Be Informed

What is aspartame, the ‘possible carcinogen’ in diet sodas, sugar-free juices?

(Reuters) - Aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener found in Diet Coke, chewing gum, yoghurt and other food products, is set to be declared a possible carcinogen next month by a…

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Why are there riots in France?

PARIS (Reuters) - Riots have convulsed France after police shot dead a teenager of North African descent at a traffic stop in a Paris suburb. Here are some of the…

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Tunisia’s efforts to stave off bankruptcy

TUNIS, June 29 (Reuters) - Tunisia faces a full-blown crisis in public finances that could destabilise the country with knock-on effects around the central Mediterranean region. European countries offered about…

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Berlin airlift and Ukraine war: the importance of symbols during conflicts

Every military conflict contains situations that eventually become its defining symbols. The second world war, for example, could be summed up in the following seven symbols: the Munich agreement (appeasement),…

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Disaster, opulence, and the merciless ocean: why the Titanic disaster continues to enthral

The question on many minds this week is why did some of the world’s richest men risk death to venture to the bottom of the sea in a cold and…

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Russia mercenary threat revives concern over nuclear arsenal security

By Jonathan Landay WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Wagner mercenary group's march on Moscow has revived an old fear in Washington: what happens to Russia's nuclear stockpile in the event of…

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Who is Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin?

Wagner mercenary force chief Yevgeny Prigozhin will move to Belarus under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko to end an armed mutiny that Prigozhin had led against Russia's…

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Titanic submersible ‘catastrophic implosion’: questions remain about the costs and ethics of rescuing tourist expeditions

The U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday that debris found on the seafloor was identified as belonging to the Titan, the OceanGate submersible that had disappeared on June 18. Teams from…

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What was the ‘catastrophic implosion’ of the Titan submersible? An expert explains

The four day-long search for the missing Titan submersible has come to a tragic end. Reports have confirmed the vessel was subject to a “catastrophic implosion” at some point during…

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What is the OceanGate submersible and how does it work?

What is the OceanGate submersible and how does it work? (Reuters) - An international search and rescue operation is under way in a remote patch of the Atlantic Ocean after…

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Is Britain on the edge of a mortgage market meltdown?

By Sinead Cruise and Iain Withers LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - Soaring mortgage costs in Britain are fuelling fears among homeowners, investors, charities and policymakers about the growing strain placed…

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What world leaders said at the Paris finance summit

PARIS, June 22 (Reuters) - Following are highlights of what world leaders said at a summit in Paris on Thursday to boost crisis financing for poor countries, reform post-war financial…

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What is the summer solstice? An astronomer explains

The summer solstice marks the official start of summer. It brings the longest day and shortest night of the year for the 88% of Earth’s people who live in the…

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Western nations commit billions to help rebuild Ukraine

LONDON, June 21 (Reuters) - Britain, the United States and the European Union pledged billions of dollars of extra help to rebuild Ukraine on Wednesday. Below are the details of…

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Who is on the missing Titanic sub?

(Reuters) - A five-person submersible vessel taking tourists on a $250,000 trip to see the wreckage of the 1912 Titanic disaster 12,500 feet (3,800m) undersea is missing in the Atlantic…

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Boris Johnson Q&A: why report into misleading parliament still matters, even after he resigned as an MP

The House of Commons Committee of Privileges has released a damning report on former prime minister Boris Johnson, ruling that he deliberately misled parliament over the partygate affair and recommending…

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Why is UK food inflation so stubbornly high?

By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said this week that British food price inflation had been slower to drop than global commodity prices, despite…

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‘Courage is contagious’: Daniel Ellsberg’s decision to release the Pentagon Papers didn’t happen in a vacuum

In 1971, when Daniel Ellsberg arrived at a federal court in Boston, a journalist asked if he was concerned about the prospect of going to prison for leaking a 7,000-page…

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What explains Donald Trump’s enduring appeal with Republican voters?

Donald Trump has once again been indicted, this time at the federal level for violating the Espionage Act and endangering US security in his handling of classified documents. Unsurprisingly, he…

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How migrant tragedy unfolded on the high seas off Greece

By Lefteris Papadimas and Karolina Tagaris KALAMATA, Greece, (Reuters) - As Greece confronts its worst sea disaster in years, questions are mounting about how potentially hundreds of migrants drowned even…

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UBS has Swiss mountain to climb with Credit Suisse

By Tomasz Janowski, Oliver Hirt and John Revill ZURICH, June 12 (Reuters) - With its Credit Suisse takeover officially wrapped up, UBS must now make good on its promise that…

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Russia’s Putin pays tribute to Berlusconi as ‘dear’, wise friend and other reactions

MILAN, June 12 (Reuters) - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a billionaire businessman who created Italy's largest media company before transforming the political landscape, has passed away aged 86.…

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TV, soccer and finance: Silvio Berlusconi’s many businesses

ROME, June 12 (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister and billionaire media mogul who died on Monday at the age of 86, controlled a diverse business empire…

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Silvio Berlusconi’s many court battles, one sole conviction

ROME, June 12 (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi, the four-time Italian prime minister and billionaire media mogul who died on Monday at the age of 86, spent much of the past…

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Silvio Berlusconi’s gaffes, quips and quotes

ROME, June 12 (Reuters) - Silvio Berlusconi, the outspoken four-time Italian prime minister and billionaire media mogul who died on Monday at the age of 86, had a sense of…

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A look at the life of former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi

Ex premier Silvio Berlusconi died at Milan's San Raffaele hospital on Monday aged 86, sources close to the family have said.His brother Paolo and his children Marina, Eleonora, Barbara and…

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What is the Espionage Act and what might it mean for Donald Trump?

By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON, June 11 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump has become the most high-profile person to ever face criminal charges under the Espionage Act for…

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How secret were the documents found at Mar-a-Lago?

The 37-count indictment against Donald Trump unsealed on Friday accused the former president of risking some of the most closely guarded U.S. government secrets by storing classified documents in unsecured…

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Pope Francis is recovering from hernia surgery. But what exactly is a hernia?

Pope Francis has had an operation this week to remove a hernia, which his surgeon said had been causing him increasingly frequent pain. This planned surgery was to remove a…

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10

Jun

Binance, world’s top crypto exchange, at center of US investigations

By Tom Wilson and Hannah Lang LONDON/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - The world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao have been sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission…

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Donald Trump legal issues: What charges, lawsuits and investigations is he facing?

(Reuters) - Here is a list of additional legal troubles facing former President Donald Trump, who is being indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice, apparently for mishandling sensitive government…

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The Ukraine dam bombing: When do attacks on civilian installations amount to war crimes?

By Stephanie van den Berg and Anthony Deutsch THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The Geneva Conventions and its protocols explicitly ban war-time attacks on "installations containing dangerous forces" such as dams…

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Who are the Republican candidates running for president?

By Ross Colvin June 7 (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence announced his campaign to run for president on Wednesday, challenging his former boss Donald Trump in a…

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Pope Francis and his long history of health problems

ROME, June 7 (Reuters) - Pope Francis was admitted to a Rome hospital for an operation on his abdomen on Wednesday, the latest in a number of health problems for…

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Kakhovka dam: what happened and what do we not know?

By Guy Faulconbridge June 7 (Reuters) - A huge Soviet-era dam on the Dnipro River that separates Russian and Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine was breached on Tuesday, unleashing floodwaters…

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What is OPEC+ and how does it impact oil prices?

By Nina Chestney and Olesya Astakhova (Reuters) - The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia, are known as OPEC+ met in Vienna, Austria, on…

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Why is Prince Harry giving evidence in court?

LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Harry will become the first British royal to appear in the witness box since the 1890s when he testifies at the High Court in London as…

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Who are the candidates running in the 2024 US presidential election

By Ross Colvin June 2 (Reuters) - Former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie plan to announce next week they are running for president, joining…

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Key facts on Kosovo, independent for 15 years from Serbia

(Reuters) - Kosovo marked the 15th anniversary of its declaration of independence from Serbia in February this year and in recent days saw a surge of violence. Here are key…

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Governments race to regulate AI tools

June 1 (Reuters) - Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT are complicating governments' efforts to agree laws governing the use of the technology. Here are…

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McCarthy’s moment: Debt ceiling win secures Republican US House speaker’s standing

By David Morgan WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - Kevin McCarthy earned his stripes as Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, navigating fierce hardline opposition to pass a debt…

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A timeline of North Korea’s space launch programme and long-range missile projects

SEOUL, May 31 (Reuters) - North Korea made a failed attempt at launching its first spy satellite on Wednesday, with the booster and payload plunging into the sea, North Korean…

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Why Kosovo’s stand-off with Serbs goes on 15 years after statehood

(Reuters) - Fifteen years after Kosovo declared independence, 50,000 minority Serbs in the north bordering Serbia refuse to recognise state institutions, receive pay and benefits from Serbia's budget and pay…

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What is the U.S. debt ceiling?

By Jason Lange WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. is rapidly approaching the deadline for Congress to pass a deal, reached over the weekend by Democratic President Joe Biden…

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Africa’s restrictions on LGBTQ rights

NAIROBI, May 29 (Reuters) - Uganda has enacted one of the world's toughest anti-LGBTQ laws in a continent where only 22 of 54 nations allow homosexuality. Here are facts about…

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What to expect from Nigeria’s new president Bola Tinubu

By MacDonald Dzirutwe LAGOS, May 29 (Reuters) - Nigeria's new president Bola Tinubu faces a litany of problems, including widespread violence, double-digit inflation and industrial-scale oil theft. His victory is…

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What’s in the debt ceiling deal struck by Biden and McCarthy?

WASHINGTON, May 28 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday signed off on an agreement to temporarily suspend the debt ceiling and cap some…

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Turkey’s 2023 election roundup: The final results, and the high stakes at issue

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Tayyip Erdogan extended his rule into a third decade by defeating Kemal Kilicdaroglu in Turkey's presidential election on Sunday. Here are details on how it unfolded: WHAT…

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Who are the Freedom of Russia Legion and other armed fighters in Belgorod?

KYIV (Reuters) - Fighting spilled into Russia's western Belgorod region this week following a military incursion from Ukraine. Russia has blamed Ukrainian armed groups and launched a terrorism investigation. Kyiv…

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US debt ceiling deal’s winding road to passage in Congress

By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON, May 28 (Reuters) - Democratic President Joe Biden and top congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy struck a deal on Saturday to suspend the federal government's $31.4 trillion…

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Turkey election runoff 2023: what you need to know

ISTANBUL, May 26 (Reuters) - Turks vote on Sunday May 28 in a presidential election runoff between the incumbent Tayyip Erdogan and his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu that will decide whether…

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2024 US presidential election: who is in, who is out and who is still thinking about it

By Ross Colvin (Reuters) – With Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announcing on Wednesday he is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, joining former President Donald Trump in a growing list…

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How Americans plan to travel this Memorial Day

May 26 (Reuters) - The upcoming Memorial Day weekend is expected to see millions of Americans travel despite tight budgets, kicking off the busy summer travel in the U.S on…

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Madeleine McCann: The story so far

LONDON (Reuters) - Portuguese police this week searched a reservoir about 50 km (31 miles) from where British three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007, authorities said. The move was the…

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How could a US debt ceiling default hit regular Americans?

By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) - What could happen on Main Street if Washington's political showdown over the debt ceiling stopped the government from cutting checks that fund a quarter…

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Who is Ron DeSantis, 2024 presidential hopeful

By James Oliphant (Reuters) - Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who will announce on Wednesday he is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is likely to be former President Donald Trump’s…

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The significance of Bakhmut

(Reuters) – There are conflicting reports on who actually controls the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut after months of intense fighting. Here is a look at the significance for both sides…

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