Philippines denies ‘special arrangements’ with China to supply troops on reef

MANILA (Reuters): The Philippines on Monday denied China had a "temporary special arrangement" with Manila to allow the delivery of supplies to Philippine troops occupying a disputed South China Sea reef, calling it "a figment of imagination". The Chinese coastguard said on Saturday it had temporarily allowed the Philippines to provide food and water to soldiers...

Amazon, iRobot abandon merger in face of EU opposition

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amazon and robot vacuum maker iRobot said Monday they would end their plans to merge in the face of opposition from EU antitrust regulators. iRobot announced a significant restructuring plan to reduce costs and said it would cut about 31% of its workforce, or 350 jobs. The company also said founder Colin Angle...

CNN Philippines to close due to financial losses

MANILA (AFP): CNN Philippines will stop operations from January 31 due to "significant financial losses", its owner announced Monday, in the latest blow for the media industry in the South-East Asian nation. The broadcaster began operating in the Philippines in 2015 as a franchise of CNN, delivering mainly English-language news on free-to-air, cable and pay television. Staff...

Hong Kong court orders liquidation of China’s Evergrande, once the country’s property giant

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court on Monday ordered the liquidation of China's property giant Evergrande, but the firm said it would continue to operate in a case that has become a symbol of the nation's deepening economic woes. Once China's biggest real estate firm, its astronomical debt of more than S$300 billion had become emblematic...

Asylum-seekers’ limbo at Madrid airport ‘unsustainable’ -rights groups

MADRID (Reuters) - Several hundred migrants seeking asylum are in limbo at Madrid airport, sleeping in crammed spaces with poor conditions, Spanish rights groups said, describing the situation as "unsustainable". Spain's Commission for Assistance to Refugees (CEAR) told Reuters on Monday the number of people requesting international protection upon landing at Madrid's international airport, Barajas, has...

‘I think it’s the fentanyl’: Philippines’ Marcos hits back at predecessor Duterte

MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. struck back on Monday at his firebrand predecessor Rodrigo Duterte who called him a "drug addict", saying the former leader's fentanyl use could have affected his judgment. "I think it's the fentanyl," Marcos told reporters shortly before leaving for Vietnam in response to claims made by Duterte on...

Top UN court stops short of ordering ceasefire in Gaza and demands Israel contain deaths

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP): The United Nations' top court stopped short on Friday (Jan 26) of ordering a ceasefire in Gaza in a case accusing Israel of genocide in the tiny coastal enclave, but demanded that Israel try to limit deaths and damage caused by its military offensive there. South Africa brought the case, which goes...

Western Digital Corp posts wider Q2 loss, sees impact of structural changes

(Reuters) - Data storage products maker Western Digital Corp posted a wider-than-expected quarterly adjusted loss on Thursday, due to the impact of structural changes the company implemented in its flash and HDD businesses. Shares of the company were down about 4% in after-market trading. Last quarter, the company said it would spin off its flash memory business,...

Former ‘Assassin’s Creed’ studio executives face sexual harassment trial in France

Former executives at video-game firm Ubisoft Entertainment SA face a sexual harassment trial in France over allegations they made “crude sexual remarks in public”. The company and its chief executive officer, Yves Guillemot, were named in the complaint plaintiffs lodged in 2021 but will not faced trial in Bobigny, north of Paris. “We are therefore unable...

New Zealand withdraws bill allowing 16-year-olds to vote in local body elections

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - The New Zealand government on Friday withdrew a bill that would have allowed sixteen year olds to vote in local government elections if it had passed. New Zealand's highest court ruled in late 2022 that the country's current voting age of 18 was discriminatory, forcing parliament to discuss whether it should be lowered. The...