Putin out to seize control of Ukraine, says Kiev defense chief
KIEV (Reuters) – The West should not drop its guard over Ukraine, the country’s defense minister said on Friday, saying a build-up of Russian forces in support of separatists showed President Vladimir Putin was bent on seizing control of the country.
In tense talks, EU leaders agree on plan to confront migrant crisis
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Fractious European leaders argued into the early hours on Friday over how to handle over a migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, agreeing a plan to share out the care of desperate people fleeing war and poverty in North Africa and t…
Libya talks at crucial stage over power-sharing deal
SKHIRATE, Morocco (Reuters) – Libya’s two main rival factions restarted U.N.-backed peace talks in Morocco on Friday with negotiations at a crucial stage over a power-sharing proposal that negotiators call the best chance for peace.
Brazil probe pits investigators against long-protected elite
CURITIBA, Brazil (Reuters) – In a nation where the elite have enjoyed relative impunity, a new generation of police and prosecutors in Brazil are bent on using the country’s largest-ever corruption investigation to send the message that no one is above…
U.N. rights experts urge U.S. moratorium on death penalty
GENEVA (Reuters) – United Nations human rights experts appealed to the United States on Friday to impose a moratorium on the death penalty for federal crimes, including the sentence imposed on the Boston Marathon bomber, with a view to abolishing the p…
EU urges more defense spending in dangerous times
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Council President Donald Tusk urged European leaders to spend more on defense on Friday as deadly attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait drove home his point about dramatic changes to the security situation in Europe and it…
African Union calls on UK to release Rwanda’s spy chief
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The African Union has called for Britain to release Rwanda’s intelligence chief after his arrest on a warrant issued by Spain, which accuses him of killings after the 1994 genocide, Rwanda’s foreign minister said on Friday.
Switzerland extradites Srebrenica’s Muslim defender Oric to Bosnia
ZURICH (Reuters) – Naser Oric, the Muslim defender of Srebrenica against separatist Serb forces during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, was extradited to Bosnia from Switzerland on Friday, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said.
Kosovo lawmakers reject special court to try ex-guerrillas
PRISTINA (Reuters) – Lawmakers in Kosovo on Friday rejected Western pressure to create a special court to try ethnic Albanian ex-guerrillas for alleged crimes including organ harvesting during a 1998-99 insurgency to throw off Serbian rule.
Islamic State kills at least 145 civilians in Syria’s Kobani
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Islamic State fighters killed at least 145 civilians in an attack on the Syrian town of Kobani and a nearby village, in what a monitoring group described on Friday as one of the worst massacres carried out by the hardline group in Sy…
