Japan to join U.S., Australia war games amid growing China tensions
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Japan will join a major U.S.-Australian military exercise for the first time in a sign of growing security links between the three countries as tensions fester over China’s island building in the South China Sea.
France’s Sarkozy, on comeback trail, wins right to rename party
PARIS (Reuters) – Former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy won a court fight on Tuesday for the right to rename his conservative party “The Republicans”, a prelude to an expected attempt to win back the presidency in 2017.
Exclusive: Captured video appears to show foreign fighters in Nigeria’s Boko Haram
ABUJA (Reuters) – Video footage found in captured Boko Haram camps by Nigeria’s military and seen by Reuters seems to give some of the clearest indication that foreign fighters hold positions of power within the Nigerian Islamist militant group.
Charities unsure Modi’s first year brought ‘good days’ for India
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In his first year in power, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought in banking for the poor, set up campaigns to improve sanitation and curb the abortion of female fetuses – but slashed funds for educati…
Catalonia separatists pin hopes on September vote after setback
MADRID (Reuters) – Catalan leaders said on Tuesday they would press ahead with regional elections in September meant as a proxy vote on independence from Spain, despite separatist parties losing in Barcelona’s town hall election.
Accidental shot fired by Hollande’s bodyguard raises security doubts: Le Monde
PARIS (Reuters) – New questions surfaced about the personal security of French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday as Le Monde daily reported an incident in which a bodyguard accidentally fired a bullet in the Elysee Palace.
Air France faces probe after jet narrowly avoids mountain
PARIS (Reuters) – French investigators have opened a probe after an Air France jet with some three dozen people on board narrowly avoided hitting the highest mountain in central Africa in early May, according to information published by France’s BEA ai…
S.Africa to release ‘Marikana massacre’ probe next month
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South Africa’s government will release the findings of an inquiry into the 2012 deaths of 34 striking miners shot by police before the end of June, President Jacob Zuma told parliament on Tuesday.
Palmyra’s ancient ruins unharmed for now: Syria antiquities chief
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s antiquities chief said on Tuesday the historic city of Palmyra had been unharmed since ultra-radical Islamic State insurgents seized it from state control last week.
Bombing exposes Saudi failure to curb sectarian strains
DUBAI (Reuters) – A suicide bombing in Saudi Arabia as it presses on with its war against Shi’ite fighters in Yemen has exposed the Sunni kingdom’s failure to curb sectarianism at home and prompted fears that such tensions can only get worse.
