BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Some European Union lawmakers are pushing to strengthen a planned law on microplastics pollution, after millions of plastic pellets washed up on the coast of Spain’s northwestern Galicia region. Tiny plastic pellets are used to manufacture everyday items from water bottles to shopping bags. They are also …

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s competition regulator plans to make big tech companies give their rivals greater access to data and limit them from promoting their own products under new powers it is due to receive from the government, it said on Thursday. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has bolstered …

KUALA LUMPUR: It was a day to remember for professional doubles shuttlers Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi. Yew Sin-Ee Yi pulled off an incredible show to upstage Denmark’s No. 1 pair Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 21-10, 11-21, 24-22 for the first time in their fifth attempt to storm into the …

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s hotly debated draft law on tightening mobilization rules was returned to the government for further work, the parliamentary speaker said on Thursday. The bill would enable Kyiv to call up more people to the army as the war with Russia approaches the two-year mark. The draft …

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Protesters have threatened to shut down two oil and gas facilities near the Libyan capital Tripoli, with one group that is campaigning against corruption issuing a 72-hour ultimatum that ends on Friday. The group called the Corruption Eradication Movement said in a video statement online that it …

LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Circle Internet Financial, the company behind stablecoin USDC, said on Thursday that it had confidentially filed for a U.S. initial public offering as part of plans to become a publicly-traded company. Circle did not disclose the number of shares it plans to sell or the proposed price …

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet said he and his players feared for their lives after the plane taking them to the Africa Cup of Nations finals made an emergency landing, delaying their arrival at the tournament in the Ivory Coast. Gambia’s squad set off from Banjul on Wednesday …

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit retreated from recent gains to close slightly lower against the US dollar on Thursday as concerns over the US consumer price index (CPI) data to be released later shifted investor appetite to safe haven currencies, including the greenback, dealers said. At 6 pm, the ringgit depreciated …

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged democrats to stand against far-right “fanatics” after reports emerged of Alternative for Germany party members attending a meeting where expelling citizens with foreign ethnic backgrounds was discussed. The AfD did not deny that two of its senior politicians attended the November meeting …

PUTRAJAYA: A former oil palm estate worker who beheaded his co-worker to get his skull for a ritual to win the lottery has had his death sentence commuted to 35 years’ jail. The Federal Court three-member bench led by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, allowed A. Francis’ review …