Minister at center of Brazil’s latest scandal quits
BRASILIA (Reuters) – One of Brazilian President Michel Temer’s closest aides resigned on Friday following allegations he pressured the culture minister to approve a property development, unsettling investors with the prospect of renewed political turmo…
Mexicans very negative on Trump, but back talks with him: poll
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – An overwhelming majority of Mexicans hold a negative view of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, but most believe their own president should meet with him to defend the country’s interests, an opinion poll showed on Friday.
Scotland sets out legal case to have a say on Brexit trigger
LONDON (Reuters) – The Scottish government on Friday published legal arguments it will use to try to persuade Britain’s highest court that the devolved Scottish parliament must give its approval before Prime Minister Theresa May can trigger the Brexit …
Air strikes batter women’s hospital in Syria’s Idlib: monitor, aid group
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Russian or Syrian government warplanes pounded a women’s hospital in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province on Friday, killing three people nearby, a monitoring group and an aid organization said.
Protests prompt Ukraine court to halt video-link testimony by ex-president
KIEV/ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (Reuters) – Protests prompted a Ukrainian court to postpone its questioning of exiled former president Viktor Yanukovich as a witness at a trial on Friday over the killing of demonstrators, a delay that Yanukovich said was a …
Waiting for British PM May, EU closes ranks, draws battle plans
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Senior officials from Britain’s EU partners gather next week to coordinate plans for looming Brexit negotiations with Prime Minister Theresa May – but they can do little in detail until London works out what it wants.
Iraq readies force to storm flashpoint town near Mosul
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq is readying a special force tasked with storming Tal Afar, a bastion of Islamic State west of Mosul, in a way that would avoid revenge killings against the town’s Sunni population.
Passenger trains collide in Iran, 44 killed: official
ANKARA (Reuters) – Forty-four people were killed and 103 injured when one Iranian passenger train collided with another at a station about 150 miles (250 km) east of the capital Tehran, state media reported.
Colombia FARC leader says will support 2018 president who backs peace
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s Marxist FARC will support a presidential candidate in 2018 to prevent a peace accord being modified or scrapped, rebel leader Rodrigo Londono said on Friday, an apparent bid to block former President Alvaro Uribe’s right-w…
Italy’s Renzi moves toward budget approval ahead of referendum
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi won a confidence vote in the lower house of parliament on Friday that takes him a step towards passing a 2017 budget law that raises pension and health spending and heads off a huge sales-tax increas…
