International

U.S. hits oil giant Rosneft, other firms with toughest Russia sanctions

By Anna Yukhananov and Steve Holland WASHINGTON Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:26pm EDT (Reuters) – President Barack Obama imposed the biggest package of U.S. economic sanctions yet on Russia on Wednesday, hitting Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft and other energy, financial and defense firms, with what he called significant but targeted penalties. Obama’s latest round of sanctions came after close consultations with European leaders, who announced a less-ambitious package. The ultimate impact of the U.S. […]

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Typhoon kills at least 20 in the Philippines, heads towards China

(Reuters) – Financial markets are set to reopen in the Philippines on Thursday as residents clear debris and authorities work to restore power after a typhoon churned across the Southeast Asian country, killing at least 20 people. Typhoon Rammasun, the strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year, is heading towards China after cutting a path across the main island of Luzon, shutting down the capital and knocking down trees and power lines, causing widespread […]

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U.S. imposes toughest sanctions yet on Russia over Ukraine

(Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday announced the most wide-ranging sanctions yet on the Russian economy, targeting key institutions including Gazprombank and Rosneft Oil Co, as well as other energy and defense companies. Washington has steadily escalated its financial sanctions on Russia over what it views as Moscow’s interference in its neighbor Ukraine and its annexation of the Crimea region. Obama said the United States could impose further sanctions if Russia did not […]

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Confident Assad launches new term in stronger position

(Reuters) – Bashar al-Assad was sworn in for a new term as Syria’s president on Wednesday, after an election which his opponents dismiss as a sham but which he said proved he had achieved victory after a “dirty war” to unseat him. Once written off in the West as certain to fall, he launches his seven-year term in his securest position since the early days of the three-year-old war. Those close to Damascus say he […]

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Israeli naval shelling kills four boys on Gaza beach: medics

(Reuters) – Israeli shelling killed four boys on a Gaza beach on Wednesday, a local health official said, and Palestinian militants fired a further 70 rockets into Israel after a failed Egyptian attempt to halt more than a week of warfare. Israel urged the evacuation of several districts in the Gaza Strip where more than 100,000 people live, threatening ground operations to try to stem the rocket attacks. An Israeli official said the defence minister […]

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Iraqi army retreats from Tikrit after assault stalls

(Reuters) – Iraqi forces have withdrawn from the militant-held city of Tikrit after their new offensive met heavy resistance, in a blow to the government effort to push back Sunni insurgents controlling large parts of the country. The failure highlights the difficulties of Baghdad’s struggle to recapture territory from the insurgents who seized Mosul, Tikrit and other cities last month in a rapid offensive which threatens to fragment Iraq on ethnic and sectarian lines. The […]

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More Ukrainian soldiers killed as fighting rages in east, peace move flops

  (Reuters) – Fighting raged in Ukraine’s east on Wednesday when separatists tried to break through the lines of government forces near the border with Russia and a tentative step towards agreeing conditions for a ceasefire failed. Eleven more Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the space of 24 hours while hundreds of bodies of rebels were found in shallow graves in a former separatist stronghold, the army said. Fighting has escalated sharply since Friday with […]

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Israel poised for Gaza incursions after truce collapses

(Reuters) – Israel urged the evacuation on Wednesday of several Gaza Strip areas where more than 100,000 people live, threatening ground operations after briefly holding fire under an Egyptian truce proposal that failed to stop Palestinian rocket salvoes. Authorised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet to escalate an eight-day-old offensive, the military said it had sent out evacuation warnings in northeastern Gaza. “Failure to comply will endanger your lives and the lives of your […]

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Israel targets top Hamas leader as Gaza cease-fire collapses

(Reuters) – Israel resumed its air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday a day after holding its fire in deference to an Egyptian-proposed cease-fire deal that failed to get Hamas militants to halt rocket attacks. Attacks in the Gaza Strip killed at least seven Palestinians in the early hours of Wednesday, Gaza health officials said, and destroyed the house of Mahmoud Zahar – who is believed to be in hiding elsewhere – in the […]

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Mexico rescues 458 children from squalid refuge amid abuse fears

(Reuters) – Mexico said on Tuesday it had rescued 458 children from a vermin-infested refuge for abandoned boys and girls, some of whom it believes were sexually abused. The attorney general’s office said police and army troops raided a home known as “La Gran Familia” (The Big Family) in the western city of Zamora on Tuesday, following at least 50 complaints about its operators. Infested by rats, bedbugs and fleas, the refuge was run by […]

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Typhoon kills 10 in Philippines, cuts power, shuts Manila, heads for China

(Reuters) – A typhoon killed at least 10 people as it churned across the Philippines and hit the capital, prompting the evacuation of almost more than 370,000 people, shutting financial markets, offices and schools, rescue officials said on Wednesday. The eye of Typhoon Rammasun, the strongest storm to hit the country this year, passed to the south of Manila on Wednesday after cutting a path across the main island of Luzon, toppling trees and power […]

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