Host Malaysia avoids Chinese ire over disputed sea at ASEAN summit
KUALA LUMPUR/MANILA (Reuters) – Malaysia is steering clear of criticizing China’s actions in the South China Sea at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders next week, a draft end-statement seen by Reuters shows, despite a push by the Philippines to denoun…
Burundi on knife edge over president’s possible third-term run
BUJUMBURA/NAIROBI (Reuters) – Any move by Burundi’s president to run for a third five-year term risks undermining a peace deal that has kept the African nation calm since civil war ended a decade ago and could stoke tensions in a region blighted by eth…
China warns on rising North Korea nuclear capability: WSJ
SEOUL (Reuters) – Chinese nuclear experts have warned that North Korea may already have 20 nuclear warheads and the capability to produce enough weapons-grade uranium to double its arsenal by next year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
U.S.-led strikes have killed 2,079 people in Syria: monitor
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Air strikes by the U.S.-led coalition in Syria have killed 2,079 people, including 66 civilians, since the start of the aerial campaign against Islamic State militants last September, a group monitoring the war said on Thursday.
Special Report: British voters heading for a Disunited Kingdom
GLOUCESTER, England (Reuters) – Like millions of other British voters, Karl Wakeman supported Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives in the 1980s and then Tony Blair’s New Labour in the late 1990s. But now, as Britain heads toward a general election on May 7, the 49-year-old from Gloucester has no time for either of the two parties that have dominated British politics for decades.
Chinese man gets 14-month jail term for defacing Mao portrait
BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese court has sentenced a man to 14 months in jail for defacing the giant painting of Communist leader Mao Zedong displayed near Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, state media reported.
China’s Xi says backs fair, balanced agreement on Iran
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping told Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday that China would push for a “fair and balanced” nuclear agreement, a day after talks resumed between Iran and the European Union.
Five attacks foiled in France since Charlie Hebdo killings: PM
PARIS (Reuters) – French police have thwarted five attacks, including a suspected plan to target church-goers foiled in recent days, since the Islamist killings at a satirical weekly and Jewish food shop in January, Prime Minster Manuel Valls said on T…
China trial begins for ally of retired security chief
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A deposed leader of one of China’s most populous provinces chose not to contest charges of bribery and abuse of power when his trial opened on Thursday, the latest senior official linked to retired security boss Zhou Yongkang to be…
Protester killed in Peru during rally against Southern Copper project
AREQUIPA/LIMA, PERU (Reuters) – Clashes between police and opponents of Southern Copper Corp’s Tia Maria project in Peru left one protester dead on Wednesday as rallies calling for its cancellation spread in the region.
