Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The biggest geomagnetic storm in two decades, sparked by solar flares, caused dazzling lights displays in parts of Latin America overnight on Friday, including a rare appearance in Mexico.

In Mexicali, a desert city on Mexico's northern border thousands of miles from the Arctic regions where the northern lights are common, gradients of pink and purple illuminated the night sky.

The civil protection agency in... (continue reading...)

By Moayed Kenany, Timour Azhari and Adam Makary

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Chinese companies won bids to explore five Iraqi oil and gas fields on Saturday in a licensing round for hydrocarbon exploration that was primarily aimed at ramping up gas production for domestic use.

An Iraqi Kurdish company also took two of the 29 projects up for grabs in the three-day licensing round across central, southern and western Iraq, which for the first time... (continue reading...)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's military said on Saturday that a new field hospital had been established in the central Gaza Strip and was being run by a non-governmental organization, the International Medical Corp.

"The field hospital will be operated by 150 international medical aid workers, and its dozens of beds can be used for emergency and routine medical treatment," the military said in a statement.

Israel, facing growing... (continue reading...)

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday gave extra duties to two key government officials who oversee the defence industry and energy sectors, as the Kremlin chief girds the world's second-largest oil exporter for a longer war in Ukraine.

Putin, who rose to power just eight years after the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, proposed extra powers for Denis Manturov, 55, the only first deputy prime... (continue reading...)

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel on the entry of aid into Gaza from the Rafah crossing due to Israel's "unacceptable escalation", Egypt's state affiliated Alqahera News satellite TV reported on Saturday, citing a senior official.

The official also said that Egypt held Israel responsible for the deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip.

On May 7, Israeli forces seized the main border crossing at Rafah,... (continue reading...)