By Kantaro Komiya TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan issued its first-ever advisory on higher-than-usual risks of a megaquake, after a strong magnitude 7.1 quake occurred on Thursday at the edge of a tremulous seabed zone along the Pacific coast known as the Nankai Trough. A possible Nankai Trough megaquake and tsunami disaster could kill hundreds of thousands of people and cause a trillion-dollar damage to Japan. Here’s a look at the risks of what could be […]
International
French police probe ransomware attack on Grand Palais Olympic venue
PARIS (Reuters) -French cyber crime police are investigating a ransomware attack against the Grand Palais exhibition hall in Paris where Olympic events including fencing and Taekwondo are being held, Paris prosecutors said on Tuesday. They said cyber criminals had targeted the institution’s central computer system, but the incident had not caused any disruption to Olympic events taking place in the iconic glass-roofed exhibition hall in the centre of the French capital. The computer system at […]
Israeli sonic booms rattle Lebanese capital after Hezbollah launches drones
BEIRUT (Reuters) -Israeli warplanes swooped low over the Lebanese capital Beirut on Tuesday, setting off a series of sonic booms that rattled windows across the city minutes before the head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah was set to give an address. The loud booms sent residents rushing to open their windows to prevent the glass from shattering, or standing on their balconies to get a glimpse of the planes flying over. There was no comment from the […]
Bangladesh president dissolves parliament, frees former PM Zia
By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) -Bangladesh’s president dissolved parliament on Tuesday, clearing the way for an interim government and new elections a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled following a violent crackdown on a student-led uprising. President Mohammed Shahabuddin’s office also announced that the leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Begum Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister who had feuded with Hasina for decades, had been freed from house arrest. Student […]
Kamala Harris picks Minnesota’s Tim Walz for vice president
By Andrea Shalal, Jarrett Renshaw, Nandita Bose and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate on Tuesday, choosing a progressive policy champion and a plain speaker from America’s heartland to help win over rural, white voters. Harris announced the selection in a text message to supporters. “I’m pleased to share that I’ve made my decision: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will join our campaign […]
US passes message to Iran not to escalate at ‘critical moment’ for Middle East
By Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States has been urging other countries through diplomatic channels to tell Iran that escalation in the Middle East is not in their interest, a State Department spokesperson said on Monday, at what Secretary of State Antony Blinken called a “critical moment” for the region. Blinken said Washington was “engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much around the clock” to help calm tensions amid fears Iran is […]
Debby, now a tropical storm, soaks northern Florida
By Maria Alejandra Cardona STEINHATCHEE, Florida (Reuters) -Tropical Storm Debby drenched northern Florida on Monday and killed several people as the downgraded hurricane churned toward Georgia and the Carolinas, threatening a week of torrential downpours and flooding across the region. The slow-moving storm plowed into Florida’s Gulf Coast around 7 a.m. (1100 GMT) on Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, making landfall near Steinhatchee about 70 miles (115 km) southeast of Tallahassee, the National […]
Bangladesh awaits interim government, army chief to meet protesters
By Ruma Paul and Kanjyik Ghosh DHAKA (Reuters) –Bangladesh’s army chief will meet student protest leaders on Tuesday as the country awaits the formation of a new government a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled following a violent uprising against her that killed hundreds. Student leaders, who spearheaded a movement against job quotas that turned into a call for Hasina to resign, said early on Tuesday that they want a new interim […]
Meta says Malaysian PM Anwar’s posts on Haniyeh assassination were removed in error
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Meta Platforms apologised on Tuesday for erroneously removing Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s social media posts in which he expressed condolences to a Hamas official about the assassination of the group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh. Meta was sorry for “an operational error”, adding that the content had been restored with “the correct newsworthy label,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters. The U.S. social media giant designates Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that governs Gaza, […]
Carlos Edriel Yulo wins historic gold for Philippines with floor exercise title
By Chang-Ran Kim and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber PARIS, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Carlos Edriel Yulo produced a spectacular performance to win the men’s floor exercise final at the Paris Games on Saturday, earning Philippines their first-ever Olympic medal in gymnastics. Yulo’s gold medal is also only the second-ever top prize won by the Philippines across both the Summer and Winter Games, and the first in the men’s category. Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz struck gold in Tokyo three […]
Magnitude 6.7 earthquake strikes off Mindanao, Philippines, GFZ says
(Reuters) -An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck off the eastern shore of the island of Mindanao in the Philippines on Saturday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said. The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles), GFZ said. The U.S. Geological Survey said pegged the magnitude at 6.8. The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center said that there was no tsunami threat from the earthquake. Philippine seismology agency PHIVOLCS said in an […]
Americans freed alongside Russian assassin in biggest post-Cold War prisoner swap
By Andrew Osborn, Filipp Lebedev, Lucy Papachristou and Trevor Hunnicutt MOSCOW/ANKARA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Russia freed U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan on Thursday as part of the biggest prisoner exchange of its kind since the end of the Cold War. The White House said the U.S. had negotiated the trade with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, negotiated in secrecy for more than a year, involved 24 prisoners, including 16 moving […]