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1st July
Global nuclear power capacity needs to double by 2050 -IEA
LONDON (Reuters) – Global nuclear power capacity needs to double by mid-century to reach net-zero emissions targets and help ensure energy security as governments try to reduce their reliance on imported fossil fuels, the International...
Pakistan foreign minister calls for easing sanctions on Afghanistan
BERLIN (Reuters) – Pakistan’s foreign minister called for an easing of Western sanctions against Afghanistan under the Taliban government, saying the basic functioning of the Afghan economy must not be endangered. The Taliban takeover last year prompted foreign governments, led by the United States, to cut development and security aid, and the strict enforcement of...
China summer railway travel expected to rebound as COVID curbs ease
BEIJING (Reuters) – As China loosens its months-long COVID-19 curbs, railway travel is expected to see an uptick in passengers just in time for the summer transport season, which starts on July 1. By Aug. 31, the number of passenger trips on China’s railway network is expected to reach 520 million, and 10 million on...
‘Lessons learned’, but no details of royal review of Meghan bullying claims
LONDON (Reuters) – Buckingham Palace says lessons have been learned following a review into bullying allegations made by royal staff against Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, although it declined to give any details about the report’s conclusions. The HR review was announced by the palace last March after the Times newspaper reported allegations had been...
30th June
‘Lots of talk, little action’: Hundreds protest outside U.N. Ocean Conference
LISBON (Reuters) – Aboriginal Australian activist Theresa Ardler travelled halfway across the world to tell leaders at the U.N. Ocean Conference in Portugal that they are failing to protect her fishing community back home. Ardler, 50, fears the humpback whales that travel through the deep blue waters surrounding her aboriginal village of Wreck Bay, on...
New Zealand PM says China more assertive, more willing to challenge rules
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday China has become “more assertive and more willing to challenge international rules and norms”, and urged the use of diplomacy and economic links to build ties in the Indo-Pacific region. In a speech at the NATO summit in Madrid, Ardern also condemned Russia’s...
Woman made to cook and eat human flesh, Congo group tells U.N.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A Congolese woman was kidnapped twice by militants in the Democratic Republic of Congo, repeatedly raped and forced to cook and eat human flesh, a Congolese rights group told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday. Julienne Lusenge, president of women’s rights group Female Solidarity for Integrated Peace and Development (SOFEPADI),...
COVID can’t break South Africa’s love affair with shopping malls
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – With two days to go until opening to the public, workers rush to put the finishing touches on the Kwena Square shopping complex, a shiny $13 million sign that South Africans are defying the global “retail apocalypse”. Not even COVID-19 could separate them from their beloved malls. “I love going to the...
Italy’s drought-hit farmers face sea water threat
SCARDOVARI, Italy (Reuters) – The worst drought in 70 years has meant salt water from the Adriatic sea is flowing back into the sluggish Po, Italy’s longest river, doing further damage to crops hit by an early summer heatwave. The flow of sea water into the Po makes irrigation almost impossible in parts of Italy’s...
At Australia mine, Glencore balances reforestation drive, coal profit
HUNTER VALLEY, Australia (Reuters) – At Glencore’s aging Mt Owen open-cut coal mines north of Sydney, a team of scientists and engineers is restoring woodlands to mined-out fields, aiming to burnish the company’s environmental credentials with climate activists and shareholders who want it to back away from coal. But just hundreds of metres away, active...
Turkey lifts veto on Finland, Sweden joining NATO, clearing path for expansion
MADRID/HELSINKI (Reuters) – NATO ally Turkey lifted its veto over Finland and Sweden’s bid to join the Western alliance on Tuesday after the three nations agreed to protect each other’s security, ending a weeks-long drama that tested allied unity against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The breakthrough came after four hours of talks just before a...
Abortions can resume in Texas after judge blocks pre-Roe v. Wade ban
(Reuters) – Abortions can resume in Texas after a judge on Tuesday blocked officials from enforcing a nearly century-old ban the state’s Republican attorney general said was back in effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to the procedure nationwide. The temporary restraining order by Judge Christine Weems in Harris County came...
China reports 129 new COVID cases for June 28 vs 100 day earlier
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Mainland China reported 129 new coronavirus cases for June 28, of which 24 were symptomatic and 105 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday. That compared with 100 new cases a day earlier, 16 symptomatic and 84 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately. There were no new deaths, keeping the...
29th June
Polish court rules that four “LGBT-free zones” must be abolished
WARSAW (Reuters) – A top Polish appeals court ruled on Tuesday that so-called “LGBT-free zones” must be scrapped in four municipalities, a verdict welcomed by activists as a victory for human rights and democracy. Numerous local authorities in Poland passed resolutions in 2019 declaring themselves free of “LGBT ideology”, part of a conflict in the...
Woody Allen, in rare interview, says he may stop directing movies
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Filmmaker Woody Allen, who has faced a backlash in Hollywood over a sexual assault allegation by his adopted daughter, said on Tuesday he will shoot a new film in Paris this fall and that it may be his last. Allen, 86, spoke in a rare interview to actor Alec Baldwin about...
German court sentences ex-SS camp guard, aged 101, to five years in jail
NEURUPPIN, Germany (Reuters) – A German court sentenced a former SS guard, now 101 years old, to five years in prison on Tuesday for assisting in the murder of some 3,500 people at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, bringing to an end one of the last Nazi trials in Germany. Prosecutors had said that Josef S.,...
Mumbai building collapse kills at least 19 with more feared trapped
MUMBAI (Reuters) – A four-storey residential building collapsed in India’s financial capital of Mumbai overnight, killing at least 19 people, with more feared trapped under the rubble, officials said on Tuesday. Part of the building, located in a crowded suburb in the central part of the city, crumbled around midnight on Monday, the city’s civic...
New documentary ‘The Princess’ immerses audiences in Diana’s story
LONDON (Reuters) – Oscar-nominated director Ed Perkins trawled through hundreds of hours of footage of Princess Diana in search of moments he hoped would offer new perspective on her life and public image, 25 years after her death. His new film “The Princess” relies entirely on archive video to trace Diana’s life from a timid...
More extreme weather events expected to pummel China in July, August
BEIJING (Reuters) – Extreme flooding that has battered southern and eastern provinces in China, leading to hundreds of thousands being evacuated and the highest rainfall in decades at the Pearl River basin, will likely continue in July and August, according to a government official. “It is predicted that from July to August, there will be...
The transformation of Hong Kong in five charts
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 after 156 years of British colonial rule. Here are some major transformations the financial hub has witnessed during the past 25 years. OUTSHINED BY MAINLAND CHINA While Hong Kong retains an outsized, indirect contribution to China’s economic growth given its status as the only...
Germany to support EU plans for 2035 ban on new fossil-fuel cars, says environment minister
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany plans to vote in support of a European Union package that would effectively ban the sale of new cars with combustion engines from 2035, said the environment minister on Tuesday. “If the package includes what the Commission suggested, banning cars that emit carbon dioxide from 2035, then we will vote in...
Australia commits to Pacific islands defence training as China plans rival meet
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia will set up a defence school to train Pacific island militaries, Canberra’s new Pacific minister said, amid mounting competition for security ties in the region and as China lays plans for a rival meeting to next month’s Pacific Islands Forum. Australia will double its funding for aerial surveillance of the Pacific...
‘Not worth the risk’: Palau, Fiji call for deep-sea mining moratorium
LISBON (Reuters) – Concerned about the potential impacts of deep-sea mining on ocean biodiversity, the Pacific islands of Palau and Fiji on Monday launched an “alliance” to call for a moratorium of the nascent industry. The backing of a moratorium comes amid a wave of global interest in deep-sea mining but also growing pressure from...
28th June
Spain turns to Africa, lobbies NATO, allies over Ukraine-driven migration
MADRID/LAS PALMAS (Reuters) – Spain is shifting its foreign policy towards Africa while lobbying the EU and NATO for support to address migration from the continent, aggravated by the Ukraine invasion, two senior government officials and two diplomatic sources told Reuters. Spain will use a NATO summit in Madrid this week to press its case,...
Guatemalan president arrives in U.S. for visit after snubbing summit
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei landed in the United States for a two-day working tour on Monday, a presidential spokesperson confirmed, as bilateral ties remained strained after he opted out of the Summit of the Americas this month. Giammattei’s decision followed criticism by the U.S. government over Guatemala’s re-election of its attorney...
G7 to stand with Ukraine ‘for as long as it takes’
SCHLOSS ELMAU, Germany (Reuters) – The Group of Seven club of wealthy nations on Monday vowed to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes”, promising to tighten the squeeze on Russia’s finances with new sanctions that include a proposal to cap the price of Russian oil. The announcement came after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr...
Colombia bull-running where stand collapse killed 4 people under investigation
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s procurator will investigate the official response to the partial collapse of seating at a bull-running event on Sunday, which killed at least four people and injured hundreds. A section of the three-story wooden stand toppled forward into the ring, where locals were participating in a bull-running event tied to the feast...
Paris to charge riders of gasoline-fueled motorbikes for parking
PARIS (Reuters) – Riders of gasoline-fueled motorcycles will have to start paying for parking in Paris from September as the French capital aims to reduce noise and pollution, but parking for electric motorcycles remains free, a city hall official said on Monday. The new charge fulfills a campaign promise of socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo and...
At flooded cancer hospital in northeast India, chemotherapy given on the road outside
NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) – Whenever the rain relents, staff at a waterlogged cancer hospital in northeast India seize the chance to administer chemotherapy to patients on the road outside, creating a pitiful image of the misery caused by the region’s worst floods in years. Located in the Barak valley in Assam state, the 150-bed...
Canada to impose additional sanctions, ban tech export to Russia -statement
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada on Monday announced more measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including additional sanctions and a ban on the export of technologies that could help improve Russia’s defense manufacturing capability. The new sanctions would target six individuals and 46 entities linked to the Russian defence sectors, 15 Ukrainians supporting Russia,...
