World

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s local governments are ramping up surveillance efforts with new data collection campaigns to better trace residents’ moves in public areas, seeking to curb the coronavirus outbreak but heightening privacy concerns. FILE PHOTO: A woman uses her mobile phone behind barbed wire at an entrance of a residential compound in Wuhan, the

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said the United States was “deeply concerned” Iran may have covered up details about the spread of coronavirus, and he called on all nations to “tell the truth” about the epidemic. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at a business leaders reception at

Locals, who oppose the building of a new closed migrant detention centre, stand next to a fire as they block the road to riot police, in Karava on the island of Lesbos, Greece, February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Elias Marcou ATHENS (Reuters) – Clashes broke out on the Greek island of Lesbos early on Tuesday between police

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – When the grip of Iraq’s Tehran-backed Shi’ite Muslim parties and militias threatened to slip following the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, they turned to an unpredictable rival. FILE PHOTO: Supporters of Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr protest against the U.S. military presence in Iraq, in Baghdad, Iraq January 24, 2020. REUTERS/Alaa

RIYADH/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina on Saturday agreed to start consultations with the International Monetary Fund that could lead to a new financing program, days after the global lender said the country’s debt situation had become “unsustainable”. FILE PHOTO: Argentina’s Economy Minister Martin Guzman gestures during a conference hosted by the Vatican on economic solidarity,

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nevada Democrats will host hundreds of caucuses on Saturday, the third contest in the state-by-state presidential nominating process, almost three weeks after the Iowa caucuses caused mayhem when a technical meltdown delayed results. FILE PHOTO: Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Bernie Sanders and former Vice President

DUBAI (Reuters) – Hardliners loyal to Iran’s supreme leader are likely to sweep a parliamentary election on Friday that will cement their grip on power as the country faces mounting U.S. pressure over its nuclear program and growing discontent at home. The vote will have no major influence on foreign affairs or Iran’s nuclear policy,

FILE PHOTO: A man looks on parliamentary election campaign posters in Tehran, Iran February 19, 2020. WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Nazanin Tabatabaee via REUTERS DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranians began voting on Friday in a parliamentary election that is unlikely to change the Islamic Republic’s troubled relations with the United States, after thousands of candidates were

VIENTIANE/BANGKOK (Reuters) – China on Thursday said it was helping its downstream neighbors cope with a prolonged drought by releasing more water from its dams on the Mekong River, adding it would consider sharing information on hydrology to provide further assistance in the future. FILE PHOTO: A general view of the future site of the

BEIJING (Reuters) – China reported a dramatic drop in new coronavirus infections on Thursday although scientists warned the flu-like pathogen may spread even more easily than previously believed, while more passengers disembarked a quarantined cruise ship off Japan. A passenger is seen inside a bus as a second group of passengers from the coronavirus-hit Diamond

BEIJING (Reuters) – China has revoked the press credentials of three journalists with the Wall Street Journal after the newspaper declined to apologize for a column with a headline calling China the “real sick man of Asia,” the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing made “stern representations” to the paper over

FILE PHOTO: Britta Nielsen, a Danish woman accused of embezzling 117 million crowns ($17 million) of Danish government funds, looks on during her appearance at Randburg Magistrates Court, South Africa, November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko/File Photo COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A Danish court sentenced a former public employee on Tuesday to 6-1/2 years in prison for

SHANGHAI/SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (Reuters) – More than 300 American passengers have been flown home from a cruise ship after two weeks under quarantine off Japan, including 14 found to have coronavirus who were kept isolated on the flight. The cruise ship Diamond Princess, by far the largest cluster of coronavirus cases outside China, has become the

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has canceled his planned trip to Barbados to help resolve widespread rail disruptions caused by indigenous rights activists opposing the construction of a natural gas pipeline, his office said on Sunday. FILE PHOTO: A man with a sign stands near the site of a rail stoppage on

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The number of new cases of a coronavirus in China fell slightly on Sunday, more than three weeks after the outbreak’s epicenter was locked down, and a Chinese tourist died from the virus in France, the first fatality in Europe. A man wearing a face mask crosses a road, as the country

FILE PHOTO: Pictures of victims are seen during a ceremony to mark one year of the disaster of the tailing dam owned by Brazilian mining company Vale SA in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais state, Brazil January 25, 2020. REUTERS/Cristiane Mattos/File Photo RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A Brazilian state judge has accepted charges against Vale SA