DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (Reuters) – Six Shi’ite Muslims, including four teachers and two lower staff were killed in a shooting at a school in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday in what appeared to be retaliation for an attack shortly before in which a Sunni Muslim teacher was shot dead, officials said. Both incidents occurred in …
Six Shi’ite, one Sunni Muslims killed in northwest Pakistan shootings Read More »
By Jennifer Rigby and Emma Farge LONDON (Reuters) -A panel of global health experts will meet on Thursday to decide if COVID-19 is still an emergency under the World Health Organization’s rules, a status that helps maintain international focus on the pandemic. The WHO first gave COVID its highest level of alert on Jan. 30, …
WHO experts to weigh whether world ready to end COVID emergency Read More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Toronto consulate-general said on Thursday that a report of consular officers “coercing” a Canadian lawmaker and his family have “no factual basis and is purely baseless”, adding that Canadian media and politicians have ulterior motives. “We express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to this,” the consulate-general spokesperson said in a statement, …
China says claims of officials ‘coercing’ Canadian lawmaker, relatives are false Read More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has approved the safety of a gene-edited soybean, its first approval of the technology in a crop, as the country increasingly looks to science to boost food production. The soybean, developed by privately owned Shandong Shunfeng Biotechnology Co., Ltd, has two modified genes, significantly raising the level of healthy fat oleic …
By Crispian Balmer ROME (Reuters) – Italy is highly unlikely to renew its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) deal with China, which expires early next year, but needs time to discuss the issue with Beijing, a senior government official said. The official, who has knowledge of internal discussions over the matter, said a formal decision …
Italy unlikely to renew China deal, but needs time, official says Read More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Thursday “high vigilance” was needed in the face of NATO’s “eastward expansion” following a media report the alliance is planning to set up an office in Japan to facilitate consultations with allies in the region. NATO is planning to open its first liaison office in Asia, in Japan, to …
China urges ‘high vigilance’ over NATO expansion in Asia Read More »
By Sudipto Ganguly and Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) – A team of 20 Rohingya Muslims and some Bangladeshi officials will visit Myanmar’s Rakhine state on Friday for a day as part of a planned repatriation effort, a Bangladesh repatriation official told Reuters. Nearly one million Rohingya Muslim refugees are living in camps in the border …
Rohingya, Bangladesh officials to visit Myanmar in repatriation effort Read More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China firmly opposes any country citing bilateral treaties to interfere in the South China Sea and undermine China’s territorial interests and rights, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. “The South China Sea is home to all regional countries, and should not be a hunting ground for external forces,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning …
China says South China Sea should not be ‘hunting ground’ for foreign forces Read More »
By Hyunsu Yim SEOUL (Reuters) – Seoul’s city government has effectively blocked South Korea’s largest annual LGBT festival from taking place outside city hall this year after granting a permit for a Christian youth concert instead, the LGBT event’s organisers said this week. Clashes over the Seoul Queer Culture Festival have become a yearly symbol …
Seoul’s LGBT festival blocked by Christian concert outside city hall, organisers say Read More »
By Ellen Zhang and Ryan Woo BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s factory activity unexpectedly contracted in April as orders fell and poor domestic demand dragged on the sprawling manufacturing sector, a private survey showed on Thursday, imperilling the broader economic outlook for the second quarter. The Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.5 in …
China’s skidding factory sector taps brakes on economic recovery Read More »
