U.N. sees direct Syria talks soon but not pushing for it
GENEVA (Reuters) – Syria’s government and opposition negotiators could soon hold face-to-face talks for the first time, U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday, the penultimate day of a round of peace talks in Geneva.
Hunter of Stalin’s mass graves on trial; friends say he’s been framed
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Yuri Dmitriev spent years locating and exhuming the mass graves of people executed during Josef Stalin’s Great Terror. Eight decades after one of Russia’s darkest chapters, it is his reputation, not Stalin’s, that is on trial.
Prosecutor wants Paris Match pulled from stands over Nice attack images
PARIS (Reuters) – A French public prosecutor on Thursday asked a court to order the removal of Paris Match’s latest edition from news stands after it published graphic pictures of the Bastille day attack in Nice one year ago that killed 86 people and i…
Russia hands 20-year jail term to killer of Putin critic Nemtsov
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian court sentenced a man convicted of murdering opposition leader Boris Nemtsov to 20 years in jail on Thursday and handed terms of between 11 and 19 years to four other men convicted of being his accomplices.
Sweden intensifies crackdown on illegal immigrants
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden has intensified its crackdown on illegal immigrants after a failed asylum-seeker killed five people in Stockholm, but the move has raised concerns that more migrants will be driven underground to join a shadowy underclass.
Firefighters tackle blaze in Turkish military zone near Syrian border
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A fire broke out on Thursday in a military zone in Turkey’s southern province of Kilis bordering Syria and 10 soldiers suffered mild smoke inhalation, the provincial governor’s office said, but there were no other casualties.
China’s liberals quietly fight efforts to erase Liu Xiaobo legacy
SHENYANG, China (Reuters) – As the hospital treating Liu Xiaobao says his organs and breathing have begun to fail from cancer, few in China outside a small circle of dissidents know about the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and his lifetime pursuit of liber…
In Brazil, Lula conviction opens field for 2018 presidential race
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The graft conviction Wednesday of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a front-runner for next year’s presidential election, opens the door for an outsider to take power in Latin America’s largest country, politica…
Trump says ‘something could happen’ on climate accord
PARIS (Reuters) – President Donald Trump held the door open to a reversal of his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord on Thursday, but did not say what he would need in return to persuade him to do so.
Canada to name astronaut Payette as new governor general: media reports
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will name retired astronaut Julie Payette as the next governor general, the acting head of state and Queen Elizabeth’s representative in Canada, media outlets reported on Wednesday.
