South Pacific’s Vanuatu provides lessons in cyclone survival
PORT VILA/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Villagers in Vanuatu buried food and fresh water as one of the strongest storms on record bore down on them, fleeing to churches, schools and even coconut drying kilns as 300 kph winds and massive seas tore their flimsy hou…
Putin to meet top aide to Chinese president in Moscow
MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin will meet a close aide to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, the Kremlin said, underlining Russia’s increased effort to establish closer ties with Beijing as its relations with the West have deteriorat…
China appoints new ambassador to North Korea
BEIJING (Reuters) – The Chinese government has appointed a new ambassador to North Korea, an important and sensitive diplomatic post at the center of efforts to get the reclusive country to end its nuclear weapons ambitions.
Greek PM demands EU stop ‘unilateral actions’ as tensions flare
ATHENS/BERLIN (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras lambasted European partners on Wednesday for criticizing a new anti-poverty law hours before it was voted on, saying it was the euro zone rather than Athens that must stop “unilateral action…
Exclusive: U.S. likely to delay planned closure of two Afghanistan bases
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military bases in Kandahar and Jalalabad are likely to remain open beyond the end of 2015, a senior U.S. official said, as Washington considers slowing its military pull-out from Afghanistan to help the new government fi…
Ukraine peace plan creaks amid fresh Russian-Ukrainian dispute
KIEV (Reuters) – A peace plan to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine came under renewed strain on Wednesday, with Ukraine and Russia clashing publicly over the next steps and further Ukrainian military casualties from rebel attacks testing a fragile ce…
Gunmen storm Tunisian museum, kill 17 foreign tourists
TUNIS (Reuters) – Gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed Tunisia’s national museum on Wednesday, killing 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians in one of the worst militant attacks in a country that had largely escaped the region’s “Arab Spring” turmo…
Hard-right shift delivers upset election win for Netanyahu
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Wednesday to form a new governing coalition quickly after an upset election victory that was built on a shift to the right and drew an immediate rebuke from the White House.
Biden, Ukraine’s Poroshenko agree Russia sanctions must be tied to Minsk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed in a telephone call on Wednesday that sanctions against Russia must be tied to the full implementation of the Minsk peace plan, the White House said.
Violence against women rises in Ebola-hit nations: ministers
UNITED NATIONS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The Ebola epidemic in West Africa exacerbated violence against women and rolled back access to reproductive healthcare in the region, ministers from Guinea and Liberia said on Wednesday.
