The presidents of Italy’s wealthy northern regions of Veneto and Lombardy on Sunday claimed victory in autonomy referendums that seek to grab additional powers and tax revenue from Rome, riding a global tide of self-determination that has swamped Spain’s Catalonia region. The votes were nonbinding, but the leaders of the neighboring regions hope to leverage […]
Read moreDutch health technology company Philips said on Monday its core profits in the third quarter rose 12 percent to 532 million euros ($626.11 million), as strong growth in China pushed sales up 4 percent. Analysts polled for Reuters predicted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) of 533 million euros, with a comparable sales […]
Read moreZimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been removed as a goodwill ambassador, the World Health Organization said on Sunday, following outrage among Western donors and rights groups at his appointment. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus named Mugabe to the largely ceremonial post at a meeting on Wednesday in Uruguay on chronic diseases attended by both men. […]
Read moreU.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday promoted a Trump administration goal of uniting Saudi Arabia and Iraq in common cause to counter Iran’s growing assertiveness in the Middle East. Tillerson participated in the inaugural meeting of the Saudi Arabia-Iraq Coordination Committee, along with Saudi King Salman and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, telling […]
Read moreCurrency, United States Finance
Russia accuses US-led coalition of 'barbaric' bombing of Syria's Raqqa
Russia accused the U.S.-led coalition in Syria on Sunday of wiping the city of Raqqa “off the face of the earth” with carpet bombing in the same way the United States and Britain had bombed Germany’s Dresden in 1945. The Russian Defence Ministry, which has itself repeatedly been forced to deny accusations from activists and […]
Read moreCatalonia’s leaders said on Saturday they would not accept direct rule imposed on the region by the Spanish government, as a political crisis that has rattled the economy and raised fears of prolonged unrest showed no signs of easing. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced earlier on Saturday he would invoke special constitutional powers to […]
Read moreThe appointment of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe as a goodwill ambassador of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been denounced by human rights groups. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the appointment at a high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Uruguay on Wednesday. The meeting was attended by Mugabe, 93. He is blamed in […]
Read moreA man wounded five people with a knife in the southern German city of Munich on Saturday and was being hunted by police, police and the fire department said. None of the injuries were life-threatening, police said, adding that the attacker’s motive remained unclear. They urged people in the city to remain at home as […]
Read moreThe Spanish cabinet was meeting on Saturday to prepare to impose direct rule on Catalonia and thwart a drive by the autonomous region to breakaway from Spain. It will be the first time in Spain’s four decades of democracy that Madrid has invoked the constitutional right to take control of a region and rule it […]
Read moreJust six weeks after floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey damaged thousands of homes in Houston, home sales there have rebounded. Sales rose 4 percent in September in Houston from the prior year, after plummeting nearly 24 percent in August, according to the National Association of Realtors. That helped push home sales nationally higher by 0.7 percent; […]
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