Australian icebreaker rescued in Antarctica: media
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis was refloated on Friday, two days after running aground in Antarctica while on a mission to resupply the Mawson Station, Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
China admiral talks warships with Cambodia as navy drill shores up ties
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – China held a joint naval drill with Cambodia for the first time on Friday, tightening a budding relationship that could give Beijing a small but strategic foothold in a region being strongly courted by the United States.
Syria opposition agrees to two-week truce: statement
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian opposition said on Friday armed groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad would respect a two-week week truce beginning at midnight, but said the government and its allies must not launch attacks on the pretext of fighting…
Putin says all relevant groups in Syria ready to comply with ceasefire
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has received information that all parties expected to take part in a cessation of hostilities in Syria have said they are ready to do so, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, Russian news agencies reported.
New chief of Indonesia’s anti-graft agency vows to make a comeback
JAKARTA (Reuters) – The new chief of Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission plans to strike back at forces trying to undermine the agency’s powers after a year of crippling attacks by police and politicians in one of Asia’s most graft-plagued na…
Pakistani police free Afghan ex-governor kidnapped in Islamabad
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – A former Afghan provincial governor who was kidnapped in Islamabad this month was freed from his captors by Pakistani police on Friday, officials said.
In oil crisis, Azerbaijan leader is hostage to father’s legacy
MOSCOW (Reuters) – If Azerbaijan’s leader Ilham Aliyev is to steer his oil exporting state out of its economic crisis, he will have to show a resolve not in evidence during his privileged upbringing or in the 13 years since he succeeded his father as p…
U.N. envoy voices fears on North Korea-Russia extradition pact
GENEVA (Reuters) – The U.N. human rights investigator for North Korea called on Russia on Friday to renounce a new extradition treaty, voicing fears that North Koreans seeking asylum could be forced back home and face punishment in violation of interna…
Proposed North Korea sanctions dig deep, implementation falls to China
SEOUL (Reuters) – From inspecting visiting North Korean ships to paring back coal imports, the burden of enforcing new U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang falls mainly on China, which wants to punish its ally for nuclear violations without squeezing it to the …
Indian villages ban single women from owning ‘distracting’ mobile phones
MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Several villages in the western Indian state of Gujarat have banned girls and single women from owning mobile phones, saying the devices distract them from their studies.
