North Korea sentences Canadian pastor to hard labor for life: Xinhua
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s highest court has sentenced a South Korea-born Canadian pastor to hard labor for life for subversion, China’s official news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.
Voting starts in Seychelles presidential run-off
VICTORIA (Reuters) – The Seychelles voted on Wednesday in the second round of a presidential election in which incumbent James Michel is seeking a third term by touting the Indian Ocean archipelago’s economic expansion under his watch.
Rare tornado rips through Sydney, damaging beachside suburbs
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A rare tornado hit Sydney on Wednesday with destructive winds above 200 km an hour (125 mph) and cricket ball-sized hail, bringing down trees and power lines, sheering off roofs and walls and causing flash flooding in Australia’s lar…
Two Palestinians killed during Israeli arrest raid in West Bank
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli security forces shot dead two Palestinians who tried to ram them with their cars during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the Israeli army and police and Palestinian medical sources said.
Former ‘wine queen’ co-stars with Merkel at German party gala
KARLSRUHE, Germany (Reuters) – With a rousing speech in defense of her refugee policies, Angela Merkel fended off a challenge from conservative critics this week, reasserting control over her party and bolstering her case for a fourth term as German ch…
A year on, Pakistan massacre survivors say waiting for aid, justice
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Families of children killed or wounded in Pakistan’s worst militant attack accuse the local government of breaking its promises of medical treatment and justice, a year after Taliban gunmen massacred 134 students in a Pes…
Cambodian opposition ends parliament boycott
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Cambodian opposition party lawmakers ended a parliamentary boycott on Wednesday in a bid to ease a feud between their self-exiled leader and the country’s prime minister that threatens to reignite festering political tensions.
China military says ‘pathogen’ of corruption persists in ranks
BEIJING (Reuters) – The “pathogen” of corruption persists within China’s armed forces, the top Chinese military newspaper said on Wednesday, indicating that President Xi Jinping will sustain his sweeping crackdown on graft in the ranks into next year.
Chinese jade miners in overdrive ahead of new Myanmar government
HPAKANT, Myanmar (Reuters) – Using heavy earth-excavators and explosives, miners have been tearing into Myanmar’s northern hills in recent months, in a rush to excavate more jade from the world’s richest deposits of the gemstone before a new government…
Venezuela Socialists seek to curtail opposition advantage
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s ruling Socialists inaugurated a grassroots assembly on Tuesday in the same building as the national legislature in a further effort to minimize impact of an opposition election win that has shaken the government.
