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Why are the EU and UK arguing over Northern Ireland?

British Brexit minister David Frost called in a speech in Lisbon on Tuesday for the European Union to allow "significant change" to post-Brexit rules governing trade with Northern Ireland. He…

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‘Containergeddon’: Supply crisis drives Walmart and rivals to hire their own ships

The Flying Buttress once glided across the oceans carrying vital commodities like grain to all corners of the world. Now it bears a different treasure: Paw Patrol Movie Towers, Batmobile…

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Germany’s next government faces three big economic challenges

Chancellor Angela Merkel has steered Germany through many crises over the past 16 years, but she has also left behind a mixed legacy and failed to tackle some deep structural…

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What is the global minimum tax deal and what will it mean?

A global deal to ensure big companies pay a minimum tax rate of 15% and make it harder for them to avoid taxation has been agreed by 136 countries, the…

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EU faces crisis over Polish court ruling

A Polish court ruling challenging the supremacy of European Union law plunged the EU into an existential crisis on Friday, increasing fears among EU policymakers and many Poles that Poland…

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Profiles of Japanese ministers in PM Kishida’s cabinet

Japan's prime minister, Fumio Kishida, voted in by parliament on Monday, unveiled a cabinet line-up featuring stalwarts of the ruling party and allies of former prime minister Shinzo Abe and…

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What’s behind the wild surges in global LNG prices and the risks ahead

In less than a year and a half, liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices have lurched from record lows to record highs, with the market first reeling from the impact of…

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ANALYSIS-In post-Merkel EU, Macron can’t exert leadership without allies

Angela Merkel's exit from the EU stage she dominated for 16 years has handed French President Emmanuel Macron an opportunity to take up the mantle of European leadership and press…

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Factbox-What’s in the bipartisan U.S. $1 trillion infrastructure bill?

WASHINGTON, Oct 1 (Reuters) - The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives are discussing whether to vote on Friday on a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill to update America's roads,…

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Factbox-How does the Nobel Peace Prize work?

OSLO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - The winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Oct. 8 in Oslo. Here is a look at how the award works:…

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Factbox-Status of Balkan hopefuls’ EU membership bids

The European Union can no longer agree to give a guarantee of future membership to the six Balkan countries once promised a place in the club, diplomats said before a…

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Left-winger aims to become Hungary’s first female prime minister

Klara Dobrev's first political campaign two years ago earned her leftist party a better-than-expected four seats in the European Parliament. Now she is one step closer to her next goal:…

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Ex-foreign minister Kishida becomes Japan’s ruling party leader. What’s next?

Japan's former foreign minister Fumio Kishida won the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership race on Wednesday, virtually ensuring he will become the next prime minister. He vowed to lead…

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Possible German coalition governments

Germany faces the possibility months of tough negotiations to form a coalition government after the federal election on Sunday, with three parties needing to team up to clear the threshold…

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FACTBOX-Germany’s election in polls, facts and figures

BERLIN, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Germany's election produced the narrowest of results, early projections show, but exit polls conducted for broadcasters on Sunday suggested voters had relatively clear ideas about…

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Jamaica, traffic lights or kiwis: Germany’s coalition conundrum

A narrowing of the polls has turned what looked like a homeward romp for Germany's conservatives into a tight race to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel, with multiple potential coalitions after…

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Are COVID-19 boosters ethical, with half the world waiting for a first shot? A bioethicist weighs in

Nancy S. Jecker Professor of Bioethics and Humanities, School of Medicine, University of Washington Should countries that can afford COVID-19 booster vaccines offer them to residents if scientists recommend them?…

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Global Witness reports 227 land and environmental activists murdered in a single year, the worst figure on record

As the climate crisis intensifies, violence against defenders of the earth is escalating. A new report reveals that 227 land and environmental activists were murdered in 2020 for defending their…

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The case for, and against, COVID-19 vaccine boosters

The U.S. government aims to begin offering COVID-19 vaccine booster shots widely next week to Americans age 16 and up. A panel of outside advisers to the Food and Drug…

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EU priorities in Indo-Pacific shift to counter China

The European Union set out a formal strategy on Thursday to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific and counter China's rising power, although Australia's decision to cancel an arms contract…

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Tougher EU airport slot rules trigger Asia retaliation threat, risk industry trade war

Regulators in Asian hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong have threatened to retaliate against European Union plans to force airlines to start using take-off and landing slots frozen during the…

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European nations’ plans for coping with COVID-19

France has introduced mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for health and care home workers in an effort to prevent a new wave of the virus in the autumn that would throttle the…

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What happened on Sept. 11, 2001

(Reuters) - Here is a timeline for Sept. 11, 2001, when commercial airliners crashed into the New York World Trade Center twin towers, the Pentagon and, after passengers mounted a…

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A glimpse under the hood of El Salvador’s bitcoin experiment

El Salvador on Tuesday rolled out cryptocurrency bitcoin as legal tender, an unprecedented move that faced some technical hiccups on its first day and left many wondering how it will…

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Paris Nov. 2015 attacks: key facts about the trial

Twenty people go on trial in Paris on Wednesday suspected of involvement in a jihadist assault on Nov. 13, 2015, the most deadly attack ever seen in peacetime France, in…

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Afghanistan pullout spurs EU to revive rapid reaction force

The chaotic withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan has shown that the European Union needs to intervene militarily in a crisis without relying on U.S. troops, senior EU officials say.…

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Fall of Japan PM Suga triggered by criticism over pandemic, failure to communicate

When Yoshihide Suga took over as Japan's prime minister last year, hopes were high that skills honed over years as a keen backroom operator, and a common touch from his…

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Islamic State attack signals West’s least bad option for Afghanistan: the Taliban

The deadly attack on Kabul airport has underlined the realpolitik facing Western powers in Afghanistan: engaging with the Taliban may be their best chance to prevent the country sliding into…

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What we know about Japan’s contaminated Moderna COVID-19 vaccine supplies

Japan's COVID-19 vaccination push has been dealt a blow by widening reports of contamination in supplies of Moderna Inc's COVID-19 vaccine. Here are some key points in the issue so…

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A look at the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K)

Following are some facts about the Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, which was behind suspected suicide bomb attacks outside Kabul airport. Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), named after an old term…

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Evacuations from Afghanistan by country

The United States and allies are hurrying to evacuate as many people from Afghanistan as possible before an Aug. 31 deadline amid growing security fears at Kabul airport. Roughly 13,400…

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Binance: The crypto giant facing pressure from regulators

Financial regulators across the world have targeted major cryptocurrency exchange Binance. Some have banned the platform from certain activities, while others have warned consumers that it was unlicensed to operate.…

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Will the Afghan crisis trigger a new refugee crisis for Europe?

The Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan has stoked fears of an exodus of Afghans and a repeat of Europe's 2016/16 migration crisis, when more than a million people from the Middle…

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Britain asks: Is America back or has it turned its back?

The humiliation of the lightning Taliban takeover in Afghanistan after a 20-year war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives has raised a question for the United States' staunchest European…

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Blood and billions of dollars: NATO’s long war in Afghanistan

Here are some facts about NATO's military involvement in support of the United States in Afghanistan: * On Sept. 12, 2001, NATO allies invoked their mutual defence clause for the…

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Factbox: What to watch for as the Taliban inch closer to Kabul

Aug 14 (Reuters) - The insurgent Taliban have captured Afghanistan's second- and third-largest cities, and a town just south of Kabul, and now have their sights set on the capital.…

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The U.N. climate report’s five futures – decoded

The U.N. climate panel report released Monday on the physical science of climate change uses five possible scenarios for the future. The scenarios are the result of complex calculations that…

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Key takeaways from the U.N. climate panel’s report

The U.N. climate panel has released its most comprehensive assessment of climate change yet. Here are some of the report's main conclusions: See report here HUMANS ARE TO BLAME…

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Tunisian president’s feud with party elites drove him to seize reins of power

As he was driven to an urgently scheduled national security meeting with the president, Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi was unable to reach the phones of senior officers to discuss…

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U.N. climate report likely to deliver stark warnings on global warming

Eight years after its last update on climate science, the United Nations is set to publish a report Monday that will likely deliver even starker warnings about how quickly the…

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Retail coffee prices to go up as frost and freight costs bite

LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - The most devastating frost in decades in top coffee producer Brazil and record freight costs sparked by COVID-19 causing massive shipping logjams are expected to…

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Lebanese demand justice on port blast anniversary

Lebanon's leading Christian cleric said there could be no immunity from prosecution over the catastrophic Beirut port blast and that officials were evading investigation, as many Lebanese marked the first…

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Peru’s new leftist president prioritizes China ties during early days in office

In his first week in office, Peru's new left-wing administration under President Pedro Castillo has been quick to extend a friendly hand to China, the Andean nation's most important commercial…

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Northern Ireland protocol: here’s what a compromise between EU and UK could look like

The EU has announced it will suspend its legal action against the UK for allegedly breaching the Northern Ireland protocol by unilaterally extending grace periods related to trade between Great…

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COVID: the beta variant has spread to Europe – should UK be worried?

Most of the world, the UK included, is currently grappling with the delta variant of the coronavirus. But in parts of Europe there has also been a resurgence of an…

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Male fertility is declining – studies show that environmental toxins could be a reason

In the U.S., nearly 1 in 8 couples struggles with infertility. Unfortunately, physicians like me who specialize in reproductive medicine are unable to determine the cause of male infertility around…

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A look at Australia’s path to reopening international borders

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a four-stage plan to greater freedom from coronavirus restrictions, saying Australia will have to vaccinate 80% of its adults against COVID-19 before it can…

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Extreme weather renews focus on climate change as scientists update forecasts

As scientists gather online to finalize a long-awaited update on global climate research, recent extreme weather events across the globe highlight the need for more research on how it will…

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A look at Biden’s new COVID push: vaccine rules, testing plans, hard cash

President Joe Biden announced new measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 and the new Delta variant in the United States that will impact millions of federal workers, contractors and…

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Sport begins self-reflection after Biles and Osaka highlight stress

Simone Biles arrived in Tokyo as a superstar gymnast many believed would change the perception of her sport across the world. She has done that although not in the expected…

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Possible scenarios for Tunisia’s political crisis

Tunisian democracy faces its biggest test since the 2011 revolution after President Kais Saied ousted the government and froze parliament late on Sunday, leading to confrontations between his supporters and…

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From China to Germany, floods expose climate vulnerability

Deadly floods that have upended life in both China and Germany have sent a stark reminder that climate change is making weather more extreme across the globe. At least 25…

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Preparing to bow out, Merkel too busy to think about life after office

Germany's Angela Merkel made clear on Thursday she would keep working on issues such as climate change till her last day as chancellor but, inscrutable as ever, gave little away…

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What is Britain demanding on Brexit?

Britain is demanding the European Union agree to rework the post-Brexit rules governing trade with Northern Ireland, saying it had considered taking unilateral action but would try once more to…

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Lebanon faces even tougher times

France urged Lebanon on Friday to designate a prime minister as soon as possible after Saad al-Hariri abandoned efforts to form a government, but prospects for a new cabinet being…

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Europe’s climate masterplan aims to slash emissions within a decade

The European Union is set to take the lead in climate policy action among the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters this week, with a raft of ambitious plans designed to…

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Why did Pope Francis need surgery?

Pope Francis is currently in hospital, recovering after a planned surgery to remove one side of his intestine for a medical condition known as symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon.…

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