Nigeria president warns against bloodshed ahead of Saturday poll
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan warned against violence ahead of Saturday’s presidential election as people stockpiled food, cash and fuel for fear of post-election clashes.
Nigerians uprooted by Boko Haram angry at losing chance to vote
DAKAR/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When Islamist Boko Haram militants beheaded Salma Buba’s father in northern Nigeria last weekend, Buba was overcome by anger at what she saw as the government’s failure to protect her family.
Islamist fighters kill seven in Somali hotel, troops regaining control
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Islamist militants blasted their way into a popular hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least seven people and trapping government officials inside, police and witnesses said.
Israel says it will release frozen tax revenue to Palestinians
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel said on Friday it would release millions of dollars of tax income to the Palestinian Authority, three months after freezing the payments in protest at unilateral Palestinian moves towards statehood.
France to begin push for U.N. Middle East action in ‘coming weeks’
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – France plans to start discussions with partners in the “coming weeks” on a United Nations Security Council resolution to lay out parameters for ending the Middle East conflict, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on F…
Somali special forces enter hotel compound, battle militants
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somali special forces broke through the compound wall of a hotel seized by militants in the capital Mogadishu on Friday and exchanged fire with fighters inside the building, police said.
Romania PM picks EU funds minister as new finance minister
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s leftist prime minister, Victor Ponta, said on Friday he had appointed the government’s EU funds minister, Eugen Teodorovici, as the new finance minister.
Six children wounded when old bomb explodes in Lebanon
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Six children were wounded in a blast in southern Lebanon on Friday in what witnesses said appeared to be an explosion caused by old cluster bomb munitions dropped by Israeli forces during the 2006 war.
Ukraine arrests Turkish cargo ship over Crimea port call
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian authorities have arrested a Turkish-owned cargo ship and detained its captain over a visit it made to a port in Crimea after Russian annexed the peninsula from Ukraine last year.
After Lee, no sign of welcome home for Singapore’s dissidents
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Some dissidents and opponents of Lee Kuan Yew believe that, with the death of modern Singapore’s iron-handed founding father this week, the political restrictions he imposed in the name of security will begin to ease.
