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Global hunger falls but conflict and climate threaten progress: UN
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) -- The number of hungry people around the world fell for a third straight year in 2024, retreating from a COVID-era spike, even as conflict and climate shocks deepened malnutrition across much of Africa and western Asia, a UN report said on Monday. Around 673 million people, or 8.2 percent of the world’s population, experienced hunger in 2024, down from 8.5 percent in 2023, according to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, jointly prepared by five U
July 29, 2025 -
Heavy rains and flooding kill at least 34 people in and near Beijing
Heavy rains and flooding killed 30 people in Beijing, authorities in the Chinese capital reported on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from the storms in the region to at least 34. A city government statement said that 28 people had died in its hard-hit Miyun district and two others in Yanqing district as of midnight. Both are outlying parts of the sprawling city, far from the downtown. More heavy rain fell overnight in the area. More than 80,000 people have been relocated in Beijing, including a
July 29, 2025 -
US and China hold new talks on tariff truce
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -- Top US and Chinese economic officials met in Stockholm on Monday for more than five hours of talks aimed at resolving longstanding economic disputes at the center of a trade war between the world’s top two economies, seeking to extend a truce by three months. US Treasury Chief Scott Bessent was part of a US negotiating team that arrived at Rosenbad, the Swedish prime minister’s office in central Stockholm, in the early afternoon. China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng was also see
July 29, 2025 -
Haiti to send 400 police officers to Brazil for training as gangs seize more territory
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s government said Monday it plans to send 400 police officers to Brazil next month for training as gang violence overwhelms the troubled Caribbean country. Currently, Haiti only has about 10,000 police officers and 1,300 soldiers protecting a country of nearly 12 million people, said Fritz Alphonse Jean, leader of the transitional presidential council. A total of 700 Haitian police officers and soldiers will be trained by foreign countries in upcoming months an
July 29, 2025 -
Tropical Storm Keli forms and is second cyclone now in central Pacific Ocean
Two tropical cyclones were swirling across the ocean southeast of Hawaii after developing on Monday but were not expected to cause any issues for the islands. Hurricane Iona is the first named storm of the hurricane season in the central Pacific and emerged Sunday from a tropical depression to become a Category 1 hurricane in roughly a day. It was trekking west over warm, open waters. “It’s pretty high confidence that it’s not going to have any direct impacts on the islands,” said Derek Wroe wit
July 29, 2025 -
Trump eyes 'world tariff' of 15-20% for most countries
TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) -- President Donald Trump said on Monday most trading partners that do not negotiate separate trade deals would soon face tariffs of 15 percent to 20 percent on their exports to the United States, well above the broad 10 percent tariff he imposed in April. Trump told reporters his administration will notify some 200 countries soon of their new "world tariff" rate. "I would say it’ll be somewhere in the 15 to 20 percent range," Trump told reporters, sitting alongside
July 29, 2025 -
Three dead, several injured after train derails in Germany
Three people were killed and several others injured when a regional passenger train derailed in a wooded area in southwestern Germany on Sunday, police said. About 100 passengers were aboard the train, when the accident occurred at around 6:10 p.m. near the town of Riedlingen in Baden-Wuerttemberg state. Contacted by Agence France-Presse, police initially said four people had been killed before correcting their statement to three victims. Authorities declined to elaborate on the number of injure
July 28, 2025 -
Ichiro Suzuki among five inducted into Hall of Fame
NEW YORK (AFP) -- Japanese superstar Ichiro Suzuki said he felt like a rookie all over again on Sunday when he and four other legends were enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame. CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner and the late Dave Parker and Dick Allen also were inducted into the sport's honor roll at ceremonies near the Hall in Cooperstown, New York. But the moment was extra special for 51-year-old Suzuki, the first Japanese-born player to enter the Hall. "Today, I'm feeling something I thought I wou
July 28, 2025 -
Russia scales down celebrations honoring its navy as Ukraine launches more drone attacks
Russia on Sunday scaled down the festivities honoring its Navy citing security concerns as continuing Ukrainian drone attacks posed a challenge to the Kremlin. Russian authorities canceled the parades of warships in St. Petersburg, in the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic and in the far-eastern port of Vladivostok that are usually held to mark the annual Navy Day celebrations. Asked about the reason for the cancellation of the parade in St. Petersburg even as President Vladimir Putin arrived in h
July 28, 2025 -
More than 40 killed in rebel attack in northeast Congo
BUNIA, Congo (AFP) -- More than 40 people were killed Sunday in an attack by Allied Democratic Forces rebels in northeastern Congo, ending a monthslong period of regional calm, the UN mission and Congolese military said. The ADF, which pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2019, raided a Catholic church in the town of Komanda where worshippers were gathered for prayer, residents told Agence France-Presse by telephone from Bunia, capital of Ituri province. The attack killed 43 people including n
July 28, 2025 -
Wildfires threaten Turkey's fourth-largest city
ISTANBUL (AP) — Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks threatened the country’s fourth-largest city on Sunday, forcing more than 3,500 people to flee their homes and leaving two people dead. Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro are also battling blazes fed by unusually high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds. Overnight fires in the forested mountains surrounding Bursa, in northwest Turkey, spread rapidly, tinting the night sky over the city’s eastern suburbs with a red glow. Dozens
July 28, 2025 -
US, EU reach 15% tariff deal
TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) -- The US struck a framework trade agreement with the European Union on Sunday, imposing a 15 percent import tariff on most EU goods -- half the threatened rate -- and averting a bigger trade war between the two allies that account for almost a third of global trade. US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the deal at Trump’s luxury golf course in western Scotland after an hour-long meeting that pushed the hard-foug
July 28, 2025 -
Syria sets date for selection of new transitional parliament
DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) -- Syrian authorities announced on Sunday that a new transitional parliament would be selected in September, with local electoral bodies picking two-thirds of the lawmakers and the country's interim president naming the rest. After toppling longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December after nearly 14 years of civil war, Syria's new authorities -- led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa -- dissolved the country's rubber-stamp legislature and adopted a temporary constitutional declaratio
July 28, 2025 -
Hundreds demonstrate in protest-hit UK town
Hundreds of demonstrators from rival groups marched through a UK town on Sunday under tight police security amid tensions over anti-immigrant protests. It was the latest in a series of demonstrations in Epping, northeast of London, after an asylum seeker was charged earlier in July with three counts of sexual assault, including allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl. But only about 400 people from rival groups demonstrated in the town, as police put in place a tight security operation,
July 28, 2025 -
Macron goes alone on Palestine recognition
PARIS (Reuters) -- President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that France would become the first Western member of the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state in September has caused diplomatic ructions from the Middle East through Europe to Washington. But it did not come out of the blue. When Macron visited the Egyptian town of Arish on the border with Gaza in April, he was struck by the mounting humanitarian crisis and made clear on his return home that Paris would soon opt for rec
July 27, 2025