Pope appeals for urgent food aid to help famine-stricken South Sudan
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis called on Wednesday for urgent humanitarian aid for the starving people of South Sudan, saying millions risked being “condemned to death” by a famine in parts of the war-ravaged country.
In Bavarian town, Syrian sisters get to grips with Germany’s freedoms
SCHILLINGSFUERST, Germany (Reuters) – More than a year ago, Mayar and Nawar Ballish escaped car bomb attacks in Damascus. Now the Syrian sisters, both students in their twenties, go to school by train past neat gardens and farms in the quiet hills of B…
South African court blocks govt’s ICC withdrawal push
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been ruled unconstitutional by the country’s High Court, the opposition party which brought the challenge to the government’s move said on Wedn…
Turkey sees change in U.S. stance toward operation in Syria’s Raqqa: defense minister
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s defense minister said on Wednesday there had been a slight change in the stance of the United States toward an operation on Syria’s Raqqa and the role of a Syrian Kurdish militia as a result of Turkey’s persistence on the ma…
Khmer Rouge cadre’s war crimes charges dismissed in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – A U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia dismissed charges against a former cadre of the 1970s Khmer Rouge regime on Wednesday, saying the Buddhist nun had not played a senior enough role during a period when some 1.8 millio…
Netanyahu blasts U.N. ‘hypocrisy’, Australian PM opposes ‘one-sided resolutions’
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull offered a staunch defense of Israel on Wednesday, criticizing the United Nations and vowing never to support “one-sided resolutions” calling for an end to Israeli settlement building on occu…
German Social Democrats still hard on heels of Merkel’s conservatives: poll
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) held steady at 31 percent support in a survey published on Wednesday, remaining hard on the heels of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives – on 34 percent – seven months ahead of a federal election…
Philippine minister doubtful of China row resolution ‘during our lifetime’
MANILA (Reuters) – The foreign minister of the Philippines expressed doubt on Wednesday that a maritime sovereignty dispute with China could be resolved “during our lifetime”, so it was better to set it aside, engage Beijing and avoid an armed confront…
China calls landmark Taiwan protests part of Chinese liberation struggle
BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Wednesday described landmark Taiwan protests against Nationalist troops in 1947 as part of China’s liberation struggle that Taiwan independence forces were trying to hijack, ahead of commemorations next week for the 70th an…
Mexico homicides jump by a third amid cartel infighting
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Homicides in Mexico jumped by more than a third in January, new figures showed, fueled by violence in states hit by an internal split in the Sinaloa drug cartel.
