WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell met at the White House on Monday morning, their second meeting since Powell started the job in February 2017 and soon after became the target of frequent criticism from the president who had appointed him. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures…

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on honesty and transparency in healthcare prices inside the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 15, 2019. REUTERS/Tom BrennerWASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday temporarily put on hold a lower court ruling that would require President Donald Trump’s accounting firm…

(Reuters) – Wall Street hovered around record levels on Monday after Washington’s move to grant an extension for U.S. companies to do business with China’s Huawei helped ease some concerns around U.S.-China trade relations. A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan…

SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil (Reuters) – Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rose to its highest in over a decade this year, government data on Monday showed, confirming a sharp increase under the leadership of right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro. FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia…

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police lay siege on Monday to a university where hundreds of anti-government protesters were bunkered down with petrol bombs and other homemade weapons, amid fears of a bloody crackdown and U.S. calls for restraint. Police fired volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets to force back dozens of protesters…

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Several Asian airlines have cut flights to Hong Kong over the coming weeks, according to industry scheduling publication Routes Online, as anti-government protests in the city grow increasingly violent and disrupt daily life. Protesters clash with police at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in Hong Kong, China November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Adnan…

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Asian shares ticked higher on Monday after Beijing surprised markets by trimming a key interest rate for the first time since 2015, stirring speculation that further stimulus was on the way for the world’s second-largest economy. FILE PHOTO: Passersby are reflected on a stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan,…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is set to issue a 90-day extension of a license on Monday allowing U.S. companies to continue doing business with China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL], two sources familiar with the deliberations said. FILE PHOTO: The Huawei brand logo is seen above a store of the telecoms equipment maker…

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong protesters shot arrows and hurled petrol bombs from a barricaded university on Sunday at police who fired tear gas and water cannon in some of the worst violence in the Chinese-ruled city since anti-government unrest erupted five months ago. Several protesters took up positions on the rooftops of Hong…

By Andrew Osborn and Andrey Kuzmin Seized Ukrainian naval ships are guarded by Russia’s Coast Guard vessels in the port in Kerch, near the bridge connecting the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula, Crimea November 17, 2019. REUTERS/Alla DmitrievaMOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will return three captured naval ships to Ukraine on Monday and is moving…

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Karim Daya was one of the last of his friends and family still in Lebanon. Now that his job is gone, he’s packing his bags. Two men walk past a closed bank office in Beirut, Lebanon November 15, 2019. . REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares“That’s it. It’s just getting worse and worse, and where…

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon slipped deeper into political crisis on Sunday after the withdrawal of a top candidate for prime minister narrowed the chances of creating a government needed to enact urgent reforms. FILE PHOTO: Lebanon’s then-Minister of Economy and Trade, Mohammad Safadi, speaks during the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit in Beirut, October 20,…

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa established a lead over his main rival in a presidential election months after deadly militant attacks in the island, early results showed on Sunday. Election officials, assisted by Sri Lankan police officer, arrive with a ballot box to a counting center, after the voting…

LA PAZ (Reuters) – The United Nations warned on Saturday violence in Bolivia could “spin out of control” following recent skirmishes between security forces and coca farmers loyal to ousted President Evo Morales that have left nine dead. Morales resigned under pressure from Bolivia’s police and military last Sunday after evidence of vote rigging tainted…

FILE PHOTO: A demonstrator takes cover from a spray of water during a protest against Chile’s government in Santiago, Chile, November 15, 2019. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/File PhotoSANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile’s independent human rights watchdog said on Saturday it would file a formal complaint for murder against police officers who allegedly prevented paramedics from attending a heart…

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Fresh violence erupted around a besieged Hong Kong university campus on Sunday morning, as protesters braced for a possible final police push to clear them after fiery clashes overnight. A protester throws a molotov cocktail during clashes with police outside Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) in Hong Kong, China November 17,…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump launched a Twitter attack on a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine on Friday while she was testifying to an impeachment hearing in Congress, in an extraordinary moment that Democrats said amounted to witness intimidation. Trump blasted Marie Yovanovitch, a career diplomat, as she explained to the second day of…

The dome of the U.S. Capitol Building is seen as the sun sets on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 26, 2019. REUTERS/Erin ScottWASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House budget official Mark Sandy walked into a closed session of the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump on Saturday, where he is expected…

PARIS (Reuters) – French police fired water cannon and fired tear gas in Paris on Saturday to drive back protesters marking the first anniversary of anti-government “yellow vest” demonstrations. Demonstrators, many clad in black and hiding their faces, vandalized an HSBC bank branch at the Place d’Italie. They set trash bins on fire and hurled…

People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops in t-shirts and khaki trousers clean and service an armoured personnel carrier in the Tam Mei barracks in Hong Kong’s northern New Territories, China November 16, 2019. REUTERS/James PomfretHONG KONG (Reuters) – A move by China’s People’s Liberation Army to clear debris and barricades left by anti-government protesters in Hong…

(Reuters) – 1/ NOT SO FAST Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., November 13, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidHow big a risk is a global economic recession? Recently, hopes of a fledgling growth turnaround were doused by data showing China’s factory output growth slowing in October and…

(Reuters) – A teenage boy who killed two classmates and wounded three others at a southern California high school on his birthday before shooting himself in the head died on Friday of his wounds in hospital, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office said. “Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow, 16, a Junior at Saugus High School, was being…

DETROIT (Reuters) – The United Auto Workers union said on Friday that rank-and-file members at Ford Motor Co (F.N) have voted in favor of a new four-year labor contract with the No. 2 U.S. automaker. FILE PHOTO: Ford logo is pictured at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, Germany September 10, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang…

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Pro-China protesters plan to rally in Hong Kong on Saturday to denounce increasingly violent anti-government unrest in the Chinese-ruled city and support the police who have become a prime target of attack. Firefighters extinguish a fire from explosions in an abandoned car, set up by protesters, near a barricade above the…

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Mohammad Safadi, a former finance minister, has agreed to be Lebanon’s prime minister if he wins the support of leading parties, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said on Friday. FILE PHOTO: Lebanon’s Minister of Economy and Trade Mohammad Safadi speaks during the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit in Beirut, October 20, 2010. REUTERS/Cynthia…

LONDON (Reuters) – It was 2008 and unlike many countries, Lebanon was sailing through the worst global downturn in 80 years largely unscathed. FILE PHOTO: Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh speaks during a news conference at the central bank in Beirut, Lebanon, November 11, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File PhotoWith a booming economy and resilient banks,…

LONDON (Reuters) – Hopes of a U.S.-China trade deal turned world stock markets and other risk assets higher on Friday, though an escalating wave of global protests from Hong Kong to Chile left some deep scars. FILE PHOTO: Passersby are reflected on a stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, August 6, 2019.…

LONDON (Reuters) – Global debt is on course to end 2019 at a record high of more than $255 trillion, the Institute of International Finance estimated on Friday — nearly $32,500 for each of the 7.7 billion people on planet. The amount, which is also more than three times the world’s annual economic output, has…

A truck with the sign “Impeachment Now” sits outside the statehouse in Concord, New Hampshire, U.S., November 13, 2019. REUTERS/Brian SnyderWASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House budget official Mark Sandy will give testimony in a closed session of the U.S. House of Representatives impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump if he is subpoenaed, his lawyer said…

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (Reuters) – A Southern California high school student pulled a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun from his backpack and fired on fellow classmates on Thursday morning, killing two and wounding three others. He saved the last bullet for himself. It was his 16th birthday. The teenaged gunman, whose name was not provided by…