Crisis over Catalan independence nears crucial few days
BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) – Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont kept friends and foes guessing on Wednesday on whether he intends to unilaterally declare independence as the Spanish government prepares to impose direct rule to stop the region breaking aw…
Philippines’ Duterte says he’s been ‘demonized’ over drugs war
MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday defended his bloody war on drugs, telling Southeast Asian lawyers he had been “demonized” and denying allegations of state-sponsored killings of drug dealers and users.
In Myanmar’s Rakhine, aid workers blocked from entering Muslim camp amid tension
YANGON/SITTWE (Reuters) – Buddhists in Myanmar on Wednesday blocked aid workers from visiting a camp for displaced Muslims in the central part of Rakhine State, where the United Nations fears the spread of violence that has already displaced hundreds o…
Turkey’s Erdogan says ready to support Iraq reopening oil pipeline
ANKARA (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Turkey was ready to give all support to Baghdad as it seeks to reopen a crude oil pipeline from the Kirkuk oilfields to Turkey, through which Iraq stopped sending oil in 2014.
A poet in the dock as Israel hunts ‘lone wolf’ assailants online
REINEH, Israel (Reuters) – A week after Dareen Tatour posted a poem on Facebook entitled “Resist, my people, resist,” Israeli police came to her home in the middle of the night and arrested her.
Women fail to crack China’s glass ceiling as party picks new leaders
BEIJING (Reuters) – Every time China’s ruling Communist Party convenes a major gathering, like the congress that just ended in Beijing, the list of delegates is hand-crafted in part to burnish the party’s image as “representative of the masses” – inclu…
Venezuelan opposition disarray heaps pain on protesters
CARACAS/SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (Reuters) – With some nursing wounds, others jailed and many heading abroad, Venezuela’s young opposition supporters are demoralized by the ruling socialists’ shock election win this month, after prolonged protests fail…
Iran says defense capabilities not negotiable amid U.S. pressure
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iran’s defense capabilities are not negotiable, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday in remarks made previously but which now come amid increased pressure from the U.S. government over Tehran’s ballistic missile progr…
Workers rights get Qatar nod as ILO poised decide on abuse probe
DOHA (Reuters) – Qatar has signed 36 worker protection agreements with countries that provide much of its labour force, state media reported on Wednesday, weeks before the International Labour Organisation is to decide whether to investigate it for wor…
China unveils new leadership line-up with no clear successor to Xi
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s ruling Communist Party broke with recent precedent on Wednesday, unveiling a new leadership line-up without a clear successor to President Xi Jinping, who has become arguably the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong…
