MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Six passengers from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak arrived Friday in Australia for a quarantine expected to last at least three weeks. The Gulfstream long-range business jet carrying them from the Netherlands landed at RAAF Base Pearce outside the Western Australia state capital, Perth. The passengers and crew…
BEIJING, May 15 (Reuters) – British foreign minister Yvette Cooper is expected to visit China in early June, three sources familiar with the plans said, as London seeks to capitalise on relatively cordial ties with Beijing before any fresh setback over a new Chinese embassy in the UK capital. The June 2-3 trip will take…
U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up his visit to Beijing on Friday with a private meeting at Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s official residence before he departs for Washington. Trump has taken a decidedly rosy outlook on the U.S.-China relationship during this trip. But that has collided with some difficult truths about the thorniest issues between…
WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – Iraqi officials have approached the International Monetary Fund about securing financial assistance as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, a source close to the IMF said on Thursday. Initial conversations took place last month during the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington, and…
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Twice this week, U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed interest in turning Venezuela into his country’s 51st state. The latest came via a Truth Social post Tuesday with a map showing the South American country filled with the U.S. flag. Previous statements doubting Venezuela’s sovereignty over the past 25 years have…
TAIPEI, May 14 (Reuters) – China’s Xi Jinping told President Donald Trump on Thursday that disagreement over Taiwan could send relations down a dangerous path and that “Taiwan independence” and cross-Taiwan Strait peace are as “irreconcilable as fire and water”. Below are some questions and answers about what is meant by the term “Taiwan independence”…
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping offered stark warnings about avoiding possible clashes between his nation and the U.S. on Thursday and even cautioned visiting President Donald Trump that Washington’s handling of its relations with Taiwan could lead to “conflicts” that might put “the entire relationship in great jeopardy.” The stern tone was a…
By Gabriel Stargardter and Raphael Satter PARIS, May 13 (Reuters) – French authorities are examining whether a foreign interference campaign aimed at a hard-left party ahead of March’s municipal elections was carried out at least in part by an obscure Israeli firm called BlackCore, according to three sources familiar with the matter. French intelligence agencies are…
LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) – Britain’s grand State Opening of Parliament ceremony does not normally feature an elephant. But on Wednesday, there was a large figurative elephant in the room: an imminent leadership challenge that could put Prime Minister Keir Starmer out of a job before the summer and consign his freshly minted plan for…
GDANSK, May 13 (Reuters) – Australia in December became the world’s first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking them from platforms including TikTok, Alphabet’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram and Facebook. The ban comes amid mounting concerns over the impact ofsocial media on children’s health and safety. Below is a summary of…