China military conducts drills near Taiwan, Philippines
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese warships and aircraft on Wednesday passed through the Bashi Channel between Taiwan and the Philippines to hold routine planned exercises in the Western Pacific, China’s Defense Ministry said.
U.S. Defense Department civilian killed in attack on Afghan base
KABUL (Reuters) – A U.S. Department of Defense civilian employee has been killed in Afghanistan in a rocket attack on the sprawling Bagram military base, a spokesman for the U.S. military said on Wednesday.
China’s Panchen Lama promises Xi he will uphold national unity
BEIJING (Reuters) – A youth named by China as the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, but reviled as a fake by many Tibetans, on Wednesday told President Xi Jinping he backed national unity and would strive to meet the Communist Party’s expectat…
Migrants race through Italy to dodge EU asylum rules
BOLZANO, Italy (Reuters) – Last month, Dejen Asefaw was rescued with hundreds of other migrants in the Mediterranean Sea and brought to Sicily. The 24-year-old graduate from Eritrea, who endured forced military service and prison at home, hopes to be granted asylum in Europe.
Tunisian court annuls confiscation of ousted president’s assets
TUNIS (Reuters) – A Tunisian court has annulled a 2011 decree confiscating the assets of ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his inner circle after an appeal from the Ben Ali family, infuriating the government.
U.S. urges Vatican to get tough with Putin on Ukraine
ROME (Reuters) – The United States urged the Vatican on Wednesday to criticize Russia’s involvement in the Ukraine conflict more forcefully, hours before Pope Francis was due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
‘Blood antiquities’: a wound the world struggles to staunch
PARIS (Reuters) – Off a corridor at world culture agency UNESCO’s star-shaped Paris headquarters, a modest office with potted plants and three small desks has become the war room in the fight against looted antiquities from Iraq and Syria.
Sanctions push central Europe’s armies further from Russia
BRATISLAVA/SOFIA (Reuters) – A European Union embargo on arms imports from Russia, imposed last year in response to a pro-Russian rebellion in Ukraine, is speeding the demise of central Europe’s remaining military ties to its former overlord.
Thai PM vows no letup in human trafficking crackdown
((This story corrects paragraph three to show prime minister ordered crackdown after discovery of bodies))
Deutsche Bank exec arrested after fatal Hong Kong car crash: source
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police on Wednesday said they had arrested a 48-year-old foreign national on suspicion of dangerous driving and causing death, who was identified by a finance industry executive with knowledge of the situation as a Deuts…
