Militias destroy Iraqi villages, displace thousands: rights group
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Iraqi Shi’ite militias unleashed a campaign of “deliberate and wanton destruction” as they rampaged through dozens of villages last year after driving Islamic State fighters out of the northern town of Amerli, righ…
Russia says Chinese, North Korean leaders to attend WWII anniversary in Moscow
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will attend celebrations in Moscow to commemorate the end of World War Two.
China paper details ‘repentance letters’ of corrupt officials
BEIJING (Reuters) – An official Chinese newspaper provided unusual details on Wednesday of the “repentance letters” officials sometimes write after being accused of corruption, shining a light on the murky process the government employs to fight a deep…
U.S., eyeing Iranian arms in Iraq, warns on sectarian tensions
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is concerned about how heavy Iranian weaponry might be used inside Iraq, including as Iran-backed militia help the offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Tikrit from Islamic State militants, a U.S. official said …
Brazil’s opposition calls for Rousseff probe in Petrobras scandal
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s main opposition party said on Tuesday it would call on the Supreme Court to investigate President Dilma Rousseff’s involvement in a corruption scheme at state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA.
Death toll climbed sharply in major 2014 conflicts – study
LONDON (Reuters) – The death toll in the world’s most brutal conflicts climbed by more than 28 percent last year from 2013 with bloodshed in Syria worse than all others for the second year running, according to a study released on Wednesday.
Netanyahu claims victory in Israel election after hard right shift
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory in Israel’s election after exit polls showed he had erased his center-left rivals’ lead with a hard rightward shift in which he abandoned a commitment to negotiate a Palestinian st…
Food concerns mount in Vanuatu after monster cyclone
PORT VILA (Reuters) – International aid agencies ramped up appeals for cyclone-hit Vanuatu on Wednesday, warning that the powerful storm which affected more than two-thirds of the South Pacific island nation had wiped out crops and destroyed fishing fl…
Putin, Erdogan discuss ‘Turkish Stream’ gas project: Kremlin
MOSCOW/ANKARA (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed the “Turkish Stream” gas project during a phone call, the Kremlin said in a statement on Tuesday, as Moscow continues to push for its new undersea…
U.S. loses drone over Syria, which claims to have brought it down
BEIRUT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States lost contact with an unarmed Predator drone over Syria on Tuesday, U.S. officials said, stopping short of confirming the plane was taken down by Syrian air defenses, as reported by Syrian state media.
