In Afghanistan’s deadliest year, battles, not bombs, top killer of civilians
KABUL (Reuters) – Battles between the Taliban and government forces were responsible for the most Afghan civilian casualties in 2014, the war’s deadliest year, surpassing roadside bombs as the leading killer for the first time, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
Australia ratchets up pressure on Indonesia over executions
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Indonesia owes it to Australia not to execute two Australian drug offenders on death row, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday, ratcheting up a diplomatic war of words that is threatening to sour relations between the neighbo…
Haiti cancels last day of Carnival after 16 die in float accident
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – At least 16 people were killed and 78 injured early on Tuesday when a singer on a Carnival float hit an overhead power line in Port-au-Prince, setting off a stampede by bystanders, officials said.
U.S., Turkey soon to sign Syrian opposition train-and-equip deal
ANKARA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and Turkey have reached a tentative agreement to train and equip moderate Syrian opposition fighters and expect to sign the pact soon, U.S. and Turkish officials said on Tuesday with Ankara predicting a s…
Putin tells Kiev to let troops surrender as Ukraine ceasefire unravels
NIKISHINE, Ukraine/BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin told Kiev to let its soldiers surrender to pro-Russian rebels, who spurned a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and fought their way on Tuesday into the town of Debaltseve, encircling t…
Australia ratchets up pressure on Indonesia over executions
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Indonesia owes it to Australia not to execute two Australian drug offenders on death row, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday, ratcheting up a diplomatic war of words that is threatening to sour relations between the neighbo…
‘Commie-loving Mainlanders’ targeted at Hong Kong’s top university
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A campus election at a top Hong Kong university degenerated into an acrimonious campaign against mainland Chinese candidates, highlighting simmering tensions two months after pro-democracy protests led by local students paralysed …
Awash in opium, Afghan ‘wild west’ slips from Kabul’s grasp
FARAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) – In fields less than a 10-minute drive from the intelligence headquarters of Afghanistan’s remote western province of Farah, farmers are planting their first illegal opium crop of the year.
Warplane strikes at western Libyan town Zintan: official
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – A war plane carried out air strikes on a western Libyan town allied with the internationally recognized government on Tuesday, in what officials charged was an attack by the rival government controlling Tripoli.
Explosions, gunfire at south Nigeria rally kill policeman
LAGOS (Reuters) – Explosions hit an opposition political rally in southern Nigeria on Tuesday and Islamist insurgents struck in the north, with unrest spreading after a presidential election was postponed.
