Macron cements bid for French presidency after bitter TV debate

PARIS/LONDON (Reuters) - Independent centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron appeared to cement his position as favorite for the French presidency on Thursday as the dust settled on a rancorous final televised debate with far-right rival Marine Le Pen.

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Tillerson meets ASEAN ministers to seek support on North Korea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Southeast Asian foreign ministers on Thursday to seek their support in pressing North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs.

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U.S. military to pitch revised Afghan war plan to Trump in next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military said on Thursday it will offer recommendations on the war in Afghanistan to President Donald Trump within the next week, amid expectations of a request for thousands of more troops to break a stalemate with Taliban insurgents.

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Trump to wade into Middle East politics on first foreign trip

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel this month as part of his first foreign trip, wading directly into the tangled diplomacy of Middle Eastern politics, a senior administration official said on Thursday.

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Germany: Kremlin to decide whether to use hacked data to influence election

BERLIN (Reuters) - The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency said it would ultimately be up the Kremlin to decide whether data gleaned from cyber attacks directed at German lawmakers and political parties would be used to try to affect the Sept. 24 national election.

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UK's Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth's husband, to retire from royal duties

LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Philip, the 95-year-old husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, will retire from carrying out royal engagements from the autumn, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday, ending more than six decades of active public life.

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Venezuela death toll rises as foes protest Maduro's power shakeup

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan security forces battled protesters who lit fires and hurled stones on Wednesday in rage at President Nicolas Maduro's decree to create an alternative congress, with another fatality taking the death toll to 34 during a month of unrest.

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Trump vows to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace, offers no new policies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump vowed on Wednesday to do “whatever is necessary” to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians as he hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House but offered no sign of how he could revive long-stalled negotiations.

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Tillerson lays out Trump's 'America First' foreign policy to skeptical officials

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday outlined for Department employees how an "America First" agenda translates into foreign policy, but did not address the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts, which worry many diplomats.

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China urges all sides in North Korea standoff to 'stop irritating' one another

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Wednesday urged all parties in the Korean standoff to stay calm and "stop irritating each other," a day after North Korea said the United States was pushing the region to the brink of nuclear war.

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Exclusive: U.S. senators seek sanctions, other ways to address Venezuela crisis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An influential group of Republican and Democratic U.S. senators will file sweeping legislation on Wednesday to address the crisis in Venezuela, including sanctioning individuals responsible for undermining democracy or involved in corruption, Senate aides said.

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Tillerson: U.S. readying new sanctions against North Korea if needed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Wednesday the United States was working on more sanctions targeting North Korea if Pyongyang takes steps that merit a new response.

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Iranians must give Rouhani second term to make good on nuclear deal: Vice President

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president must get a second term to secure the economic benefits that he promised would result from a diplomatic thaw with the West, Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar said ahead of a May 19 election.

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More than 50 miners trapped in explosion in Iran, some feared dead

(Reuters) - More than 50 miners were trapped after a huge explosion in a coal mine in northern Iran on Wednesday, and some were feared to have died, state media reported.

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Le Pen as president would seek French electoral law change: aide

PARIS (Reuters) - Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen would try to change France's electoral law by referendum if she wins the presidency on Sunday and her National Front (FN) party fails to win a parliamentary majority in June, a senior FN official said.

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North Korea detains American for 'attempting to subvert country': KCNA

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Wednesday an American man it had detained in late April was being held for committing what it described as "hostile acts".

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As U.S. and China find common ground on North Korea, is Russia the wild card?

SEOUL/VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) - When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent Lunar New Year greetings this year, the first card went to Russian President Vladimir Putin, ahead of leaders from China and other allies of the isolated country, according to its official news agency.

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Suicide blast in Afghan capital targets NATO vehicles: witnesses

KABUL (Reuters) - An apparent suicide bombing near the U.S. embassy in Kabul on Wednesday appeared to target a convoy of armored personnel carriers used by the NATO-led Resolute Support mission, witnesses and security officials said.

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Macron and Le Pen to square off in French pre-election TV debate

PARIS (Reuters) - France's presidential rivals, centrist Emmanuel Macron and the far-right's Marine Le Pen, go head-to-head on Wednesday in a televised debate in which sparks are sure to fly as they fight their corner in a last encounter before Sunday's runoff vote.

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Trump, Putin discuss Syria ceasefire in first talks since U.S. air strikes

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday moved to ease the tension from U.S. air strikes in April against Russian ally Syria, expressing a desire for a Syrian ceasefire and safe zones for the civil war's refugees.

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Putin, Trump agree to work together on Syria, set up meeting: Kremlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call on Tuesday to try to meet in July and work together to try to strengthen a shaky ceasefire in Syria, the Kremlin said in a statement.

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Le Pen says capital controls an option during Frexit talks if she wins election

PARIS (Reuters) - Far-right presidential challenger Marine Le Pen said capital controls could be used if she won the election and there was a run on banks as she negotiated France's exit from the European Union, but stressed they were unlikely to be needed.

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Putin, Merkel struggle to move past differences in tense meeting

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a rare visit to Russia, said that Berlin and Moscow had to keep talking despite their disagreements, but those same differences overshadowed her talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

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German Defence Minister cancels U.S. trip to focus on officer's arrest: ministry

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday canceled a visit planned to the United States this week to focus on Thursday's arrest of an army officer suspected of planning an attack, the ministry said in a statement.

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Philippines says Trump recognized 'great job' Duterte is doing

MANILA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump was aware of the criticism Philippine counterpart Rodrigo Duterte had received over his controversial war on drugs, but praised him for doing a "great job" when they spoke, Duterte's spokesman said on Tuesday.

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Le Pen aides brush off plagiarism of Fillon in French election speech

PARIS (Reuters) - Aides of French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Tuesday brushed off criticism of her use of phrases lifted straight from a speech by conservative rival Francois Fillon in her May Day address to supporters.

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Trump to speak by phone with Putin on Tuesday: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will speak by telephone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. EDT, the White House said on Monday night.

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Facing protests, Venezuela's Maduro triggers constitutional shakeup

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's unpopular socialist President Nicolas Maduro announced on Monday the creation of a new popular assembly with the ability to re-write the constitution, which foes decried as a power-grab to stifle weeks of anti-government unrest.

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U.S. issues travel alert for Europe, citing threat of terrorist attacks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Europe on Monday, saying U.S. citizens should be aware of a continued threat of terrorist attacks throughout the continent.

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Blast heard in Toronto's financial district underground, heavy smoke

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto police have closed off a section of the city's downtown financial district after reports of a loud blast, a spokeswoman said on Monday, and heavy smoke was seen in the area.

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North Korea would have to clear many conditions before Trump meeting possible: White House

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea would need to clear many conditions before a meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could be contemplated, the White House said on Monday.

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THAAD missile defense system initially capable in South Korea: sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military's THAAD missile defense system in South Korea has reached an initial operating capability to defend against North Korean missiles, U.S. officials said on Monday, forging ahead with the system despite staunch objections from China.

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Trump says would meet North Korean leader under right circumstances: Bloomberg

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he was open to meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong un "under the right circumstances," according to Bloomberg News.

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Macron, Le Pen exchange May Day blows across Paris

PARIS (Reuters) - Centrist presidential frontrunner Emmanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen traded campaign blows across Paris on May Day, as France's most crucial election in decades entered its final week.

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Hamas to soften stance on Israel, Muslim Brotherhood in policy document: sources

DOHA (Reuters) - The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas will remove a call for Israel's destruction and drop its association with the Muslim Brotherhood in a new policy document to be issued on Monday, Gulf Arab sources said.

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U.S.-backed militias oust IS from Syria's Tabqa old city

BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S.-backed militias said on Monday they had pushed Islamic State fighters out of the old quarters of Tabqa, a strategically vital town controlling Syria's largest dam, hemming the militants into the remaining modern district along the shore.

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Turkish police fire tear gas at May Day demonstrators in Istanbul

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Police in Istanbul fired tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a group of May Day demonstrators on Monday, a Reuters witness said, as authorities detained more than 200 people at protests around the city.

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U.N. rights boss concerned at due process in Turkey purges

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein voiced deep concern on Monday at mass arrests and sackings and renewal of the state of emergency in Turkey, saying terror should not be tackled at the expense of human rights.

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