World News
U.S. records 22 new measles cases, bringing year’s total to 1,044
The United States recorded 22 new measles cases last week, bringing the year's total number of cases to 1,044 in the worst outbreak of the disease since 1992, federal health officials said on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease rose 2.2% in the week ended June 13 from the prior week. The 2019 outbreak, which has spread to 28 states, is the worst since...
Israel launches ‘Trump Heights’ on Golan
Israel approved in principle on Sunday a new community named after U.S. President Donald Trump on a contested frontier zone with Syria - but construction looked likely to lag given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political stumbles. The "Trump Heights" project is intended to cement ties after Trump broke with other world powers to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the plateau in March. At a special cabinet session in Beruchim, a sparse clutch of homes just 12 km (7.5 miles) from the...
Euro zone wages post record year-on-year rise in first quarter
Euro zone wages rose in the first quarter of the year at the highest pace ever recorded since data is collected, data from the European Union's statistics office showed on Monday. The increase is a positive signal for the European Central Bank's plans to drive inflation up but has so far not translated into higher prices in the 19-country euro zone. Eurostat said wages and salaries rose 2.5% in the first three months of the year compared to the same...
In historic shift, Vatican to consider married priests for Amazon region
A Vatican document on Monday said the Church should consider ordaining older married men as priests in remote areas of the Amazon, a historic shift which some say could pave the way for their use in other areas where clergy are scarce. The recommendation, contained in a working document prepared by the Vatican for a synod of bishops from the Amazon scheduled for October, also called for some kind of "official ministry" for women in the area, although it did...
China turns its anger on ‘Cold War warrior’ Pompeo
Beijing has found its villain in its multi-fronted conflict with the United States: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The former CIA chief has been singled out for scorn, in Chinese state media and even at the foreign ministry, over his criticism of everything from Chinese tech giant Huawei to its record on human rights. During a regular media briefing on Monday, China's Foreign Ministry accused Pompeo by name of telling lies, a striking departure from its usual practice of referring...
Swiss women stage strike for long-delayed equality
Women across Switzerland held a strike on Friday to highlight their wealthy nation's poor record on female rights, recreating the passion of the first such walkout 28 years ago. In Lausanne, chanting protesters gathered at midnight outside the cathedral tower, whose bell was illuminated in purple, the official colour of the protest. Blowing whistles and banging pots and pans, hundreds of demonstrators - mostly women but also men - carried placards reading "no means no", "I am not a princess...
Turkey seeks jail terms for two Bloomberg reporters
A Turkish court has accepted an indictment from the country's banking watchdog (BDDK) requesting a jail sentence for two Bloomberg reporters and 36 other people. The indictment, seen by Reuters, was in relation to a Bloomberg story published in August 2018. The article was about the effects of a sharp decline in the Turkish lira and how authorities and banks were responding. Worries over the Turkish central bank's independence and the country's tense ties with Washington sparked a currency crisis...
WHO likely to declare Ebola an international emergency
The World Health Organization (WHO) should and is likely to declare an international emergency over the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has now spread to Uganda, experts said as a WHO advisory panel met on Friday. Congo's epidemic is the second worst worldwide since West Africa's Ebola outbreak in 2014-16, with 2,084 cases and 1,405 deaths since being declared in August. The WHO said on Thursday that two people had died in Uganda having arrived with...
Iran’s Rouhani says U.S. actions threaten Middle East stability
U.S. actions pose a serious threat to stability in the Middle East, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told the leaders of a China-led security bloc including Russia and India on Friday. The United States blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday that drove up oil prices and raised concern about a new U.S.-Iranian confrontation. Iran denied any connection with the attacks. Rouhani did not mention the attacks but focussed his criticism on U.S....