After middle-finger salute, Philippines’ Duterte asks EU ‘Why insult me?’
Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte demanded on Wednesday the European Union show him respect worthy of a president, despite giving the bloc a one-finger gesture and a vulgar four-letter rebuke after its legislators expressed concern about his drug war….
South African universities close after tuition fee protests
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – At least three South African universities suspended classes on Wednesday because of student protests over tuition fees after the government recommended above-inflation increases for 2017.
Time for Mugabe to go, says Botswana President Khama
GABORONE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe should step aside without delay and allow new leadership of a country whose political and economic implosion since 2000 is dragging down the whole of southern Africa, Botswana Presiden…
Exclusive: How EU firms skirt sanctions to do business in Crimea
SIMFEROPOL, Crimea/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Products for sale in the Crimean stores of two European retailers are being shipped there from Russia via a ferry and port that are subject to EU sanctions, people involved in the transportation said, suggesting co…
Iran parades new weapons at time of Gulf tension with U.S.
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iran marked the anniversary of its 1980 invasion by Iraq by showing off its latest ships and missiles and telling the United States not to meddle in the Gulf.
Iraqi forces close in on town south of Mosul
TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraq’s military closed in on Wednesday on the center of Shirqat, a northern town held by Islamic State seen as a stepping stone in the campaign to recapture the jihadists’ stronghold of Mosul.
Air raid kills several medical workers, insurgents near Aleppo: monitors
BEIRUT (Reuters) – An air raid carried out overnight by Syrian or Russian warplanes killed four medical workers and at least nine rebel fighters near Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Wednesday.
Flash floods in Indonesia kill 20; rescuers hunt for missing
GARUT, Indonesia (Reuters) – Indonesian search and rescue teams worked on Wednesday to find victims of flash floods that killed 20 people and damaged hundreds of homes, authorities said.
UK pledges to ratify Paris climate deal by year-end
(Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to world leaders to ratify the Paris agreement to slow climate change by the end of the year.
U.S. bombers fly over South Korea for second time since North’s nuclear test
OSAN, South Korea (Reuters) – Two U.S. supersonic bombers flew over South Korea on Wednesday, with one of them landing at an air base 40 km (25 miles) south of the capital, the second such flight since North Korea’s Sept. 9 nuclear test.
