By Adrian Portugal MANILA (Reuters) -A Philippine court on Friday acquitted of a drugs charge one of the fiercest critics of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs”, a move welcomed by activists who called her incarceration a vindictive effort to harass and silence her. The court cleared former senator Leila de Lima, 63, of the…
By Asif Shahzad and Ariba Shahid ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -A Pakistani court ordered former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s release on bail for two weeks, his lawyer said on Friday, after his arrest in a land fraud case ignited deadly protests and a tussle with the military. Khan departed the court premises, headed towards his hometown Lahore,…
By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Washington and the EU will pledge joint action to tackle concerns focused on China about non-market practices and coordinate their export controls on semiconductors and other goods at a meeting this month, a draft statement showed. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager and other…
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) – Squishmallows joined Warren Buffett’s business empire two years after Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and others helped make the plush stuffed toys a viral sensation on TikTok. For Judd and Laura Zebersky, whose company Jazwares makes the toys, the success of Squishmallows is hardly what they imagined when they met 33…
By Chayut Setboonsarng BANGKOK (Reuters) – From the back of open-top trucks and cars, candidates of Thailand’s political parties drove through Bangkok on Saturday, as a months-long campaign that could usher in a new government for the first time in nearly a decade drew to a close. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha faces an uphill battle…
BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany on Saturday announced 2.7 billion euro ($3.0 billion) of military aid to Ukraine, its biggest such package yet since Russia’s invasion, and pledged further support for Kyiv for as long as necessary. The package will include 30 Leopard 1 tanks, 15 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks, over 200 reconnaissance drones and four Iris-T anti-aircraft…
By Andrea Shalal NIIGATA, Japan (Reuters) -Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Saturday called a showdown over raising the U.S. debt ceiling “more difficult” than in the past but said she remained hopeful a solution could be found to avert a first ever U.S. default Yellen told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a…
By Andrea Shalal NIIGATA, Japan (Reuters) -Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Saturday called a showdown over raising the U.S. debt ceiling “more difficult” than in the past but said she remained hopeful a solution could be found to avert a first ever U.S. default Yellen told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a…
By Joe Cash BEIJING (Reuters) -Australia’s Minister for Trade and Tourism Don Farrell said on Friday he was “pleased” with his talks with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on removing trade barriers, but added that his visit was “just another step” in stabilising ties. Farrell’s visit to the Chinese capital, the first by an Australian…
By Aditya Kalra and Aftab Ahmed NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s streaming platform JioCinema announced premium pricing of 999 Indian rupees ($12) a year, its first step to move away from a free content model to fight global rivals such as Netflix and Disney in the country. The move comes weeks after a…
