Brazil cabinet shuffle marks informal start of election race: aides
BRASILIA (Reuters) – More than one third of President Michel Temer’s cabinet will resign over the next week to campaign for their Congressional seats in the October general election, presidential aides said on Wednesday.
Britain joins first project backed by new EU defense research fund
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Fifteen European Union countries including Britain signed the first project under its new defense research fund on Wednesday, the latest small step toward integrating European militaries and their industries.
Turkey says will take action if militants do not leave Syria’s Manbij
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey will take action if militants do not withdraw immediately from Syria’s Manbij region and areas in the country east of the Euphrates, Ankara’s National Security Council said on Wednesday.
Swiss slap sanctions on Venezuela, ban ministers and freeze assets
ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland unveiled a sanctions package against Venezuela on Wednesday, joining other European countries in cracking down on the South American country following alleged human rights violations.
Defiant Catalan academic Ponsati granted bail in fight to avoid Spanish extradition
EDINBURGH/MADRID (Reuters) – Catalan academic Clara Ponsati, accused by Spain of rebellion for her role in Catalonia’s independence campaign, was granted bail by a Scottish court on Wednesday as she battles extradition, saying she was the object of pol…
Russia says it will respond in kind to West’s expulsions
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Wednesday it would respond in kind to the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats by the West over the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury.
EU discusses new Iran sanctions in move to buttress nuclear deal
BRUSSELS/PARIS (Reuters) – European Union ambassadors discussed on Wednesday possible new sanctions on Iran, diplomats said, under plans aimed at persuading U.S. President Donald Trump to preserve an international nuclear deal with Tehran.
Suspected rebels kill at least 11 in northeastern Congo
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – Islamist rebels are suspected of killing at least 11 civilians in an attack in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, officials said on Wednesday, adding to some 1,000 civilians who have been killed th…
Bulgaria says leading intellectual Julia Kristeva was communist agent
SOFIA (Reuters) – Renowned Bulgarian psychoanalyst and philosopher Julia Kristeva, who has lived in France since the mid-1960s, worked as an agent and collaborator with the Balkan country’s secret service during the communist era, a state commission said.
EU envoys discuss new Iran sanctions, possible adoption in April: diplomats
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union ambassadors discussed on Wednesday possible new sanctions on Iran after a proposal by Britain, France and Germany, and could decide to impose them at a foreign ministers’ meeting next month, diplomats said.
