featured items from music legends Prince, Madonna, John Lennon and others, officials announced. Julien’s Auctions had an original asking price of...
Death toll rises to 23 in California wildfire after 14 bodies found
PARADISE, Calif. (Reuters) – The charred remains of 14 more people have been found in and around a Northern California town overrun by flames from a massive wildfire, officials said on Saturday, raising the death toll to at least 23. The bodies were recovered in and around Paradise, a mountain community some 90 miles (145...
