Defiant Merkel says refugees not taking away benefits from Germans
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose conservative party faces possible defeat in an election in her home state on Sunday, rejected charges by anti-immigrant critics that her government was spending less on Germans due to a large in…
South Korea’s president calls on Russia, others, to pressure Pyongyang over nuclear program
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) – South Korean President Park Geun-hye called on Russia and other major global players on Saturday to increase pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear program which could open the road for cooperation with Pyongyang…
Turkey, EU must work more closely together: Turkey’s EU minister
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) – Turkey’s European Union Affairs Minister Omer Celik said on Saturday his meeting with the bloc’s 28 foreign ministers had resulted in a “very strong consensus” that they should work more closely after ties soured over a failed co…
Lithuania says it supplies ammunition to Ukraine for first time in two years
VILNIUS (Reuters) – Lithuania says it has supplied lethal weaponry to Ukraine for the first time since 2014.
Russian, Japanese leaders express new resolve to settle island row
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday spoke of their joint resolve to settle once and for all a territorial row over a string of tiny islands that has marred ties for more th…
Swiss right-wing SVP mulls new initiative to reduce immigration: papers
ZURICH – Switzerland’s biggest party, the right-wing People’s Party (SVP), is considering launching a new initiative to end the free movement of people with the European Union, its Vice President Christoph Blocher told Swiss newspapers NZZ and Tages-An…
Obituary: Veteran Uzbek leader Karimov battled Islamists, suppressed dissent
(Reuters) – Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who the government said on Friday had died aged 78 after suffering a stroke, saw himself as the protector of his Central Asian nation against the threat of militant Islam. To his critics, he was a brutal dicta…
Row on tarmac an awkward G20 start for U.S., China
HANGZHOU, China (Reuters) – A Chinese official confronted U.S. President Barack Obama’s national security adviser on the tarmac on Saturday prompting the Secret Service to intervene, an unusual altercation as China implements strict controls ahead of a…
Unhappy with Corbyn, Labour’s ‘money men’ channel funds in new directions
STOKE-ON-TRENT, England (Reuters) – Billionaire Peter Coates has stopped giving money to Britain’s opposition Labour Party, seeing little prospect of election victory under left-wing leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe returns home amid health rumors
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrived at the capital’s main airport from abroad on Saturday, according to a Reuters witness, following intense rumors that he was gravely ill and had sought medical help in Dubai.
