Eyeing EU membership, Albania and Serbia mend ties
TIRANA (Reuters) – Serbia and Albania should put aside their differences over Kosovo and forge closer economic ties to help both countries fulfil their ambitions to join the European Union, Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday.
South Sudan hunger at its worst since independence in 2011: experts
NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – More than 40 percent of South Sudan’s 11 million people need food aid, the latest analysis shows, the highest hunger levels recorded in the world’s youngest country, where fighting erupted 18 months ago.
Iraq rebrands military campaign against Islamic State over fears of sectarianism
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A campaign led by Shi’ite paramilitaries to drive Islamic State militants from Iraq’s Sunni heartland was rebranded on Wednesday after criticism that the name chosen for the push was overtly sectarian.
Desperate migrant pays for baby to be drugged, smuggled to Myanmar: researchers
BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A Burmese woman working in Thailand hired a man to sedate and smuggle her 3-month-old baby across the border to relatives in Myanmar, researchers said, describing a common “service” for desperate migrant mothers f…
Erdogan’s war on critical media heats up ahead of Turkish election
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A veteran U.S. journalist and author said on Wednesday President Tayyip Erdogan had blocked his honorary citizenship and declared him an enemy of the state, as the Turkish leader’s war on critical media intensifies ahead of a June …
Syria says wants more Iraqi coordination in Islamic State fight
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Damascus wants more coordination with Baghdad to combat Islamic State fighters who control land in both countries, Syria’s foreign minister said on Wednesday, days after the group seized a border crossing and overran a central Syrian…
EU judges jail 11 ex-Kosovo Albanian guerrillas for war crimes
PRISTINA (Reuters) – European Union judges in Kosovo sentenced 11 former Kosovo Albanian guerrillas, two of them close to ex-prime minister Hashim Thaci, to prison terms on Wednesday for war crimes committed during Kosovo’s 1998-99 pro-independence upr…
U.S., South Korea, Japan seek to raise pressure on North’s nuclear program
SEOUL (Reuters) – The United States and two key Asian allies discussed how to increase pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear program and will urge China to help bring Pyongyang back to the negotiating table, officials said.
Ethiopia’s ruling party sweeps parliament: early election results
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s ruling party and its allies won a large majority in parliament, the country’s election board said on Wednesday, based on an early vote count in a weekend election in which opponents complained their supporters were ha…
Woman accused of witchcraft axed to death in PNG: missionary
BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Police in Papua New Guinea vowed to find the men who axed to death a woman accused of using witchcraft to spark a measles outbreak in the country’s remote jungle highlands, a missionary said on Wednesday after mee…
