Year: 2019

Amazon.com Inc. will protest the Pentagon's decision to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft Corp., The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing a statement.    Amazon did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.    A challenge to the Defense…

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' office announced that a special envoy would be sent to Bolivia to support a "peaceful resolution" to its current crisis after military leaders called on the Bolivian president to resign over election irregularities.  Former U.N. special envoy to Colombia Jean Arnault…

U.S. President Donald Trump became the third president in modern U.S. history to face open impeachment hearings Wednesday. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives called two key State Department witnesses to begin making the case that Trump abused the power of his office by…

Fresh protests erupted Wednesday in Bolivia just hours after opposition Sen. Jeanine Áñez was sworn in as interim president. The United States recognized Áñez as Bolivia's temporary president. The country's longtime leader, Evo Morales, said he was removed by a coup and that he would continue to…

U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met at the White House Wednesday but did not reach resolutions on major irritants to bilateral relations including Turkey's recent incursion into northern Syria and its purchase of Russian military hardware. White House Correspondent Patsy…

North Korea's supreme decision-making body has lashed out at planned U.S.-South Korean military drills and warned that the United States will face a "bigger threat and harsh suffering" if it ignores North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's end-of-year deadline to salvage nuclear talks. The North's…

Spanish police said Wednesday they have been unable to locate a Venezuelan former spymaster wanted by the United States for extradition on charges of drug trafficking. Police told The Associated Press that its officers have been unable to find Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal. News website…

Russia's Embassy to Washington says it has lodged a formal diplomatic protest after Israel extradited a Russian national to the United States, where he is suspected of stealing more than $20 million from U.S. consumers through credit card fraud. In a Wednesday Facebook statement, the…

Mark Sanford, a former governor of South Carolina, abandoned his longshot bid on Tuesday to challenge President Donald Trump for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. Sanford, 59, announced he was dropping out of the race at an event in New Hampshire, which holds the first…

Clashes between protesters and riot police continued well into Tuesday night at a prominent Hong Kong university, extending one of the more violent stretches in the five months of demonstrations. Police fired rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters at the Chinese University…

Jordan’s King Abdullah visits one of two small parcels of land which, until recently, was leased to Israel as part of the neighbors’ 1994 peace agreement. Jordan's decision not to renew the lease was made at a time of brewing tensions between the peace partners.…

Guinea President Alpha Conde announced on Monday that he was replacing his security minister following deadly protests against suspected efforts by Conde to extend his mandate. Conde, 81, is due to step down next year when his second and final five-year term expires, but he…

Iraqi officials expressed "deep regret" on Monday at the death of protesters during weeks of unrest but defended Baghdad's handling of the situation. Nearly 300 people have been killed in Iraq since the protests against political corruption, unemployment and poor public services began on Oct.…

The Ukrainian military and Russia-backed separatist rebels have completed a pullback of troops and weapons from an area in eastern Ukraine embroiled in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people, officials said Monday. The disengagement near Petrivske that began Saturday followed a recent…

Authorities declared a state of emergency across a broad swath of Australia's east coast on Monday, urging residents in high risk areas to evacuate ahead of looming "catastrophic" fire conditions. Bushfires burning across New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland states have already killed three people…

The United Nations Assistance Mission to Iraq warned Sunday of the need for timely, tangible results in the government's response to protests that began in early October, and offered a roadmap to address some of the demonstrators' demands. The U.N. office issued a statement saying…

A Hong Kong police officer shot at masked protesters on Monday morning, hitting at least one in the torso, as anger sparked by the recent death of a student spilled into the rush hour commute. The shooting, which was broadcast live on Facebook, is the…

Pope Francis says he intends to go to South Sudan, where efforts are underway to salvage a peace deal. In public remarks Sunday, Francis also urged the African nation's leaders to find “consensus” for the good of the country. South Sudan President Salva Kiir and…

U.N. monitors report scores of civilians are being killed and wounded, and thousands are fleeing their homes as violence and human rights abuse escalate in northern and northeastern Syria.    In just the last five days, at least 92 civilians have been killed in these…

Voters are going to the polls Sunday in Romania for the country's presidential election. Analysts say incumbent Klaus Iohannis will likely be returned to office in a runoff vote. Centrist liberal Iohannis, unlike some other Eastern European leaders, has not embraced nationalism. Polls indicate he…

A U.N. agency is urging the Iraqi government to address the grievances of its people or risk that the ongoing deadly protests across the country could spiral even further out of control. Since anti-government protests began Oct. 1, the U.N. Human Rights Office has documented…

Hundreds of pilgrims Saturday from India’s minority Sikh community crossed the international border with Pakistan without a visa for the first time in 72 years to pay homage to one of their holiest shrines. The rare instance of cooperation to facilitate the religious journey comes…

Are the West's secrets safe in the hands of Britain’s politicians? It is a question Britain’s intelligence officers are asking themselves — so, too, their counterparts in the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence-sharing relationship that includes the U.S., Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It's a tie-up that’s…

Political tensions are simmering in Cambodia. While most people are going about their everyday lives, there is an undercurrent of apprehension. Saturday is the day longtime opposition leader Sam Rainsy pegged as the date he planned to return to Cambodia, potentially ending nearly four years…

U.S. counterterrorism officials are increasingly worried Islamic State fighters captured as the terror group's caliphate collapsed in Syria will find their way back to the battlefield. The concern, they say, is most acute for the approximately 2,000 foreign fighters who are being kept in a…

Since the start of the impeachment inquiry six weeks ago, more than a dozen current and former Trump administration officials have refused to testify before House of Representatives investigators, raising questions about Congress' ability to summon key witnesses.    In the latest instance, acting White House…

A student at a Hong Kong university who fell during protests earlier this week died Friday, the first student death in months of anti-government demonstrations in the Chinese-ruled city that is likely to be a trigger for fresh unrest. Chow Tsz-lok, 22, an undergraduate student…

U.S.-Chinese trade contracted again in October, despite optimism about possible progress in talks aimed at ending a tariff war that threatens global economic growth. Chinese imports of U.S. goods fell 14.3% from a year earlier to $9.4 billion, customs data showed Friday. Exports to the…