Smugglers made $5-6 billion off migrants to Europe in 2015: Interpol
GENEVA (Reuters) – People smugglers made over $5 billion from the wave of migration into southern Europe last year, a report by international crime-fighting agencies Interpol and Europol said on Tuesday.
Putin ready to discuss downing of passenger jet in Ukraine with Malaysian PM: Kremlin
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to discuss the issue of the downing of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine in 2014 with visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak this week, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on Tuesday.
‘Bachelor ban’ in Qatar tests relations with migrant workers
AL KHOR, QATAR (Reuters) – As Nami Hader, a 30-year-old gardener from Nepal, approached the entrance to a park outside Qatar’s second city Al Khor one day last month, a security guard blocked his way.
EU’s Tusk calls Brexit advocate Boris Johnson’s Hitler comments ‘absurd’
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Boris Johnson, the leader of the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, showed “political amnesia” with his “absurd” comparison between the EU and Adolf Hitler’s plan to rule the continent, the EU’s Donald Tusk said on…
Egypt’s Sisi offers mediating role in Israel-Palestinian peace talks
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi promised Israel on Tuesday warmer ties if it accepts efforts to resume peace talks with the Palestinians, urging Israeli leaders not to waste an opportunity to bring security and hope to a troub…
North Korea’s new ad men try out pitches to new consumer class
PYONGYANG (Reuters) – “Pyongyang Spirit: A drink you won’t forget after drinking once”, reads the text of an ad for a clear, vodka-like North Korean alcohol.
Duterte readies for Philippine peace talks restart as rebel team arrives
DAVAO, Philippines (Reuters) – Groundwork is being laid for a resumption of peace talks between the Philippine government and Maoist rebels, an aide to incoming President Rodrigo Duterte and a negotiator said on Tuesday, as a renewed push to end the co…
Turkey identifies 13 more dead from bomb blast in Kurdish village, clashes flare
SARIKAMIS, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkish authorities have identified the remains of 13 people from two families killed after a truck carrying more than 15 tonnes of explosives blew up last week in a village in the country’s mainly Kurdish southeast.
Finland says refugees can return to safe Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland tightened restrictions on giving residence permits to asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia on Tuesday, saying it was now largely safe for them to return to their war-torn homes.
Top ranked Chinese official to ‘listen’ to HK demands as independence calls grow
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A top ranked Chinese official began a rare visit to Hong Kong on Tuesday vowing to listen to residents’ political concerns, seeking to address increasingly strident calls in the city for greater autonomy or even independence from …
