Reuters

Under the crowded streets of New York City, a network of pipes, cables and tunnels contains hidden dangers that burst to the surface this week, spraying the Flatiron district with debris containing asbestos, a toxic chemical that can lead to respiratory illnesses, including cancer. While incidents as large as Thursday’s steam pipe explosion are rare, experts say asbestos is relatively common in major urban centers.

A Texas man was found guilty this week of a hate crime in the burning of a local mosque in January 2017, an attack that a rights group on Wednesday connected to an increase in anti-Muslim incidents in the United States.

Eight years after Apple introduced the iPad, tablets are reaching thousands of prisoners around the United States. In the last year alone, at least 19 states have made tablets available to inmates, saying they reduce violence while providing education and job training.

Hundreds of women and men are killed each year by their families in Pakistan over perceived damage to "honour"

In the post 9/11 era, with cash transactions under tighter control, Las Vegas casinos keep the money flowing in part by luring wealthy Chinese gamblers. But a case involving the Sands casino shows how ‘shill’ players and back room loans are often part of the game.

Iranian officials have met in recent weeks with Iranian prisoners held in the United States to see if they would be willing to return to Iran if they reached a swap deal with Washington.

South Carolina Republican congressional candidate Katie Arrington was released from the hospital on Friday, two weeks after she broke her back and several ribs in a car crash, and vowed to continue her campaign after some rest.

The 38-year-old man suspected of killing five people at the offices of a Maryland newspaper group on Thursday had a long-running feud with Capital Gazette, attacking the Annapolis-based family of publications in the courts and on social media.

When Devin Shomaker thinks about growing grapes, he doesn’t imagine the rolling hills of California’s Napa Valley or the greenery of New York’s Finger Lakes region. Instead, the 34-year-old entrepreneur sees a rooftop in New York City’s post-industrial Brooklyn Navy Yard as the perfect place for a vineyard.

Interviewed by Reuters ahead of Huddersfield Town's home tie against Crystal Palace.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Wednesday charged nine leaders of anti-government protests in 2013 and 2014 with inciting insurrection and sedition in an attempt to oust Yingluck Shinawatra, who was prime minister at the time. The People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) and its supporters took to the streets for seven months, aiming to rid Thailand of the influence of Yingluck, and her billionaire brother, ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who had massive support among the rural poo

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand welcomed a record 35.38 million foreign tourists in 2017, up 8.8 percent from the previous year, the tourism ministry said on Tuesday Thailand’s December tourist arrivals were seen at 3.5 million, the ministry said in a press release, up 15.1 percent from a year earlier. The ministry attributed growth in 2017 to increase numbers of tourists from China and East Asia.

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Rice prices gained this week in India as Bangladesh continued to lap up the staple grain from its neighbour, while prospects of deals with the Philippines saw rates climb for the first time in three weeks in a relatively quiet Vietnamese market. Top exporter India’s 5 percent broken parboiled rice prices rose by about $2 per tonne this week to $423-$427. Traders from Bangladesh are aggressively buying new-season crop since prices in Bangladesh are still elevated, said an

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A 74-year-old Japanese man accused of a gang murder in Japan 15 years ago has been arrested in Thailand after pictures of his tattoos went viral on social media, Thai police said on Thursday. Shigeharu Shirai was arrested on Wednesday evening in Lopburi province, 150 km (95 miles) north of the capital, Bangkok. Police said he had confessed to being part of the Yamaguchi-gumi gang within Japan’s Yakuza, but not to murder. Shirai is accused of being one of eight gangsters inv

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Tuesday he would use a special order that gives the military sweeping powers to lift a ban on political activity that has been in place since a 2014 coup, paving the way for a 2018 general election. Major political parties had urged the government for months to lift the ban to allow parties to prepare for the vote and the announcement won some applause from government critics. Prayuth, who is also head of the junta, has said tha

BANGKOK, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Thailand’s government plans to increase rubber purchases to 50,000-80,000 tonnes per year from the current 20,000-30,000 tonnes to boost prices, the agriculture ministry said on Friday. Rubber farmers in Thailand, one of the world’s biggest exporters of natural rubber, threatened last month to protest if the military government does not help prop up falling prices. The Ministry of Agriculture said it aims to boost prices above the cost of production, which it put at

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police have arrested four members of a Hells Angels biker gang accused of drug crimes, violence and posing a threat to society, the Tourist Police said on Thursday. Three Australians and a Canadian were arrested on Wednesday in Pattaya, a major tourist resort with a reputation as a hub for foreign gangs, drug dealing and the sex industry. Piyapong Ensarn of the Pattaya Tourist Police told Reuters that two of the accused gang members would be deported and the two others

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai authorities have fined two American tourists for public indecency for posing for a “butt selfie” in front of a famous Buddhist temple, police said on Wednesday. The two, who police identified as Joseph Dasilva, 38, and Travis Dasilva, 36, were arrested late on Tuesday at an airport in the capital, Bangkok. They were each fined 5,000 baht ($154) for baring their buttocks for a picture taken last week at Bangkok’s Wat Arun, or Temple of the Dawn. “The two American citiz

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Bangkok’s famous street-food vendors have joined the digital revolution, embracing payment via Quick Response (QR) barcodes that can be read using smartphones. Thailand is famous for its traditional street stalls that offer everything from stir-fried noodles to clothes and for many Thais eating out at a pavement stall is part of their daily routine. Now, some vendors in the capital Bangkok are offering digital transactions after the Bank of Thailand (BOT) last week gave the

BANGKOK, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Thailand has extended a deadline to offload the remaining 2 million tonnes of rice for animal consumption or industrial use in state stockpiles from the end of this year to an unspecified date next year, the commerce ministry said on Friday. The country’s military government inherited 18.7 million tonnes of rice built up under the previous government’s rice subsidy scheme, and has since held several auctions since taking power in May 2014. Nanthawan Sakuntanak, perm

William D. Campbell, a lobbyist, confirmed to Reuters he is the informant who will testify and provide documents to Congress about the Obama Administration’s 2010 approval of the sale of Uranium One, a Canadian company with uranium mines in the United States, to Russia’s Rosatom.

By Maytaal Angel LONDON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The European Union’s anti-fraud office (OLAF) said it has found Chinese steel was shipped through Vietnam to evade the bloc’s tariffs.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A hacking group previously linked to the Vietnamese government or working on its behalf has broken into the computers of neighboring countries as well as a grouping of Southeast Asian nations, according to cybersecurity company Volexity. Steven Adair, founder and CEO, said the hacking group was still active, and had compromised the website of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over several high-profile summit meetings. ASEAN is holding another summit of reg

BARCELONA/GIRONA, Spain (Reuters) - Twenty-four hours after Spain removed him from power, Catalonia’s leader had resolved to leave the country and take his independence campaign to the heart of the European Union, but first he needed to tie off an important loose end.

BANGKOK (Reuters) - People in Thailand celebrated the Loy Krathong or “floating basket” festival on Friday, following a year of mourning for late King Bhumibol Adulyadej that saw many celebrations muted or canceled. The mourning ended on Monday after a five-day funeral last week, and many citizens have returned to wearing colored garments after having stuck to black for a year. Participants in the festival pay respects to the water spirits, floating small, traditionally-hand crafted rafts carr

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Rice prices were relatively stable in Thailand this week as the country aims to attract more foreign buyers to boost exports, while prices in India slipped amid increasing supplies from the new season’s crop. Thailand’s benchmark 5-percent broken rice was quoted at $382-$386 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) Bangkok, which compared with $375-$388 a tonne last week. The country has exported 8.23 million tonnes of rice since January to September this year, according to Thailand’

(Reuters Health) - More than a half-million Rohingya people have fled the latest wave of violence in Myanmar for refugee camps in Bangladesh, and most lack clean water, latrine facilities or even shelter from the elements, according to a Medicins Sans Frontiers physician based there. “There are hardly any latrines so people have tried to rig up their own plastic sheeting around four bamboo poles, but there is nowhere for their waste to go except into the stream below. That is the same stream th

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand officially ended a year of mourning for its late King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Monday, marking a return to colors for some after a monotone year during which many wore black from head-to-toe out of respect for their revered monarch. Hundreds of thousands of people thronged Bangkok’s historic quarter to bid farewell last week to King Bhumibol, who died in October 2016. His $90 million-dollar funeral, full of pomp and ancient ritual, took place over five days. His remai

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Rice prices in India slipped this week on expectations of a rise in supplies from the new season crop, while rates for the staple grain edged higher in Thailand as traders were optimistic about the possibility of demand from Sri Lanka. Thailand’s benchmark 5-percent broken rice was quoted at $375-$388 a tonne, free-on-board (FOB) Bangkok, up from $375-$385 last week. “There looks to be demand from Sri Lanka, which we’re optimistic will translate into more demand for Thai

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The ashes and bones of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej were returned to the palace on Friday as part of an elaborate, five-day cremation ceremony that drew hundreds of thousands of black-clad mourners to Bangkok’s historic old quarter. King Bhumibol was the world’s longest-reigning monarch when he died a year ago aged 88. His seven-decade rule spanned some of the most tumultuous moments in modern Thai history, including several coups, a deadly crackdown on student protest