China suspends G20 anti-corruption task force: sources
HONG KONG (Reuters) – China suspended an international anti-corruption task force earlier this year after taking over the G20 presidency, according to six individuals in the group, who called it a setback to global efforts to crack down on shell compan…
Communist Laos appoints new president, prime minister
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Laos’s National Assembly on Wednesday appointed Communist Party chief Bounnhang Vorachit as the country’s new president and named foreign minister Thongloun Sisoulith as prime minister.
Hopes of finding Ecuador quake survivors fade as death toll nears 500
PEDERNALES, Ecuador (Reuters) – Rescuers in Ecuador were losing hope on Tuesday of finding more survivors from an earthquake that killed nearly 500 people and dealt a shattering blow to the South American OPEC country’s already fragile economy.
China planning chief warns his officials to step up graft fight
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s powerful state planning body the National Development and Reform Commission continues to face a serious issue in tackling corruption and officials must step up efforts to tackle the problem, its chairman was quoted as saying…
Japan’s Suga: Situation after Kyushu quakes not like post-March 2011
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s top government spokesman said on Wednesday conditions following the deadly earthquakes in the southern island of Kyushu this month were not similar to the situation after the natural disasters in March 2011.
Fidel Castro speaks of death in address to Cuba’s Communist Party
HAVANA (Reuters) – Retired Cuban leader Fidel Castro emerged from seclusion on Tuesday to muse about death and provide encouragement to his followers, in a rare speech at the closing of a Communist Party congress in Havana.
OAS anti-graft body to probe Honduran scandal dogging president
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – An anti-graft mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Honduras said on Tuesday it will investigate a multi-million dollar corruption scandal that has dogged the president of the Central American country, Juan Orl…
Brazil’s Rousseff slams impeachment drive as ‘sexist’
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s left-leaning President Dilma Rousseff said on Tuesday she had been singled out for impeachment by a male dominated Congress partly because she is a woman and warned that the campaign to oust her was fuelling hatred and int…
Syrian talks appear doomed as air strike kills dozens in market
GENEVA/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian peace talks appeared all but doomed on Tuesday after air strikes killed about 40 people in a crowded vegetable market in rebel territory, with the opposition saying a truce was finished and it would keep out of negotiat…
U.N.concerned by Machar delay in return to South Sudan capital
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations Security Council expressed serious concern on Tuesday over the failure of South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar to return to Juba to take up his old post as deputy to President Salva Kiir as part of a pea…
