World
49ers and Chiefs to clash in Super Bowl after conference wins
(Reuters) – Raheem Mostert rushed for four touchdowns as the San Francisco 49ers beat Green Bay 37-20 to book a spot in the Super Bowl where they will face Kansas City, who advanced to the...
Sanders says being a woman, age could be ‘problems’ for 2020 candidates
DES MOINES, IOWA/CONCORD, N.H. (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders struggled to move past a weeklong controversy over whether he told U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren in a 2018 private meeting that a woman could not beat Republican President Donald Trump as the White House rivals campaigned over the weekend in the early-voting states of Iowa...
With market at record highs, eyes on reports from chipmakers
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Reports from Netflix, Intel and Texas Instruments next week may hint at what is to come in the December quarterly earnings season, with some investors wary of possible danger signs that could knock Wall Street after its latest surge to record highs. The S&P 500 has gotten off to a strong...
Pipeline fire kills three in Lagos – Reuters witness
LAGOS (Reuters) – A fire on a pipeline owned by Nigeria’s state oil company in the commercial capital Lagos killed three people on Sunday, a Reuters witness said. The blaze broke out in the Abule-Egba district of the southwestern megacity. Residents said it started shortly before 8 p.m. (1900 GMT). A Reuters television camera operator...
‘Parasite’ scores historic upset at SAG awards, boosting Oscar chances
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – South Korean thriller “Parasite” was the upset winner at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards on Sunday, while Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger were named best actors, cementing their roles as frontrunners at the Oscars next month. “Parasite,” the Korean language social satire about the wealth gap in South Korea, was...
Moscow protest over Putin’s political shake-up fails to gain traction
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Over 1,000 people marched through Moscow on Sunday in an event a Kremlin critic tried to turn into a protest against a constitutional shake-up by President Vladimir Putin, but many demonstrators chose to voice dissent about other issues instead. Yulia Galyamina, a Moscow city councillor, had urged people to take to the...
Australia boosts emergency funding for bushfire-affected businesses
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia on Monday boosted emergency grants and loans for small businesses hit by bushfires that have ravaged the country during the peak tourist season, as firefighters used cooler weather to prepare for a return of hazardous fire conditions. The fires have killed 29 people and millions of animals, destroyed more than 2,500...
World’s richest 2,000 people hold more than poorest 4.6 billion combined – Oxfam
NAIROBI (Reuters) – The world’s richest 2,153 people controlled more money than the poorest 4.6 billion combined in 2019, while unpaid or underpaid work by women and girls adds three times more to the global economy each year than the technology industry, Oxfam said on Monday. The Nairobi-headquartered charity said in a report released ahead...
China confirms 139 new cases of pneumonia over weekend, virus spreads to new cities
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China on Monday reported 139 new cases of pneumonia over the weekend, caused by the outbreak of a new coronavirus strain that medical experts are still struggling to understand. Beijing’s Daxing health commission confirmed two new cases of coronavirus, while Guangdong Province’s health commission confirmed one case, marking the first instances of...
Australia boosts emergency funding for bushfire-affected businesses
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia on Monday boosted emergency grants and loans for small businesses hit by bushfires that have ravaged the country during the peak tourist season, as firefighters used cooler weather to prepare for a return of hazardous fire conditions. The fires have killed 29 people and millions of animals, destroyed more than 2,500...
Two Hawaii police officers shot dead, gunman at large
(Reuters) – Two police officers in Hawaii were fatally shot by an assailant who remained at large on Sunday in a residential neighbourhood not far from busy Waikiki Beach on the island of Oahu, officials and local media said. “Our entire state mourns the loss of two Honolulu Police officers killed in the line of...
SpaceX says ‘picture perfect’ test paves way for human mission
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s SpaceX simulated a successful emergency landing on Sunday in a dramatic test of a crucial abort system on an unmanned astronaut capsule, a big step its mission to fly NASA astronauts for the first time as soon as this spring. A Crew Dragon astronaut capsule launched at 10:30...
Hundreds of troops to help Canadian province recover from huge blizzard
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Between 150 and 200 Canadian troops should be in the Atlantic province of Newfoundland and Labrador by the end of Sunday to help it dig out from a massive blizzard, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said. The armed forces will also provide two transport planes and at least two helicopters. The storm dumped...
Stormy weather disrupts parts of Samoa
Samoa’s power supply, international flights as well as inter-island ferry sailings were disrupted over the weekend due to bad weather brought by Cyclone Tino. Hundreds of passengers and vehicles were stranded on Mulifanua and Salelologa wharves on Saturday when the Samoa Shipping Corporation temporarily called off its scheduled trips due to high seas and strong...
Lebanese security forces, protesters clash for second night
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese security forces fired water cannons, rubber bullets and tear gas on Sunday to try to break up stone-throwing protesters in Beirut, which has been rocked by some of the worst violence since unrest erupted in October. Sunday’s confrontation broke out near parliament a day after more than 370 people were wounded,...
PNG defends human rights efforts following damning NGO report
Papua New Guinea’s government has defended its efforts to protect human rights. This follows a damning international NGO report into the state of human rights in PNG. Human Rights Watch’s annual summary on PNG says little was done in the past year to tackle corruption, police abuses and domestic violence. Its Deputy Director for Asia, Phil Robertson,...
Foreign powers back Libya ceasefire as commander’s forces choke oil flows
BERLIN (Reuters) – Foreign powers agreed at a summit in Berlin on Sunday to shore up a shaky truce in Libya, but the meeting was overshadowed by blockades of oilfields by forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar that could cripple the country’s crude production. Haftar, whose self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) is bearing down on...
UK’s Harry and Meghan to drop titles and retire as working royals
LONDON (Reuters) – Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will no longer be working members of Britain’s monarchy and they will pay their own way in life as they embark on an independent future, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday. They will also no longer use their “Royal Highness” titles, the palace said in an announcement...
In impeachment document, Democrats say Trump endangers security, Trump denies
WASHINGTON/PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. lawmakers leading the impeachment case against Republican President Donald Trump said on Saturday the president must be removed from office to protect national security and preserve the country’s system of government. In a 111-page document filed before Trump’s Senate trial begins in earnest on Tuesday, the lawmakers laid...
Late actor Paul Walker’s vehicles garner $2.33 million at Arizona auction
PHOENIX (Reuters) – Twenty-one vehicles owned by the late actor Paul Walker, who starred in the popular “Fast and Furious” movie franchise, sold for a combined $2.33 million during spirited bidding at an annual car auction in Arizona, officials said. The collection assembled by Walker posted strong results at the week-long Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale,...
China reports 17 more cases of new virus strain
BEIJING (Reuters) – China reported 17 more cases of pneumonia caused by a new coronavirus strain on Sunday, stoking worries as the country gears up to celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year when much of the population travels. Three of those patients are seriously ill, according to a statement issued by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission....
Police detain 185 climate protesters at Brussels car show
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Police detained 185 protesters in central Brussels on Saturday after the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion staged demonstrations at a car show in protest at the auto industry’s role in CO2 emissions that cause climate change. The protest came only days after the European Commission unveiled ideas on how to finance its...
Scores wounded as security forces, protesters clash in Beirut
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Cat-and-mouse clashes between Lebanon’s security forces and protesters wounded scores of people on a night of violence that rocked central Beirut on Saturday. Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon, chasing protesters armed with tree branches and sign posts in a commercial district near Lebanon’s parliament. Crowds spilled on to the...
“You’re stealing our water”: Germans protest against Tesla gigafactory
BERLIN (Reuters) – Around 250 Germans on Saturday protested in the outskirts of Berlin where electric car startup Tesla is planning to build a gigafactory, saying its construction will endanger water supply and wildlife in the area. The U.S. carmaker announced plans last November to build its first European car factory in Gruenheide, in the...
Iran to send black boxes of downed Ukrainian plane to Ukraine
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Saturday it was sending to Ukraine the black boxes from a Ukrainian passenger plane that the Iranian military shot down this month, an accident that sparked unrest at home and added to pressure on Tehran from abroad. Iran’s Tasnim news agency also reported the authorities were prepared for experts...
Brazilian tribes back manifesto to save Amazon habitat from Bolsonaro
XINGU INDIGENOUS PARK, Brazil (Reuters) – Leaders of native tribes in Brazil issued a rallying call to protect the Amazon rainforest and its indigenous people from what they called the “genocide, ethnocide and ecocide” planned by the country’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. A manifesto signed on Friday at the end of a four-day meeting in...
Brief scuffles at Guatemala-Mexico border as migrants try to cross
TECUN UMAN, Guatemala (Reuters) – Scuffles briefly broke out on the Guatemala-Mexico border on Saturday morning as a group of several hundred mostly Honduran migrants pressed forward to cross, only to be pushed back by Mexican security forces. Scores of people who entered Guatemala from Honduras in recent days have been arriving at the Mexican...
19th January
Floods, road closures in Australia as storms lash some bushfire-hit regions
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Parts of Australia’s east coast were hit by severe storms on Saturday, dousing some of the bushfires that have devastated the region for months but causing road closures and flash flooding. Fears of smoke from the fires disrupting the Australian Open tennis receded in Melbourne, where the main tournament was due to...
Car bomb attack wounds Turkish contractors, police near Somali capital
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somali insurgents linked to al Qaeda claimed responsibility for a car bombing on Saturday that wounded at least 15 people in Afgoye, northwest of the capital Mogadishu. Police said the injured included Turkish contractors as well as Somali nationals. Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency said at least four Turkish employees of a...
Bad weather forces delay of SpaceX simulated rocket failure test
CAPE CANAVERAL (Reuters) – Bad weather forced Elon Musk’s SpaceX to delay until Sunday a test in which it will destroy one of its own rockets in a trial of a crucial emergency abort system on an unmanned astronaut capsule. The test, the company’s final milestone test before flying NASA astronauts from U.S. soil, had...
