STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish hygiene products maker Essity has agreed to buy Australian leakproof apparel maker Modibodi for 985 million Swedish crowns ($93.70 million), it said on Thursday in a statement. ($1 = 10.5125 Swedish crowns) (Reporting by A…
New Zealand PM says Pacific security issues should be solved locally
By Lucy Craymer WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Thursday regional architecture such as the Pacific Islands Forum was critical in resolving regional problems and local security issues should be resolved locally. …
Australia expands fourth COVID dose rollout amid fresh Omicron threat
By Renju Jose SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia said on Thursday it would expand the rollout of the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccines from next week as it battles a steady rise in hospital admissions fuelled by the highly transmissible new Omicron subvariant…
Sydney residents assess flood damage as wild weather eases
By Renju Jose SYDNEY (Reuters) – Heavy rain that pummelled Sydney over the last five days eased on Thursday as flood-weary residents looked to return to homes to take stock of the damage, some for the third time this year. An intense low-pressure syste…
Fed’s fear of entrenched high inflation fueled big rate hike, minutes show
By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A deteriorating inflation situation and concern about lost faith in the Federal Reserve’s power to make it better prompted U.S. central bank officials to rally around an outsized interest rate increase and a f…
Iran detains several foreigners, including senior UK diplomat, for alleged spying -TV
DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have detained several foreigners, including Britain’s second most senior envoy in Tehran, for alleged acts of spying such as taking soil samples in restricted areas, state television reported on Wednesday. I…
Boeing’s Aurora to build Virgin Galactic spaceship carrier plane
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Virgin Galactic inked an agreement with Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences to build the company’s new twin-fuselage carrier plane that will ferry its next-generation spaceship toward space, the companies announced on Wednes…
U.S. Secretary of State Blinken speaks with Pakistan foreign minister
By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday on relations between the two countries as they seek to repair ties that were strained under former P…
UK PM Johnson defiant, will not resign – ITV citing sources
LONDON (Reuters) – ITV reported on Wednesday that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was absolutely defiant and was not going to resign, telling cabinet colleagues that they faced the choice between a summer focused on the economy or a leadership con…
Irish coalition government to lose formal majority in parliament -lawmaker
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s governing coalition is set to lose its formal majority in parliament after one of its deputies defied it in a vote, a government lawmaker said. The government will as a result be reliant on sympathetic independent deputies …