Obama calls Myanmar president, endorses election as Suu Kyi eyes majority
YANGON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama called Myanmar President Thein Sein on Thursday to congratulate him on successfully staging a historic general election in which democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi trounced the ruling camp.
Brazil president surveys dam disaster site; government vows probe, audit of other dams
MARIANA, Brazil (Reuters) – President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday flew over a devastated part of Brazil’s southeast region where two dams burst at an iron ore mine last week, killing at least seven people and swamping a vast area with mud and mine waste…
Egyptians see conspiracy behind British flight suspension
SHARM AL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) – Britain’s swift suspension of flights after the Russian plane crash in Sinai has revived old grievances in Egypt, where many accuse the former colonial ruler of acting out of malice and suspect a dark plot against the…
War batters cradle of Yemen’s Arab Spring uprising
DUBAI (Reuters) – Not even hospitals are spared the shells which every day pound the besieged city of Taiz, where Yemenis who took to the streets for democracy during the “Arab Spring” now just struggle for survival.
Marikana victims’ families sue South Africa’s deputy president
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The families of South African striking miners shot dead by police at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in 2012 have issued a court summons for Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa over complicity in their deaths, the presidency said on Thursd…
Venezuelan first lady’s nephews indicted in U.S. on drug case
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Two nephews of the wife of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro have been indicted in the United States for conspiring to import cocaine, according to court papers made public on Thursday.
Azerbaijan frees rights campaigner’s husband from prison
BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan on Thursday released Arif Yunus, husband of leading human rights activist Leyla Yunus, from prison on health grounds, and his lawyers said they would press ahead now to try to secure the release of his wife.
U.N., AU, EU raise alarm on Burundi crisis spreading
VALLETTA (Reuters) – The United Nations, African Union and European Union warned on Thursday that political division in Burundi threatened to create a deep and violent regional crisis and called on both sides to meet for mediated talks.
Rogue minister erodes Merkel’s authority in German refugee crisis
BERLIN (Reuters) – A unilateral decision by the interior minister to reverse course on a central plank of Germany’s asylum policy has forced Chancellor Angela Merkel to edge away from her open-door welcome to refugees and raised questions about her lea…
Maduro to address U.N. rights forum amid protest
GENEVA (Reuters) – Venezuelan opposition supporters and activists called on states to boycott a speech by President Nicolas Maduro to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday due to his country’s poor record and refusal to allow U.N. investi…
