Hungary PM revives death penalty debate, draws EU concern
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, under pressure from a eurosceptic right, said on Wednesday it wanted to raise the question of a possible reintroduction of the death penalty with its European Union partners.
Eurogroup’s Dijsselbloem says Greece will not make it without aid
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The head of the Eurogroup said on Tuesday that a recent shakeup of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ negotiating team would not by itself resolve the impasse between Greece and its creditors, and Athens would need new loans to …
Egypt sentences 69 to prison for church attack: judicial sources
CAIRO (Reuters) – Sixty-nine suspected Muslim Brotherhood supporters were each sentenced to 25 years in prison in Egypt on Wednesday for attacking and burning a church in a village near Cairo in 2013, judicial sources said.
China fires back at South China Sea claimants with reclamation accusations
BEIJING (Reuters) – After facing weeks of criticism about its reclamation work on disputed islands in the South China Sea, China on Wednesday turned the tables on Vietnam, the Philippines and others by accusing them of carrying out their own illegal bu…
Egypt’s Sisi says parliamentary election to be held before year-end: El Mundo
MADRID (Reuters) – An Egyptian parliamentary election that was due in March will be held before the end of the year, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told the Spanish newspaper El Mundo in an interview published on Wednesday.
Forest fire near Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear zone under control: Prime Minister
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian fire fighters have contained a large forest fire that threatened to spread toward the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant and radiation levels in the area are normal, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday.
Maersk says crew of container vessel seized by Iran are safe
COPENHAGEN/LONDON (Reuters) – Danish shipping company Maersk said on Wednesday the crew of the Maersk Tigris container ship were safe and “in good spirits” after Iranian authorities seized the vessel in the Strait of Hormuz the previous day.
Exclusive: Japan considering joint U.S. air patrols in South China Sea – sources
TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Japan’s military is considering joining the United States in maritime air patrols in the South China Sea in response to China’s increasingly assertive pursuit of territorial claims, a Japanese and a U.S. source familiar wit…
Saudi foreign minister is Washington insider, confidant of king
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s new foreign minister, a U.S.-educated connoisseur of Washington’s diplomatic scene and longtime adviser to the kingdom’s rulers, is an articulate spokesman for his country’s new assertive approach to the Middle East’s …
Britain issues Burundi travel warning after protests in capital
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Britain warned its citizens on Wednesday to avoid “all but essential travel” to Burundi, where protesters have taken to the streets of the capital for four straight days to protest at President Pierre Nkurunziza seeking a third term…
