Lebanese navy stops second migrant boat in a week
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s navy stopped a boat carrying 35 Palestinian refugees to Turkey on Friday, the second time this week it has moved in to stop people apparently trying to travel on to Europe.
Turkey says new wave of Syrian refugees will head for Europe
ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey is preparing for tens of thousands more refugees from Syria as government forces and Russian warplanes pound opposition-held areas, and officials said many would try illegally to get to Europe.
Assad is problem, not solution in Syria, France’s Hollande says
ATHENS (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the problem and not the solution where the crisis in Syria is concerned, French President Francois Hollande said on Friday.
Swedish regions to get $1.2 billion extra for asylum seekers: government
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s government will hand local authorities and other organizations an extra 10 billion crowns ($1.18 billion) this year to relieve pressure on housing, schools and social services dealing with record numbers of asylum seekers…
As prospect of IMF deal fades, Romania risks backsliding on deficit, reforms
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – The prospects of Romania lining up a new aid deal led by the International Monetary Fund are dimming, and the country risks backsliding on commitments to run tight budget deficits and implement structural reforms.
Clashes in Myanmar’s ethnic areas spark calls for restraint
YANGON (Reuters) – Fighting has flared in areas of Myanmar controlled by ethnic rebels who refused to sign a ceasefire, raising fears the army is pressuring groups that did not join in what was supposed to be a crowning achievement of President Thein S…
French far-right Le Pen family set for regional power wins: poll
PARIS (Reuters) – Far-right leader Marine Le Pen is set to win control of France’s northernmost area in regional elections in December, an opinion poll showed on Friday, with her niece possibly coming first too in the southeastern Provence-Alpes-Cote d…
Portugal Socialists vow to topple government with no-confidence vote
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s opposition Socialists pledged on Friday to topple the center-right minority government with a no confidence motion, saying the president had created “an unnecessary political crisis” by naming Pedro Passos Coelho as premie…
Sri Lanka detains soldiers in case of missing cartoonist
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lankan police have detained 11 people, most of them soldiers or former soldiers, in a widening probe into the disappearance of a cartoonist that has become a test case of the new government’s resolve to address human rights abus…
Myanmar’s reformist law used to stifle dissent
YANGON (Reuters) – Last week’s arrest of an NGO worker in Myanmar for a Facebook post is raising fears that legislation drawn up as part of the country’s economic and democratic liberalization are being used to stifle dissent in ways reminiscent of law…
