Reuters

Full-body suits could encourage teenage gymnasts put off by traditional leotards to stay in the sport, according to German Sarah Voss, who drew praise for wearing one at the recent European Championships.

By Maytaal Angel, LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - Commodity trader Olam said on Wednesday that new European Union legislation aimed at preventing the import of commodities linked to deforestation and human rights abuses might force it to stop using some of its cocoa suppliers.

By Maytaal Angel LONDON (Reuters) - Of the seven commodities sectors driving deforestation, palm oil companies are doing the most to alleviate their environmental impact following years of public pressure, a study by a global environmental disclosure group shows.

With the urban crime thriller “Kaminey,” director-writer Vishal Bhardwaj is challenging mainstream Indian audiences to accept his left-of-center sensibilities.

By Maytaal Angel, LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - For British pig farmers like Simon Watchorn, the start of 2021 has brought fresh problems after a pandemic-ridden 2020. British pork producers have seen their profits eroded by COVID-19 and an outbreak of deadly African Swine Fever (ASF) in Germany, and are now having also to deal with Brexit red tape that has hammered exports and hurt demand from key buyers such as German sausage makers.

A panel discussion with gun-safety activist Naomi Wadler, Occupy co-founder Micah White and model & transgender activist Geena Rocero; three views on fossil fuels from Texas Governor Greg Abbott, former Denmark Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt and Colombia Mines & Energy Minister Maria Fernanda Suarez.

By Maytaal Angel, LONDON (Reuters) - The British meat industry warned on Monday of looming border chaos as post-Brexit customs checks between Britain and the European Union (EU) halt some cross-border meat flows even with volumes sharply reduced.

By Maytaal Angel LONDON (Reuters) - There is little evidence efforts by the world’s top coffee roasters and traders to prevent human rights and environmental abuses are having any impact, with most farmers operating at a loss and unable to produce sustainably, a major coffee report said on Thursday.

By Maytaal Angel, Rajendra Jadhav LONDON/MUMBAI (Reuters) - India will be unable to count on Iran, one of its most important sugar customers, for its upcoming export drive as an increase in Iranian production and Tehran’s shortage of rupees limit buying.

By Ange Aboa, Maytaal Angel ABIDJAN/LONDON (Reuters) - Ivory Coast and Ghana are cancelling all cocoa sustainability schemes that U.S.-based Hershey runs in their countries, accusing the chocolatemaker of trying to avoid paying a cocoa premium aimed at combating farmer poverty.

By Maytaal Angel, Marcelo Teixeira LONDON/NEW YORK, (Reuters) - Brazil is tightening its grip on the global arabica coffee market as its beans surge into ICE Futures exchange warehouses for the first time, a move that could squeeze small producers out of the market and put pressure on benchmark prices.

WARSAW (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters in cities around the world have gathered over the past days in support of Poles who have taken to the streets after a court ruling further limited the country’s restrictive abortion laws. In the week since the Constitutional Tribunal announced the ruling, those expressing solidarity with Polish protesters in Oslo, London, Chicago, Glasgow, Brussels and elsewhere have gathered in front of Polish Embassies and in their city centres.

By Maytaal Angel, Marco Aquino LONDON/LIMA (Reuters) - Coffee output in Peru, the world’s fifth largest arabica coffee exporter, has tumbled 10% this year due to low prices and migrant labour shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of the country’s national coffee federation told Reuters.

BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) - Cheers rang out and drinks flowed in a Barcelona sports hall on Sunday night as separatists celebrated a victory - the first time a pro-independence party won in Catalonia in a national election since Spain’s return to democracy.

TOKYO (Reuters) - At a factory south of Japan’s Toyota City, robots have started sharing the work of quality-control inspectors, as the pandemic accelerates a shift from Toyota’s vaunted “go and see” system which helped revolutionise mass production in the 20th century.

MADRID (Reuters) - Protesters in some poorer areas of Madrid that are facing lockdown to stem a soaring COVID-19 infection rate took to the streets on Sunday to call for better health provisions, complaining of discrimination by the authorities. Madrid’s regional government on Friday ordered a lockdown from Monday in some of the poorer areas of the city and its outskirts that are home to about 850,000 people after a surge in coronavirus cases there. The lockdown measures predominantly apply to

By Maytaal Angel, Ange Aboa LONDON/ABIDJAN (Reuters) - The steepest dive in cocoa demand in a decade has thrown into jeopardy a plan by top producers Ivory Coast and Ghana to guarantee some two million farmers a living wage, sources within the countries’ regulators said.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co is planning a 30% year-on-year cut in global vehicle production through December as falling demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic complicates its turnaround efforts, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

TOKYO/BEIJING (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co on Wednesday unveiled the Ariya - an electric SUV and its first all-new global model in five years - hoping it will symbolize its road to recovery after more than a year of scandal and a precipitous decline into earnings losses. But initial sales plans for the Ariya are modest, people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, an indication that the vehicle will do little to lift Nissan’s bottom line.

MADRID (Reuters) - The leaders of all of Spain’s main political parties invited their supporters on Friday night to prepare for power, as campaigning for one of the tightest national elections in decades drew to a close. No single party will get an overall majority in Sunday’s ballot, and opinion polls suggest all five leading contenders have a realistic chance of playing a role in government. Divisive and often ill-tempered, the election has been fought mainly on emotive topics - notably issu

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s election board blocked on Tuesday the far-right Vox party from participating in the only confirmed debate between leading contenders for the April 28 election. The ruling shows the complexity of Spain’s shift from decades of two-party rule to a fragmented political landscape where no one party looks set to win a majority and Vox has gone from relative obscurity to major force in less than a year. Vox has never won more than 5 percent of votes in national elections, b

MADRID/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Catalan leader Quim Torra expressed a commitment to dialogue on Thursday in a symbolic joint declaration to ease tensions in the protracted crisis over Catalonia’s ambitions to split from Spain. The statement indicates a turning point in the conflict between Madrid and the northeastern region, opening the door for a political solution to a dispute which reached its summit last year with its unilateral declaration of independe

TOKYO (Reuters) - When Japanese firm Iris Ohyama agreed in April to begin producing much-needed face masks in Japan, it marked a win for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who wants to bring manufacturing back from China. Spooked by coronavirus-induced factory shutdowns in China, Abe’s government has earmarked $2 billion to help companies shift production home. The policy, part of a massive stimulus package to cope with the pandemic, has even been termed by some bureaucrats as a matter of national security.

MADRID (Reuters) - At least 25 imported cases of the coronavirus have been detected in Spain over the past month, health authorities said on Friday, despite a strict ban on foreign tourism imposed since mid-March. With more than 27,000 deaths and over 238,000 confirmed cases, according to the health ministry, Spain is among Europe’s worst-hit nations, though its rate of infection has slowed substantially. Thirty-nine people died during the past week compared with a daily death toll in the hund