Israeli foreign minister to meet U.S., Bahrain counterparts on Sunday

JERUSALEM, June 27 (Reuters) – Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will meet his U.S. and Bahraini counterparts in Rome on Sunday, Lapid’s office said, the first face-to-face diplomatic contacts for a senior member of the new Israeli government that was sworn in two weeks ago. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates normalised ties with Israel […]

Australia’s Sydney and Darwin in COVID-19 lockdowns

Sydney began a two-week lockdown on Sunday as a cluster of cases of the highly infectious coronavirus Delta variant rose to 110 in Australia’s largest city, while an outbreak in the northern city of Darwin prompted a hard two-day stay-at-home order.

“Space is for everyone”: Europe’s Space Agency to hire first disabled astronaut

BERLIN, June 25 (Reuters) – The European Space Agency hopes to hire and launch the world’s first physically disabled astronaut and several hundred would-be para-astronauts have already applied for the role, ESA head Josef Aschbacher told Reuters on Friday. The 22-member space programme has just closed its latest decennial recruitment call for astronauts and received […]

China’s factory output, retail sales miss expectations in May

BEIJING, June 16 (Reuters) – Growth in China’s factory output slowed for a third straight month in May, likely weighed down by disruptions caused by COVID-19 outbreaks in the country’s southern export powerhouse of Guangdong. Retail sales and investment growth also came in below market expectations, but analysts say underlying activity still looks quite solid, […]