Indonesian court delays appeal hearing of French death row convict
JAKARTA (Reuters) – An Indonesian court has fixed June 3 to hear a last-ditch appeal by a French drug trafficker on death row, after a verdict expected this week was delayed by the absence of the presiding judge, a judge said.
Vatican’s Australian-born budget chief cooperates with child abuse inquiry
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Vatican’s finance chief on Wednesday offered to testify at a child abuse inquiry in his home country of Australia, fending off accusations he had washed his hands of a problem that has plagued the Catholic clergy globally for dec…
Israel strikes Gaza after rocket lands near Israeli port Ashdod
GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli aircraft struck a number of sites in the Gaza Strip from the air early on Wednesday, residents and the Israeli military said, after a rocket that Palestinian militants fired from the enclave landed near the Israeli port city of…
Iraq Shi’ite militia take lead in campaign to reverse Islamic State gains
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Shi’ite paramilitaries said on Tuesday they had taken charge of the campaign to drive Islamic State from the western province of Anbar, giving the operation an openly sectarian codename that could infuriate its Sunni Muslim p…
No special treatment for Australian IS fighter’s family: PM
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The wife and five children of an Australian believed to have been photographed while holding severed heads of Syrian soldiers will face the “full severity of Australian law” if they attempt to return home, Prime Minister Tony Abbott …
Seven members of Yemeni family killed in Saudi-led strike: residents
CAIRO/ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) – Seven members of a family were killed in an overnight strike by Saudi-led warplanes on a border village in northern Yemen, residents said, as heavy clashes erupted across the frontier after Houthi fire killed one Saudi cit…
Iraq Shi’ite militia take lead in campaign to reverse Islamic State gains
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Shi’ite paramilitaries said on Tuesday they had taken charge of the campaign to drive Islamic State from the western province of Anbar, giving the operation an openly sectarian codename that could infuriate its Sunni Muslim p…
Iran nuclear deal unlikely by June 30-French envoy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An Iran nuclear deal is not likely by June 30 because technical details will remain to defined and Iran will not get sanctions relief before the end of the year in the best of cases, western ambassadors said on Tuesday.
Amnesty International: Hamas committed war crimes against Gaza civilians
GAZA (Reuters) – Amnesty International said in a report on Wednesday that Islamist Hamas committed war crimes against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip during last year’s war with Israel.
Queen Elizabeth to unveil EU referendum plans as UK parliament opens
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth will set out the government’s plans for a European Union membership referendum on Wednesday as Prime Minister David Cameron faces pressure to explain when it will be held and what changes to the EU he wants …
