Oil dips over 1.5% on demand fears after weak Chinese data

By Arathy Somasekhar HOUSTON (Reuters) -Oil dropped by more than 1.5% on Monday after weaker than expected Chinese economic growth raised doubts over the strength of demand in the world’s second biggest oil consumer, and a partial restart of halted Libyan output also pressured prices. China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.3% year-on-year in the…

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Fighting in Sudan leaves farmers struggling to get crops planted

By Sarah El Safty, Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir CAIRO (Reuters) – A war between military factions in Sudan is putting at risk the production of staple crops this year, farmers in several states say, threatening to drive the African nation deeper into hunger and poverty. Reuters spoke to more than a dozen people including…

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Russia refuses to renew Black Sea grain deal and says no guarantees for ships now

(Reuters) – Russia refused on Monday to extend the agreement that has enabled Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports for the past year, complaining that promises to free up its own shipments of food and fertilisers had not been kept. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it had notified Ukraine, Turkey and the United…

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Netanyahu vows crackdown on military no-shows in judicial protest

By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to crack down on Monday against threatened no-shows for military reserve duty by opponents of his judicial overhaul plan, saying such actions were anti-democratic and risked emboldening the country’s foes. With the religious-nationalist coalition set to ratify a key reform before parliament goes…

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Progressive US Democrat Jayapal apologizes for calling Israel ‘racist’

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Representative Pramila Jayapal, who heads a large group of progressive Democrats in the U.S. Congress, on Sunday apologized for calling Israel a racist state as Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives pushed back against her initial declaration. “I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist,” Jayapal…

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Hamas unable to pay salaries in Gaza after Qatari aid delay, officials say

By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) – The Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers have been unable to pay salaries for 50,000 public sector workers, with officials in part blaming a delay in a monthly payroll grant from Qatar, a crucial aid donor to the impoverished Palestinian enclave. The salary crisis has sparked an unusual amount of criticism…

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Iraqi PM Sudani, Syria’s Assad hold talks on security, water in Damascus

By Timour Azhari BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday in the first such visit by an Iraqi premier since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011. Assad and Sudani discussed securing their shared 600km border from security threats, including Islamic State…

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Netanyahu ejects party activist over Holocaust mockery at judicial protest

By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the ejection on Sunday of an activist from his Likud party who mocked the Holocaust while heckling anti-government protesters, in remarks that suggested ethnic tensions beneath a constitutional crisis. Video circulated on social media showed Itzik Zarka cursing and spitting at demonstrators at…

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