World

(Reuters) – Tropical Storm Ida could hit the U.S. Gulf Coast near New Orleans this weekend as a powerful hurricane, as it strengthened overnight, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported early today, issuing hurricane and tropical storm watches for much of the area.

(Reuters) – U.S. troops helping to evacuate Afghans desperate to flee Taliban rule braced for more attacks today after Islamic State struck the crowded gates of Kabul airport, killing scores of civilians and at least 13 U.S.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The White House said it regretted the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday to end the Biden administration’s pandemic-related federal moratorium on evictions, and urged states, cities, landlords and others to do what they could to help.

(Reuters) – Nicaraguan prosecutors yesterday charged eight opposition leaders with conspiracy, including three who planned to challenge President Daniel Ortega’s bid to secure a fourth consecutive term in power.

BOGOTA, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Tribes from the Amazon have called for urgent action to protect the world’s largest rainforest in a formal motion to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), to be considered at its global congress in France next month.

 (Reuters) – Suspected suicide bombers struck the crowded gates of Kabul airport with at least two explosions today, causing a bloodbath among desperate civilians hoping to flee and casting the final days of the Western airlift of its allies into chaos.

NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – New York Governor Kathy Hochul revealed 12,000 more people died of COVID-19 than was reported under her disgraced predecessor, making good on her promise for greater transparency on just her second day leading the state.

BEIJING/WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – China yesterday criticized the U.S. “politicization” of efforts to trace the origin of the coronavirus, demanding without any evidence that American labs be investigated, ahead of the release of a U.S.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – A U.S. judge yesterday sanctioned Sidney Powell and other lawyers who sued in Michigan to overturn Democratic President Joe Biden’s election victory over Donald Trump, and suggested they might deserve to lose their law licenses.

LOS ANGELES,  (Reuters) – Porn actor Ron Jeremy yesterday pleaded not guilty to more than 30 counts of sexual assault, including 12 of rape, in the Los Angeles area over a 23 year period.

CHICAGO, (Reuters) – Delta Air Lines yesterday said employees will have to pay $200 more every month for their company-sponsored healthcare plan if they choose to not be vaccinated against COVID-19.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – A deadly weekend fire at on offshore platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico operated by Mexican state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) could have been caused by a gas leak, Pemex’s chief executive said yesterday.

(Reuters) – A man who appeared as a naked baby on the cover of Nirvana’s 1991 “Nevermind” album has filed a lawsuit against the surviving members of the influential band, alleging the image was child sexual exploitation.

(Reuters) – The Nicaraguan attorney general’s office on Tuesday accused prominent journalist Carlos Chamorro, a fierce critic of the government of President Daniel Ortega, of money laundering.

BRUSSELS/COPENHAGEN,  (Reuters) – Denmark and Costa Rica are trying to forge an alliance of countries willing to fix a date to phase out oil and gas production and to stop giving permits for new exploration, government ministers said and documents showed.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – With U.S. sanctions spooking key oil buyers and depriving its government of cash, Venezuela last year inked a deal with a little-known local company to swap crude for food, Reuters has learned.

(Reuters) – President Joe Biden said yesterday the United States is on pace to finish evacuations from Afghanistan by Aug.

LONDON,  (Reuters) – Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, widely regarded as one of the coolest men in rock, a jazz enthusiast and a snappy dresser, died yesterday just three weeks after pulling out of the band’s upcoming U.S.

ALGIERS, (Reuters) – Algeria cut diplomatic relations with Morocco yesterday, citing what it called “hostile actions” by its most populous neighbour with which it has had strained relations for decades.

DAKAR,  (Reuters) – Hissene Habre, the former strongman president of Chad and security ally of the West during the Cold War who was later jailed for war crimes, died yesterday in Senegal at the age of 79, Senegal’s justice minister said.