REUTERS -- Scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of a method for genome editing, the award-giving body said on Wednesday. “Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna have discovered one of gene technology’s sharpest tools: the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement on awarding the 10 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize. “This technology

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The US Justice Department asked a federal judge in San Francisco early on Friday to allow the government to bar Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google from offering WeChat for download in US app stores pending an appeal. The filing asked US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler to put on hold her preliminary injunction issued Saturday. That injunction blocked the US Commerce Department order which was set to take effect late on Sept. 20 and that would also bar other US transactio

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Organizers of the Tokyo Olympics on Friday proposed cutting back the number of staff at next year's Summer Games and shortening the opening period for training venues, as part of a plan to hold a streamlined event amid the pandemic. The Games, originally scheduled to start this summer, were postponed for a year by the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government due to the novel coronavirus. Since then, organisers and government officials have been looking at

A South Korean vigilante website that published personal details of people it accused of sex crimes suddenly went dark this week after a public backlash sparked by the death of one of its targets, as police hunt for its operators. Calls have grown for tougher punishment for those guilty of sex crimes after a South Korean man convicted of running one of the world's largest online child pornography operations was released this year from 18 months in jail. The "Digital Prison" website

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga will join the race to succeed his boss Shinzo Abe as prime minister, local media said on Sunday, as the competition heats up to succeed Japan’s longest-serving leader. Suga, a longtime lieutenant of Abe’s in a key supporting role, had denied interest in the top job but attracted attention with a series of interviews, to Reuters and other news organisations, in the days before Abe’s abrupt resignation for

LONDON (Reuters) -- A study by French scientists which suggests a man was infected with COVID-19 as early as Dec. 27, nearly a month before France confirmed its first cases, could be important in assessing when and where the new coronavirus emerged, experts said on Tuesday. A man identified as the patient told a French TV station that he was surprised to learn that he had contracted COVID-19 since he thought he had flu at the time. French researchers led by Yves Cohen, head of resuscitation a

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged China to be transparent about the origins of the novel coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than a quarter of a million people since it started in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. Trump, speaking before leaving on a trip to Arizona, said the United States would release a report detailing the origins of the virus, but gave no details or timeline. “We will be reporting very definitively over a period of time,

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- US President Donald Trump on Saturday welcomed the reemergence of North Korea's Kim Jong-un after weeks of speculation about his health, but prospects for the US efforts to persuade Pyongyang to denuclearize appear as bleak as ever. On Saturday, North Korean media said Kim cut a ribbon at a ceremony on Friday to mark the completion of a fertilizer plant. It had not reported on Kim's whereabouts since he presided over a meeting on April 11, provoking speculation that he

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- US President Donald Trump said on Monday he has a good idea how Kim Jong-un is doing and hopes he is fine, after days of speculation over the North Korean leader’s health. Kim’s whereabouts and whether he had a heart procedure have been a subject of intense speculation in recent weeks. Daily NK, a Seoul-based website, reported last week that Kim was recovering after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure on April 12, citing one unnamed source in North Korea.

US Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris has said privately that he does not plan to stay on beyond the November US presidential election, regardless of whether President Donald Trump wins another term, five sources told Reuters. Harris, a 40-year veteran of the US Navy who started in Seoul in 2018 after Trump appointed him, has expressed increasing frustration with the tensions and drama of his tenure, the sources said, all speaking on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensiti

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games flame handover in Athens next week will be done in an empty stadium amid the coronavirus outbreak, Greece's Olympic Committee said on Sunday. Greece on Friday cancelled the remainder of the domestic Olympic torch relay through the country to avoid attracting crowds a day after the Tokyo Games flame was lit in ancient Olympia. The Hellenic Olympic Committee has decided that the handover ceremony for the "Tokyo 2020" Olympic Games, on Thursday, March 19, w

Thousands of Muslims returning to Turkey from a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia were being taken into quarantine on Sunday due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, Turkish officials said. Television pictures showed buses transporting pilgrims along the highway from Ankara's airport to the city as part of an operation to place those returning into student dormitories. Turkey, which has only diagnozed six cases of coronavirus, has ramped up measures to halt its spread in recent days, clos

The Irish government isconsidering imposing restrictions on pubs and nightclubs due tocoronavirus, after videos of singing in packed bars in thecapital on Saturday sparked a social media campaign to closethem down. Ireland, which has 129 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two deaths, closed schools and universities last week and advisedpeople to cancel all indoor gatherings of 100 people or more. But it stopped short of closing cafes, bars and restaurants, as some European states have done, citin

  (Reuters) - Hollywood's awards season reaches its climax at Sunday's Oscars, with a cliffhanger over the top prize after a season marked by dark horses, renewed anguish over diversity, and a South Korean underdog that could snatch victory from the biggest names in show business. While dark comic book movie "Joker" goes into the ceremony with a leading 11 nominations, it's the immersive World War One movie "1917" that has emerged as the film to beat in the best picture

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -- A fourth person has died from pneumonia in the central Chinese city of Wuhan following the outbreak of a new coronavirus, health authorities said on Tuesday.The 89-year-old man developed symptoms on Jan. 13 and was admitted to hospital five days later after he experienced severe breathing difficulties, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a statement. He died on Jan. 19.It said the patient also had underlying health diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and

SEOUL (Reuters) -- "Parasite" director Bong Joon-ho said he was surprised and overjoyed when the film won six Oscar nominations on Monday, a historic first for South Korea's film industry and a sign that language is no longer a barrier to global success."Parasite," a dark comedy about the vast gap between the rich and poor in South Korea, snagged a coveted best picture nomination, best director for Bong, and best screenplay in addition to its best international feature nomina

DUBAI (Reuters) -- Iranian state television said on Wednesday that at least 80 "American terrorists" were killed in attacks involving 15 missiles Tehran launched on US targets in Iraq, adding that none of the missiles were intercepted.State TV, citing a senior Revolutionary Guards source, also said Iran had 100 other targets in the region in its sights if Washington took any retaliatory measures.  It also said US helicopters and military equipment were "severely damaged"

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japanese public broadcaster NHK on Friday sent a news bulletin that incorrectly reported North Korea had launched a missile that fell into waters east of the Japanese archipelago, issuing an apology explaining it was a media training alert.The news alert came as the United States and its East Asian allies have been on tenterhooks after Pyongyang's warning this month of a possible "Christmas gift" for Washington in what experts took to mean a possible long-range missi

BEIJING (Reuters) -- The spectre of new confrontation between Pyongyang and Washington hangs over meetings between China, Japan and South Korea this week, with growing risks North Korean actions could end an uneasy detente and upend recent diplomatic efforts.South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping separately on Monday. They will then travel to the south western city of Chengdu for a trilateral meeting with C

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- China and Russia on Monday proposed the UN Security Council lift a ban on North Korea exporting statues, seafood and textiles, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters, in a move Russia said is aimed at encouraging talks between Washington and Pyongyang.The draft also called for a ban to be lifted on North Koreans working abroad and the termination of a 2017 requirementfor all such workers to be repatriated by next week. The draftwould also exempt inter-Ko