World

UNITED NATIONS/BEIRUT,  (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council yesterday delayed a vote on a demand for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria, where pro-government warplanes have been pounding the last rebel bastion near Damascus in one of the deadliest bombing campaigns of the seven-year civil war.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The special counsel in the Russia probe filed new criminal charges yesterday against President Donald Trump’s former campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, stepping up pressure in a legal battle that started last year.

(Reuters) – China has the world’s largest and farthest-ranging fishing operation, outstripping the next 10 biggest combined, according to what researchers say is the most comprehensive and data-intensive study on the subject.

MUMBAI, (Reuters) – An Indian financial crime-fighting agency said on Thursday it has seized a Rolls-Royce Ghost, a Porsche Panamera and some half a dozen more luxury vehicles belonging to billionaire jeweller Nirav Modi and his firms, in a probe into an alleged $1.8 billion fraud against state-run Punjab National Bank.

BOSTON/NEW YORK,  (Reuters) – The world’s largest asset manager put U.S.

WASHINGTON/TALLAHASSEE, Fla., (Reuters) – Students galvanized by the deadly mass shooting at a Florida high school confronted lawmakers yesterday with demands to restrict sales of assault rifles, while President Donald Trump suggested arming teachers as a way to stop more U.S.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Venezuelans reported losing on average 11 kilograms (24 lbs) in body weight last year and almost 90 percent now live in poverty, according to a new university study on the impact of a devastating economic crisis and food shortages.

ISLAMABAD,  (Reuters) – Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif be removed as head of the political party he founded, six months after the court disqualified him as the country’s leader over unreported income.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Americans injured in a 1997 suicide bombing in Jerusalem cannot seize ancient Persian artifacts from a Chicago museum to satisfy a $71.5 million court judgment against Iran, which they had accused of complicity in the attack.

WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller yetserday stepped up pressure on two former Trump campaign aides to cooperate in his probe into possible collusion with Russia, unsealing a criminal charge against a lawyer for lying to Mueller’s investigators.

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, (Reuters) – India’s Finance Minister decried a “lack of ethics” among sections of Indian business yesterday and criticised inadequate oversight by auditors and regulators, after the financial sector was rocked by a $1.8 billion fraud at a state-run bank.

PARKLAND, Fla.,  (Reuters) – Dozens of students and parents from the Florida high school where 17 teens and staff members were slain in a shooting rampage boarded buses on Tuesday for a trip to the state capital of Tallahassee to lobby for a ban on assault-style rifles.

OSLO,  (Reuters) – Sea levels will rise between 0.7 and 1.2 metres (27-47 inches) in the next two centuries even if governments end the fossil fuel era as promised under the Paris climate agreement, scientists said on Tuesday.

SEOUL,  (Reuters) – South Korea said yesterday it is signing free trade agreements with five Central American nations aimed at boosting market access for the Korean auto sector and electronics makers.

BERLIN,  (Reuters) – Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) were forced yesterday to declare that a three-year old dog called Lima would not be allowed to vote with party members on a coalition deal with Angela Merkel’s conservatives, despite joining the party.

PALM BEACH, Fla./WASHINGTON,  (Reuters) – The White House said yesterday that President Donald Trump supports efforts to improve federal background checks for gun purchases, days after a shooting at a Florida school killed 17 people.

RIGA, (Reuters) – Latvia’s ABLV Bank sought emergency support yesterday after U.S.

CARACAS,  (Reuters) – Leaders of Venezuela’s opposition coalition appeared likely yesterday to decide on a boycott of the April presidential election, believing authorities have rigged it for President Nicolas Maduro and his ruling socialists.

MEXICO CITY,  (Reuters) – Venezuela’s political situation could well be on the agenda during a trip by Mexico’s foreign minister to Jamaica next month during which Mexican oil sales are likely to be discussed, Jamaica’s foreign minister told Reuters yesterday.

LONDON, (Reuters) – A new British party inspired by French President Emmanuel Macron’s movement launched a campaign yesterday to thwart Brexit by convincing lawmakers to block any EU withdrawal deal Prime Minister Theresa May can strike.