The spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists is due to travel to the Indian capital on Friday from his home-in-exile in the Himalayan town of Dharamshala
International News via Reuters:
The Dalai Lama will receive medical treatment on his left knee in New Delhi this month, his office said on Thursday, as the 90-year-old deals with a series of health issues.
The spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists is due to travel to the Indian capital on Friday from his home-in-exile in the Himalayan town of Dharamshala. His followers, concerned about his health in recent years, typically hold elaborate prayers ahead of any planned medical procedures.
“He will undergo medical treatment on his left knee,” the Dalai Lama’s office said on X, adding that he was expected to travel to India’s Ladakh region by the end of June for an extended stay.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner had surgery on the same knee in New York in 2024, though he told Reuters months later it was “nothing serious”, despite walking gingerly with the help of aides. He now uses a golf cart for longer distances within his compound.
The 14th Dalai Lama said last year he hoped to live beyond 130 years, extending his earlier prediction, and has reassured followers that he will be reincarnated after his death.
The longest-serving head of Tibetan Buddhism has lived in Dharamshala since fleeing Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
China, which seeks to consolidate its control over Tibet, regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist and says it must approve his successor, citing a centuries-old ritual. The Dalai Lama has urged his followers to reject anyone chosen by Beijing.
Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi; Editing by Kate Mayberry
The virus, which is harmless to humans but highly contagious and deadly in pigs, was reported on a farm in the village of Vallaj, in the eastern county of Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg
International News via Reuters:
Hungarian authorities ordered the culling of 3,000 pigs on a farm after African swine fever was reported in domestic pigs for the first time in the country, the National Food Chain Safety Office said in a statement on Thursday.
The virus, which is harmless to humans but highly contagious and deadly in pigs, was reported on a farm in the village of Vallaj, in the eastern county of Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg.
“The culling of the herd of approximately 3,000 pigs is underway, and an epidemiological investigation to determine the origin of the infection and its possible further spread is also taking place,” the food safety authority said.
It added that authorities have designated a protection and surveillance zone around the location.
African swine fever has spread from Africa to Europe and Asia, and has killed hundreds of millions of pigs, leading to trade restrictions and affecting global meat markets.
Cases have been detected and prompted the culling of pigs in recent years across Europe in Croatia, Spain, Germany, Italy and Estonia.
The food safety authority said that the outbreak could cause significant economic damage.
Hungary had about 2.9 million domestic pigs at the end of 2025, according to the website of the Central Statistics Office.
Reporting by Anita Komuves;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle
Dawa Sherpa, 52, was returning with a Polish climber after failing to reach the 8,849 m (29,032 ft) summit, when he went missing between Camp III and Camp IV
International News via Reuters:
A Nepali Sherpa guide has been rescued from Everest after surviving about a week on the slopes of the world’s highest mountain without food or oxygen in a rare case of survival in such conditions, a hiking official said on Thursday.
Dawa Sherpa, 52, was returning with a Polish climber after failing to reach the 8,849 m (29,032 ft) summit, when he went missing between Camp III and Camp IV.
He was last seen on May 29. His client returned to base camp, but it was not clear how they got separated.
They were among the last climbers on Everest this season, which ended last month.
Lama Kazi Sherpa, of the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee, said his team located Dawa above base camp near the Khumbu Icefall and brought him down to safety. His team was cleaning up after the season ended.
Dawa, still in a climbing jacket, was rushed from the helipad to hospital on a trolley.
Dawa’s family said he was doing well and undergoing treatment for frostbite and other complications.
“He recognised me … is good and speaks,” said Mhendo Lhamo Sherpa, the guide’s daughter. “We are happy.”
“Dawa survived alone for nearly a week without food, water, or supplemental oxygen navigating the treacherous Khumbu Icefall (even after the fixed ladders were removed for the season),” the Nepal Mount Everest hiking company said in a social media post. “This is nothing short of a miracle.”
A record number of more than 1,000 climbers and their guides scaled Everest this season, with the government issuing 494 permits.
Five climbers and guides died on Everest this season, officials said.
Many climbers were stranded at base camp after a towering block of glacial ice delayed the opening of the route to the world’s tallest peak in April.
Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Sharon Singleton
The events on and around the central Beijing square on June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops opened fire to end student-led pro-democracy protests, are not publicly discussed in China and the anniversary is not officially marked
International News via Reuters:
China on Thursday blasted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments on the deadly crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square 37 years ago as “smearing” the country’s political system, as Taiwan told China to face up to history.
The events on and around the central Beijing square on June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops opened fire to end student-led pro-democracy protests, are not publicly discussed in China and the anniversary is not officially marked.
Rubio said on Wednesday that Beijing’s censorship could not erase memories of the military assault.
“Those who sacrificed to uphold their unalienable rights of free expression and peaceful assembly will be vindicated someday,” he said in a statement that followed past practice of the United States’ top diplomat marking the anniversary.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said the government had long reached “a clear conclusion” about the “political turmoil that occurred in the late 1980s”, reiterating Beijing’s stance.
“China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed to the U.S. distorting historical facts, smearing China’s political system and development path,” Mao said of Rubio’s statement.
She also accused the U.S. of interfering in China’s internal affairs “on the pretext of” democracy and human rights, and defended Beijing’s “path of socialism with Chinese characteristics”.
Public commemorations of the crackdown take place in overseas cities, including Taipei, where senior Taiwanese government leaders often use the anniversary to criticise China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory.
Writing on his Facebook page, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said a truly great country should not “blindly believe in military might or engage in militarism”.
“I sincerely hope that China can face up to the June 4 incident of 37 years ago, acknowledge the truth, soothe the pain, and open the door to reconciliation and dialogue,” he added.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request seeking comment on Lai’s remarks.
China calls Lai a “separatist” and has rebuffed multiple offers of talks from him. He says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
VIGILS OVERSEAS
Chinese tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square before dawn on June 4, 1989, crushing weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations by students and workers.
China has never provided a full death toll, but rights groups and witnesses say the figure could run into thousands. China blamed the protests on counter-revolutionaries seeking to overthrow the ruling Communist Party.
In Hong Kong, where a candlelight vigil in the city’s Victoria Park once drew tens of thousands of people each year, public remembrances came to an end after Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020.
The football pitches at the park have instead been turned into a multi-day regional food and cultural bazaar hosted by pro-Beijing groups for a fourth year running.
Vigils were once hailed as a symbol of the Asian financial hub’s relative freedom compared to mainland China, but the anniversary in the city is now marked by a heavy police presence and few visible remembrance activities.
Several vigils were still expected to take place in a number of cities around the world on Thursday, including four in Germany and one in Australia.
Online, the British embassy in China posted a 16-second animation without caption on X, paying tribute to the lone unidentified man who famously obstructed the tanks. The clip had no narration but played a recording of “L’Internationale,” a Communist anthem that was sung widely by the protesters.
Reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei, Liz Lee and Ju-min Park in Beijing; Additional reporting by the Beijing and Hong Kong newsrooms; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Thomas Derpinghaus
The European Union is preparing an economic support package worth an initial amount of €50 million ($58.1 million) for Armenia after Russia hit Armenia with some trade restrictions
International News via Reuters:
The European Union is preparing an economic support package worth an initial amount of €50 million ($58.1 million) for Armenia after Russia hit Armenia with some trade restrictions, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.
“Today I spoke with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan about Russia’s recent restrictions targeting Armenia. This is nothing short of economic coercion, and it is unacceptable,” said von der Leyen.
“By extending export restrictions on Armenian products, Moscow is weaponising economic relations for political pressure. We know this playbook all too well. This is why Europe stands firmly with Armenia. We are preparing an EU support package.”
($1 = 0.8601 euros)
Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Alex Richardson
EVs have been gaining ground in Europe as rising fuel costs, largely driven by global oil shocks from the Iran war, steer customers toward alternatives
International News via Reuters:
Britain’s new car sales rose 7.1% in May, the strongest for the month since 2019, driven by resilient retail demand, especially for electric vehicles, according to industry data released on Thursday.
EVs have been gaining ground in Europe as rising fuel costs, largely driven by global oil shocks from the Iran war, steer customers toward alternatives.
Overall new car registrations in Britain rose to 160,662 vehicles last month, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said. Battery electric vehicles (BEV), the biggest under EVs, climbed 34.2%, the most among all car categories.
“We’re seeing surging interest linked to macro shocks earlier in the year now materialise into real consumer demand,” said Melanie Lane, CEO of EV charging provider Pod.
BEV sales share is now around 24% of total sales this year, short of the 33% target, highlighting broader challenges amid the UK’s push for faster adoption of zero-emission vehicles.
“The EV transition is progressing, but consumer uptake still lags behind even today’s targets, let alone the ambition set out in the latest Carbon Budget,” SMMT CEO Mike Hawes said, referring to Britain’s long-term targets.
Total registrations from individual buyers jumped 17.2% in May, SMMT said, helped by a wider model choice, competitive offers from retailers and the government’s backing for schemes such as the Electric Car Grant intended to boost electric vehicle uptake.
Earlier this week, Britain set out a target to reduce emissions by around 87% in the period 2038 to 2042, down from baseline levels set in 1990.
Separate data from New Automotive showed on Wednesday new car sales rose about 6% year-on-year, driven by demand for plug-in vehicles.
SMMT and New Automotive use different data sources and calculation methods, explaining the differences in the figures.
Reporting by Nithyashree R B and Ankita Bora in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Harikrishnan Nair
Europe’s bourses got off to a steady start as both crude and bond yields dipped, but Wall Street futures were pointing lower again and it had been a difficult session in Asia due to weakness in tech stocks
International News via Reuters:
World stocks were facing a second straight day of falls on Thursday as a glitch in the AI rally and renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran dampened the mood, while oil prices eased after Israel and Lebanon agreed a ceasefire.
Europe’s bourses got off to a steady start as both crude and bond yields dipped, but Wall Street futures were pointing lower again and it had been a difficult session in Asia due to weakness in tech stocks.
Korea’s stock market had fallen as much as 2.6%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225, Hong Kong and Taiwan all ended between 1.4% and 1.7% lower following a 13% plunge in chipmaker Broadcom’s shares in extended U.S. trading on Wednesday. [.N]
Not only had the firm’s second-quarter revenue numbers missed expectations, but it left its long-range sales forecast unchanged, disappointing traders, who viewed it as a rare sign that a major AI chipmaker may be losing steam.
“You have had a bit of softness in equity markets following Broadcom, which suggests we need a bit of time to consolidate what has been a very strong rally,” said Marlborough fund manager James Athey.
“It wasn’t about hope and expectation, it raised the notion that demand for chips is not just going to expand exponentially into the future.”
Brent crude prices were almost 1% lower at $97 a barrel after Lebanon and Israel agreed a ceasefire, contingent on a complete cessation of fire from the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia.
There were few obvious signs that a U.S.-Iran peace deal was imminent, however, despite U.S. President Donald Trump saying there could be progress by the weekend.
Bahrain said it had intercepted three missiles and several drones, whilst Kuwait had to suspend air traffic briefly after an attack.
Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi posted that “no tangible progress” had been made in talks with the U.S. and that “any hostile act will be met with an immediate, decisive response”.
COORDINATED MOVES
In the currency markets, the yen edged up to 159.9 per dollar, opening up a little bit of breathing room from the key 160 threshold viewed as the Bank of Japan’s trigger point for FX intervention.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara had said in Tokyo that he expects the central bank to coordinate its moves with the government after BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda had given fresh hints that an interest rate hike is on the cards this month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was broadly steady near a two-month high at 99.45 after better-than-expected U.S. ISM services sector PMI data on Wednesday.
Businesses preemptively placed orders and rebuilt inventories, the figures had showed, in anticipation of shortages and higher prices in the wake of the Iran war.
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives had approved a war powers resolution on Wednesday to block Donald Trump from continuing the conflict against Iran.
The measure is largely symbolic, however, as it must still pass the Senate and would need a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override an almost certain presidential veto.
Bond markets saw U.S. 10-year Treasury yields steady at 4.489%, while Germany’s Bund yield was down 1.5 basis points at 3.02% ahead of an expected ECB rate hike next week. [GVD/EUR]
The Aussie dollar and gold got a brief lift too after a rebound in resource exports helped swing Australia’s trade balance back into the black, although bitcoin fell 2.4% to below $64,000, having now lost almost 25% in recent weeks.
There has been a serious road traffic collision involving an overturned motorcar on Middle Road just east of the junction with Camp Hill Road, Southampton.
The roadway is currently blocked and motorists are advised to use South Road to get to their destinations.
On Wall Street, all three indexes pulled back from recent record highs with technology and financial shares driving losses while energy stocks were leading gains
International News via Reuters:
Global equity markets fell while oil prices rose on Wednesday as hopes of a quick end to the Middle East conflict faded as hostilities flared again.
On Wall Street, all three indexes pulled back from recent record highs with technology and financial shares driving losses while energy stocks were leading gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.75%, the S&P 500 fell 0.36%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.42%.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.59%. MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 0.32%.
Iranian attacks on Kuwait damaged its airport and injured dozens while the U.S. military carried out strikes near the Strait of Hormuz, with diplomacy to halt the war showing little sign of progress.
“The broad market and the tech sector have led this strong, strong rally for the past several sessions and today’s taking a breather,” said Wasif Latif, chief investment officer at Sarmaya Partners.
“The headline coming out of the Middle East with the Iran war continuing to escalate, deescalate, escalate, and then deescalate again. That’s the reason for the market selloff today.”
Oil prices crept back towards the $100 mark, with global benchmark Brent crude up 1.8% to $97.72 a barrel.
AI HALO
Investor euphoria over artificial intelligence continues to underpin markets. In Asia, stock indexes climbed to record highs in Japan and Taiwan.
Shares in Marvell Technology were up 6%, extending gains from a record high in the prior session after Nvidia boss Jensen Huang called the chipmaker the next trillion-dollar company.
SpaceX – which is largely focused on AI – plans to raise $75 billion in a blockbuster initial public offering, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“Our view continues to be that this strong run up in semiconductors and data center demand is a lot of pulling forward of future demand and consumption, and that’s helping the economy,” Latif added.
YEN INTERVENTION WORRIES
Currency traders were on edge, however, after the dollar rose against the Japanese yen to the 160 level at which the market tends to become nervous about intervention from authorities in Tokyo.
The Japanese yen weakened 0.07% against the greenback to 159.97 per dollar.
The fall in the yen prompted warnings from the finance minister on Wednesday.
The euro down 0.31% against the greenback at $1.1596.
The dollar index, which tracks the currency against its peers, rose 0.21% to 99.50.
Markets, which had expected rate cuts before the Iran war, have priced in about 18 basis points of U.S. rate increases this year.
A hike in Europe next week is all but fully priced in following data showing inflation accelerated last month, while traders predict about a 75% chance of a June rise in Japan.
U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose 2.8 basis points to 4.483%. Data showed U.S. private payrolls increased more than expected in May. More comprehensive official jobs numbers are due on Friday.
Spot gold fell 0.81% to $4,449.44 an ounce.
Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New YorkEditing by Nick Zieminski
The Japanese automaker employs around 6,000 workers at the Sunderland plant, which has been a cornerstone of its British presence since the 1980s and has produced models like the Qashqai and Juke crossover SUVs
International News via Reuters:
Japan’s Nissan has signed a deal with Chinese automobile manufacturer Chery to manufacture the latter’s UK passenger vehicles at its Sunderland facility in Britain, the companies said on Wednesday.
Nissan would continue to fully own the Sunderland facility, the statement said.
The Japanese automaker employs around 6,000 workers at the Sunderland plant, which has been a cornerstone of its British presence since the 1980s and has produced models like the Qashqai and Juke crossover SUVs.
According to their non-binding agreement, Nissan aims to start building Chery’s UK passenger vehicles on the plant’s production “Line One” in fiscal 2027.
The Financial Times had reported in April that Nissan had held talks with Chery to build cars at its Sunderland plant.
The partnership comes amid efforts by Chinese automakers to establish manufacturing operations in Europe to avoid import duties and improve supply chains.
Chery was looking to expand car production in Europe through partnerships with other automakers to use their existing factories, top executives at the Chinese carmaker said at an April event in Paris.
Chery operates in Europe through its eponymous brand and subsidiaries Jaecoo, Jetour and Omoda. It made up 2% of total registrations in Europe between January and April.
Meanwhile, Nissan aims to consolidate its manufacturing operations onto production “Line Two” as it explores ways to secure better plant utilisation, the statement said.
Under CEO Ivan Espinosa, Nissan has been cutting costs aggressively as it looks to turn around its business after years of turmoil. Last year, it announced plans to close seven plants globally and cut about 15% of its workforce.
Reporting by Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Diti Pujara
Announced at the company’s WhatsApp-focused Conversations conference in London, the new product expands on existing business messaging services by enabling “agentic” capabilities in which the assistant can take actions on businesses’ behalf
International News via Reuters:
Meta Platforms on Wednesday unveiled an artificial intelligence agent aimed at helping businesses carry out day-to-day operations, positioning the social media giant as a player in the enterprise AI market.
Announced at the company’s WhatsApp-focused Conversations conference in London, the new product expands on existing business messaging services by enabling “agentic” capabilities in which the assistant can take actions on businesses’ behalf, like booking calendar appointments and closing sales.
Meta said more than 1 million businesses were already using earlier chatbot versions of such agents on WhatsApp and Messenger. The new version will be added to Instagram as well and rolled out globally to businesses of all sizes.
The move hints at Meta’s ambitions to compete with rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic and Alphabet’s Google in the market for enterprise applications of its AI tools, leveraging the reach of its social media apps to try to convince companies to consolidate their ads and other workflows.
“This is definitely an enterprise play,” Naomi Gleit, Meta’s head of product, told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the conference.
Shares of Meta rose more than 3% in morning trading.
The Business Agent can be customized to respond to queries on those apps, channeling a company’s tone and handling tasks such as answering frequently asked questions, qualifying leads and escalating complex queries to human staff when needed.
Businesses will initially be able to access the tool for free, with paid subscription options planned in the coming months.
“We actually want to take actions now. We actually want it to be able to complete the payment, to process the booking, to place the order,” going beyond “rule-based automations” for legacy bots, Gleit said.
Alongside the new Business Agent offerings inside Meta’s apps, the company is also launching a broader “Business Agent Platform” aimed at giving businesses tools to build custom AI agents to help them manage their operations elsewhere.
The platform is connected to hundreds of non-Meta systems like Shopify, Zendesk and Shopee, where those agents can be deployed, and provides larger businesses with enterprise-grade controls, guardrails and measurement, the company said.
NEW LINES OF BUSINESS
Gleit is spearheading the company’s efforts to expand into new lines of business around AI agents, including with a new team, Enterprise Solutions, announced as part of a recent companywide restructuring around AI.
The team will send squads of forward-deployed engineers to embed with enterprise customers, a model used by AI companies such as Anthropic that is aimed at navigating internal politics around AI adoption and writing custom code to help models deliver results.
Its scope is currently focused on new business agents, but it is also working to build and sell agentic AI products that businesses can use for additional internal functions.
Gleit is also working to consolidate the different AI agents Meta has built, including internal workflow-oriented tooling, a user-facing Meta AI support bot and a separate ads-focused “business assistant” launched globally last month, she said.
“The number one thing I hear, especially from small businesses, is ‘I just want to go to one place that can do all the things,'” she said.
“You want to make things modular, and you also need to be willing to evolve, because the technology is moving so quickly.”
LAPSES SHOW AI AGENT RISKS
Gleit acknowledged the risks associated with deeply integrating AI agents into a company’s systems and giving them permission to take action on its behalf.
Meta has already experienced several embarrassing lapses associated with its agents, including an incident earlier this week in which hackers convinced its AI support chatbot into handing over access to high-profile Instagram accounts.
Asked about the case, Gleit said the company was still investigating, but had determined that the problem involved a flawed “technical check” within the underlying support function.
“It wasn’t the agent. The agent actually exposed a technical check that wasn’t working,” she said. “There was sort of a separate system and technical check that had a bug, and because people were using the agent, they discovered it.”
Reporting by Katie Paul in London, additional reporting by Aditya Soni; Editing by Pooja Desai
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