Vote of no-confidence in Swedish PM fails
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A vote of no-confidence in Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven failed as widely expected on Tuesday, bolstering his minority government and boosting the chance he will be able to push through a budget in spring.
Turks, Kurds push for peace breakthrough despite new surge in violence
ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – A spate of killings, a looming general election and war next door in Syria are complicating efforts to end the 30-year Kurdish insurgency in Turkey just as a breakthrough in peace talks looks close.
Most governments conceal data despite G20 pledges, study says
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Myanmar, Haiti and Mali were ranked the least open and transparent countries in a global index of government data released on Tuesday, which found that most governments do not make official data openly available to…
Greece to extradite Algerian man linked to attack in Belgium
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece will swiftly extradite a 33-year-old Algerian man who may be linked to a foiled Islamist militant plot to attack police in Belgium, court officials said on Tuesday, after Brussels issued an arrest warrant.
Indonesia proposes changes to aviation rules after AirAsia crash
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s transport minister proposed a number of changes to improve aviation safety standards at a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, just over three weeks after an AirAsia passenger jet crashed killing all 162 people on board.
France must tackle ‘social and ethnic apartheid’: PM
PARIS (Reuters) – Deadly shootings by homegrown Islamists have cast a light on France’s “geographical, social and ethnic apartheid”, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Tuesday in one of the starkest indictments of French society by a government figure…
Human Rights Watch cites police abuse of migrants in French port
PARIS (Reuters) – African migrants camped in the northern French port of Calais in hopes of eventually reaching Britain are subject to police beatings and harassment, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.
China denies hundreds of Chinese nationals trapped in Myanmar
YANGON (Reuters) – More than 100 Chinese citizens trapped by fighting between government troops and insurgents in northern Myanmar, have been arrested and are being held by the Myanmar government, a Chinese embassy spokesman in Yangon said on Tuesday.
UK minister says deplores Saudi activist’s flogging, plans to raise matter
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain deplores the flogging of a blogger in Saudi Arabia and will raise concerns about the case with the country’s deputy foreign minister this week, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Tuesday.
Sri Lanka prime minister vows democracy after authoritarian past
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Tuesday said the new government will restore democratic checks and balances after a decade of increasingly authoritarian rule under former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
