MOSCOW, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on Friday Russia was greatly concerned about the arrests of opposition figures in Armenia, and reiterated that Yerevan would not be able to remain in a Moscow-led economic grouping as it seeks EU membership. Ushakov added that Russian Preside
By Daphne Psaledakis and David Lawder WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) – The U.S. imposed Iran-related sanctions on an Egyptian bank on Friday, part of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s campaign to increase economic pressure to try to break a stalemate six months into Washington’s war with Iran. Treasu
By Marianna Parraga and Jarrett Renshaw HOUSTON/WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) – Trump administration officials are working on a deal to secure long-term access to a portion of Venezuela’s crude reserves, sources with knowledge of the negotiations said on Thursday, a move that could ultimately lower t
JENIN, West Bank, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Israel’s military said it carried out an airstrike in the West Bank on Friday that killed a Palestinian it described as a Hamas militant operative as well as two of his accomplices, in a rare use of deadly Israeli air power in the occupied territory. Hamas condem
Aug 28 (Reuters) – Smartphones and social media have transformed journalism by producing a torrent of photos and videos of almost anything that happens where people are present, from holidays to hurricanes, celebrations to crises. The swift rise of AI has tainted that flow, mixing in highly realisti
BELGRADE, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accused a U.N. war crimes court on Friday of “uncivilised behaviour” for not letting former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic die in Serbia and said Belgrade was still waiting to know whether the body would be returned. Mladic, w
ADDIS ABABA, Aug 28 (Reuters) – The Ethiopian Media Authority (EMA) has reinstated accreditation for three Addis Ababa-based journalists from Reuters after a six-month suspension, the regulator said on Friday. The EMA revoked their accreditation in February, days after Reuters published an investiga
BERLIN, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Berlin’s city government will not allow itself to be extorted following a cyberattack on its network, Mayor Kai Wegner said in a statement on Friday, less than a month before the city-state holds elections. • In a joint statement, Wegner and Berlin’s interior senator, Iris
By Stine Jacobsen and Tim Barsoe COPENHAGEN/NUUK, Aug 28 (Reuters) – A campaign of forced contraception in Greenland that ran primarily in the 1960s and 1970s violated women’s human rights but did not meet the legal definition of genocide, two expert reports concluded on Friday. Both reports found a
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Two migrants deported from the United States arrived in Eswatini, authorities in the southern African country said, under an agreement between the two countries that has drawn criticism from rights groups. The two migrants are from Latin America, according to a statement governme
By Michael Holden and Sam Tobin LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Seven protesters accused of daubing pro-Palestinian graffiti on U.S. President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland last year could face longer sentences if found guilty due to what prosecutors have described as a “terrorist conn
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces on Friday resumed their drone barrage of Ukraine’s Kyiv region, hitting more than a dozen apartment buildings and storage depots in a second straight day of aerial attacks, officials said. Prolonged air raids in Kyiv on Thursday essentially locked down the Ukraini
NEW DELHI/LONDON, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Nepal is monitoring two lakes upstream of the flood zone where hundreds died on Wednesday, an official with Nepal’s Disaster Management Authority said. Flood risks will remain until the two lakes have fully drained, the official added, as one of the two lakes beg
By Emma Farge GENEVA, Aug 28 (Reuters) – The U.N. refugee agency has scaled back its budget by 16% and lowered its official headcount by around 3,500 as it adapts to new financial constraints at a time when global displacement is forecast to climb to an all-time high next year, according to diplomat
Aug 28 (Reuters) – Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa appointed the former commander of a now-dissolved Kurdish-led fighting force as a presidential adviser on Friday, reflecting a rapprochement between the two long-time civil war adversaries. For over a decade, Mazloum Abdi led the Kurdish-led Syrian
(Corrects August 27 story to say Ye is governor of Jiangxi, not Jiangsu) BEIJING, Aug 27 (Reuters) – The governor of the southern Chinese province of Jiangxi, Ye Jianchun, is under investigation over “suspected serious violations of discipline and law”, China’s anti-graft watchdog said in a statemen
STOCKHOLM, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Sweden’s military will participate in the surveillance and protection of Finland’s territory with Gripen fighter jets and corvette warship, at least until the end of 2026, Finland’s defence forces said on Friday. “The Swedish equipment strengthens air surveillance in pa
TAIPEI, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s election commission on Friday rejected a proposal passed by parliament for a referendum to legalise caning for serious crimes like sexual assault and fraud, saying it would go against the island’s international human rights commitments. Taiwan’s opposition-control
COPENHAGEN, Aug 28 (Reuters) – A narrow majority of Icelandic voters oppose reopening negotiations to join the EU, a new Gallup opinion poll showed on Friday, a shift from earlier polls, ahead of a referendum on Saturday on whether to resume accession talks. The August 29 ballot is not a vote on mem
AMSTERDAM, Aug 28 (Reuters) – A Dutch court on Friday sentenced a 67-year-old man to life in prison for war crimes and genocide committed in Rwanda in 1994, where it said he had been involved in the killing of around 3,000 Tutsis who had sought refuge from Hutu attacks at a stadium. The defendant, i
By Hyunjoo Jin and Joyce Lee SEOUL, Aug 28 (Reuters) – The families of South Korean workers missing after a catastrophic flash flood in Nepal urged authorities on Friday to secure helicopter access for a search, saying rescuers were losing critical time more than 48 hours after the disaster. The nin
GENEVA, Aug 28 (Reuters) – More than 90,000 people are estimated to be directly affected by the Himalayan landslide and in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, the Red Cross said on Friday, as aid officials voiced fears of further flooding. “We believe that at least 93,000 people have been affect
NAIROBI, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Police fired tear gas to disperse small-scale traders protesting against an import duty hike, a Reuters witness saw on Friday, while hundreds of businesses closed in central Nairobi. The Kenya Revenue Authority said its decision to raise the duty with effect from August 2
Syria Licenses First TV Channel Bearing Turkmen Community’s Name Rizik Alabi / The Media Line [DAMASCUS] Turkmen TV has received official accreditation from Syria’s Ministry of Information to operate in the country, according to the channel’s management, in a move it says makes it the first official
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norway has a new king, whose tasks will include stabilizing the Scandinavian country’s monarchy and boosting the royal family’s popularity after his wife’s past contacts with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his stepson’s rape conviction. Crown Prince Haakon, 53,
STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — King Harald V of Norway, who went into exile in the United States as a child during the Nazi occupation of his homeland and refused a string of potential brides from the European nobility so he could marry his school sweetheart, died Friday. He was 89. The palace said he die
HONG KONG (AP) — Three former organizers of Hong Kong’s annual vigils in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown returned to court Friday to argue over their sentences after being convicted of inciting subversion under a national security law imposed by China. Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tun
SOKOTO, Nigeria (AP) — Multicolored strobe lights sweep across a dance floor soon to throng with sweaty revelers and shrilling voices singing along to Afrobeats in a nightclub that is thriving despite being in one of northern Nigeria’s most deeply conservative states. As the DJ prepared his set and
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — War’s timeless ache — death, captivity, the agonizing wait and the pull of home — has found a new stage in wartime Kyiv, with Homer’s epic reimagined as a contemporary Ukrainian odyssey. The play “Odysseus, Maeotis” is ready to open in the Ukrainian capital as the ancient tale e
Aug 28 (Reuters) – Russian attacks have destroyed Nova Poshta sorting centres near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and in the northern city of Sumy, the Ukrainian private postal and courier company said on Friday. Nova Poshta said on the Telegram messaging app that four guided aerial bombs hit its Sum
