Teenager says he escaped North Korea and made it to Sweden, claims asylum
STOCKHOLM/SEOUL (Reuters) – A 17-year-old who says he is a street child from North Korea is seeking refugee status in Sweden, maintaining he walked across a frozen river into China and traversed two continents in cars, the trans-Siberian railway and th…
How can U.N. measure if better governance programs work?
WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Anti-corruption and governance programs sound like a good way to help countries develop, but measuring their impact on ending extreme poverty remains elusive, a new study has found.
Chile to reopen investigation into poet Neruda’s death
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile will reopen an investigation into the death of Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda to determine if the poet was poisoned more than 40 years ago by a military dictatorship, after tests on his exhumed body in 2013 found no evidence to …
U.S., Iran to hold nuclear talks in Switzerland on Friday, Saturday
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and Iranian negotiators will hold talks about Iran’s nuclear program in Switzerland on Friday and Saturday, the U.S. State Department said.
Yemen leader expected to accept demands of Houthis who defeat his guards
SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was expected to yield to demands on Wednesday for constitutional change and power sharing with Houthi rebels who took up positions outside his home after defeating his guards in two days of bat…
Indonesia will not make public full preliminary AirAsia crash report
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian investigators may release some initial findings next week into last month’s crash of an AirAsia passenger jet that killed 162 people, but the full preliminary report will not be made public, a government official said on …
Church backs Congo protesters, rights group says 42 killed
KINSHASA (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo’s powerful Catholic church on Wednesday backed ongoing protests against reforms that could extend President Joseph Kabila’s rule, denouncing a government crackdown which a rights group said had killed 4…
Bin Laden’s ex-secretary loses appeal of life sentence
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Osama bin Laden’s former personal secretary lost a bid to throw out his life sentence for conspiring to bomb U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, which killed 224 people and injured thousands.
Argentina says dead prosecutor tricked into accusing Fernandez
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – A prosecutor who accused Argentina’s president of trying to derail the investigation into a 1994 bombing, and who died in mysterious circumstances on Sunday, was misled to believe there was a conspiracy to whitewash the crime, …
Graft slows Cameroon, Malaysia fight against illegal logging: thinktank
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Cameroon and Malaysia have failed to make progress in tackling illegal logging since 2010, due to corruption and a lack of transparency and political will, a report by a British thinktank said on Wednesday.
