Seven migrant children, six adults drown off Greek island
ATHENS (Reuters) – Seven children, four men and two women drowned when a boat carrying migrants capsized off the tiny Greek island of Farmakonisi, coastguard officials said on Wednesday as a refugee exodus toward Europe continued despite winter cold.
Russia hosts pro-Kurdish Turkish politician who condemns Ankara
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The leader of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition party met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Wednesday and criticized Ankara for shooting down a Russian warplane last month.
Boko Haram militants in Niger kill five as regional attacks mount
NIAMEY (Reuters) – Boko Haram militants killed two soldiers and three civilians in Niger’s southern border town of Abadam in an overnight raid, two security sources told Reuters on Wednesday, in the third suspected attack by the group in less than 24 h…
Spain’s Ciudadanos calls for pact with PP, Socialists
MADRID (Reuters) – The leader of Spain’s newcomer liberal party Ciudadanos Albert Rivera on Wednesday called for a pact with the People’s Party and the Socialists to enable a stable government in Spain and protect the country from an independence move …
Germany orders Booking.com to scrap anti-competitive clause
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s antitrust regulator has ordered that online travel agent Booking.com must scrap a practice that forbids hotels from offering rooms at lower prices on their own websites.
Saudi king says Riyadh working to keep Syria as unified nation
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s King Salman said his government was striving to maintain Syria as a unified nation inclusive of all sects, according to the Twitter account of the Saudi Shura Council on Wednesday.
British Eurosceptic warns that leaving EU could mean UK breaks up too
LONDON (Reuters) – The United Kingdom could break up, with Scotland going its own way, if Britons vote to leave the European Union, a longstanding EU critic and former Conservative leader warned on Wednesday, saying as a result he was likely to vote to…
U.S. lifted Uzbekistan’s rights ranking as cotton field abuses continued
SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The news reached Dmitry Tihonov in Uzbekistan’s rural heartland as the labor activist quietly recorded the arrival of thousands of teachers, nurses, laborers, students and other conscripts sent to the fields…
Russian defense minister: Russia rearms Kyrgyzstan to counter Islamic State – RIA
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia is actively rearming the armed forces of Kyrgyzstan to help it counter the threat posed by Islamic State to Central Asia, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted by RIA news agency as saying on Wednesday.
Czech PM says Germany encouraged illegal immigration, his Twitter account hacked
BERLIN/PRAGUE (Reuters) – Germany encouraged illegal immigration to Europe with its humanitarian response to the refugee crisis, the Czech prime minister was cited as saying by a German newspaper on Wednesday.
