U.S. downplayed evidence of abuses in Chinese detention camps
BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – After China abolished a notorious penal system based on forced labor in December 2013, the United States rewarded Beijing by removing the world’s most populous country from a global blacklist of countries that are failing to combat modern-day slavery.
Syrian troops backed by Russian jets enters rebel-held southern town: army
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian troops fought their way into a rebel-held town in the southern province of Deraa on Wednesday in an assault which rebels said was supported by the heaviest Russian aerial bombing campaign so far in the south.
Pakistan contradicts Afghanistan on venue of next talks on Taliban
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A Pakistani official said on Wednesday that talks on how to restart a tentative peace dialogue with Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents would be held in Islamabad next month, contradicting an Afghan statement that they would be in Kabul. The confusion over the venue highlighted the fraught, multi-country process to coax the Taliban to the bargaining table and end more than 14 years of war since the U.S.-backed intervention to break the hard-line Islamist movement’s grip in
MSF pulls out of Sicilian refugee center, citing inadequacies
ROME (Reuters) – The international relief organization Medecins Sans Frontieres is to halt its services helping migrants in parts of Sicily, saying on Wednesday Italian officials had failed to provide adequate working conditions.
Central African Republic votes, aiming to end violence
BANGUI (Reuters) – Peacekeepers patrolled the streets of Central African Republic on Wednesday for presidential and legislative elections many voters hope will end years of violence between Christians and Muslims in which thousands of people have died….
U.S. vice president to visit Turkey next month, to meet with Erdogan: officials
ANKARA (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will visit Turkey on Jan. 23 and will meet President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, sources from the Turkish prime minister’s office said on Wednesday.
More than one million migrants registered in Germany in 2015: newspaper
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany will have registered just over a million migrants by the end of the year, a regional newspaper said on Wednesday, roughly in line with the latest predictions but still about five times more than last year.
Islamic State leader killed in air strike linked to two Paris attackers
PARIS (Reuters) – Charaffe al Mouadan, an Islamic State leader killed by air strikes in Syria last week, was linked to at least two Paris attackers and had trained in a local shooting club with one of them, officials said on Wednesday.
Rwandan pastor jailed for life for genocide-era crimes
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A Rwandan pastor accused of leading and coordinating attacks on minority Tutsis during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide has been sentenced to life imprisonment, Rwanda’s high court said on Wednesday.
Iraq risks losing generation due to lack of schools, healthcare: UNICEF
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Preventing violence from depriving millions of children in Iraq of education and decent healthcare is a key humanitarian priority for the country in 2016, a senior U.N. official said on Wednesday.
