World

KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan government said it was in the process of freeing 900 Taliban members from prison on Tuesday, the biggest such release yet, and urged the insurgent group to extend a three-day ceasefire set to end at midnight. The release was part of a prisoner swap under a deal struck by the

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s nursing homes, ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic which claimed the lives of thousands of residents, face financial pressures that threaten to put many out of business and create a fresh elderly care crisis. FILE PHOTO: Guests of a nursing home watch television, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s closest aide refused to resign on Monday, saying he had done nothing wrong by driving 250 miles from London to access childcare when Britons were being told to stay at home to fight COVID-19. Dominic Cummings has faced calls to quit from lawmakers, Church of England bishops,

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – As Fazal Rahmaan, 80 and his wife, Wahida Rahmaan, 74, boarded a plane in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Friday, their family’s biggest fear was that they might get catch the coronavirus on their way to spend the holiday in Karachi. People stand on a roof of a house amidst debris

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed his senior adviser Dominic Cummings on Sunday, despite calls from within his own Conservative Party for the aide to resign for driving 250 miles during the coronavirus lockdown. Cummings, architect of the 2016 campaign to leave the EU, came under pressure when newspapers reported he had

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police fired tear gas and pepper spray to disperse thousands protesting on Sunday against Beijing’s plan to directly impose national security laws on the city, the biggest flare-up in the city since COVID-19 lockdowns began. Anti-government protesters run away from tear gas during a march against Beijing’s plans to

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pose for a family photo at the NATO leaders summit in Watford, Britain December 4, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman ISTANBUL (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump called for a “rapid de-escalation” of the Libyan conflict on a call with Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on

FILE PHOTO: Former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten attends an interview in Hong Kong, China September 19, 2017. REUTERS/Bobby Yip LONDON (Reuters) – China has betrayed the people of Hong Kong so the West should stop kowtowing to Beijing for an illusory great pot of gold, said Chris Patten, the last governor of the former

TRES UNIDOS, BRAZIL (Reuters) – Tres Unidos, an indigenous village in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, locked out all visitors, hoping that isolation would keep it safe. And yet the new coronavirus still came. Kambeba indigenous nurse technician Neurilene Cruz, 36, measures the oxygen level of the blood of indigenous Raimundo Cruz da Silva, 42, amid the

FILE PHOTO: A migrant family waits to get registered before boarding a train to their home state of eastern Bihar, during an extended lockdown to slow the spreading of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Delhi, India, May 21, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui MUMBAI (Reuters) – India registered some 6,000 new cases of the novel coronavirus

GUATEMALA CITY/SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – Strict coronavirus lockdowns in Guatemala and El Salvador have so battered local economies that hundreds of families are flying white flags outside their homes or waving them in the street: not in surrender, but to seek food and assistance. Residents of the Las Victorias neighbourhood, most of them informal sellers,

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian state and territory leaders bickered on Thursday over whether to reopen internal borders, a major step to rejuvenating the country’s A$80 billion ($50 billion) domestic tourism industry, as part of measures to ease coronavirus restrictions. FILE PHOTO: People stroll through a park in front of the Sydney Opera House amidst the

NAIROBI (Reuters) – Burundians began voting on Wednesday in their first competitive presidential election since a civil war erupted in 1993, with the election commission calling for a peaceful vote despite simmering political violence and the new coronavirus pandemic. FILE PHOTO: Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza and Evariste Ndayishimiye presidential candidate of the ruling party, the

TIRANA (Reuters) – Albanian authorities began demolishing the national theatre building early on Sunday after dragging away two dozen actors and activists protecting the site, drawing a large crowd chanting “shame” and “dictatorship”. Albanian activists and supporters clash with police as they protest against the demolition of the National Theatre in Tirana, Albania May 17,

(Reuters) – A jet from the Canadian air force’s Snowbirds aerobatics team that was on a tour to lift spirits during the coronavirus outbreak crashed in Kamloops, British Columbia, on Sunday, killing one crew member and seriously injuring the other, defense officials said. Video shot by a witness showed two of the team’s Canadair Tutor