Palestinians suspicious of al-Aqsa monitoring promoted by Kerry
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian officials reacted warily on Sunday to what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed as Jordan’s “excellent suggestion” to calm Israeli-Palestinian violence by putting a sensitive Jerusalem holy site under co…
Assad’s priority to defeat ‘terrorism’ before elections: Russian lawmaker
MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s priority is to defeat “terrorists” before holding elections but he is ready to call parliamentary and presidential polls if necessary, a Russian lawmaker who met him on Sunday said.
Exclusive: UK nuclear deterrent to cost $256 billion, far more than expected
LONDON (Reuters) – The overall cost of replacing and maintaining Britain’s nuclear deterrent will reach 167 billion pounds ($256 billion), much more than expected, according to a lawmaker’s and Reuters’ calculations based on official figures.
Ivory Coast extends voting in post-war presidential poll
ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Ivory Coast’s election commission extended voting in Sunday’s presidential poll after logistical problems in many areas delayed the start of the vote, seen as crucial to turning the page on a decade-long political crisis and a civil…
Pope, closing synod, calls for more open-hearted Church
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis closed a contentious bishops’ meeting on family issues on Sunday calling for a more open-hearted, compassionate Church rooted in people’s lives and not a programmatic, arid one that fears changes and challenges.
Ukraine PM says won’t repay Russian debt if no restructuring deal – paper
BERLIN (Reuters) – Ukraine will not pay off its debt to Russia if Moscow does not agree to join in a restructuring deal involving other creditors, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk told German business daily Handelsblatt.
German police use water cannon to stop clashes at far-right rally
BERLIN (Reuters) – German police in the western city of Cologne used water cannon on Sunday on left-wing radicals protesting against a rally held by about 600 supporters of the xenophobic “Hooligans Against Salafists” (HOGESA) group.
About 100 people injured in Hong Kong ferry collision
HONG KONG (Reuters) – About 100 people were injured on Sunday when a ferry returning from Macau to Hong Kong collided with an unknown object, a police department official said.
Saudi court upholds death sentence for Shi’ite cleric
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal against the death sentence passed this year on Shi’ite Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr who had called for pro-democracy demonstrations and whose arrest in 2012 spurred protests in…
South Africa’s Wits University to stay closed on Monday amid protests
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg said on Sunday it will remain closed on Monday as student protests are set to continue despite a pledge by South African President Jacob Zuma that university fees will not be …
