Cyclone on course to smash into Australian coast a second time
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Three days after making landfall, Cyclone Nathan continued to threaten Australian coastal communities, with 400 residents of a remote northern island on Monday ordered to evacuate after meteorologists warned the storm was intensifyin…
Slum kids confront sexism as India grapples with abuse of women
MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Standing before a classroom packed with teenagers, Yojana Salunke begins her weekly one-hour lesson on a subject which many experts say is crucial to helping India address one of its biggest challenges – gender ine…
Uprooted by violence, Afghan women held like prisoners in camps: report
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Afghan women and girls uprooted by violence and living in camps in major cities are most vulnerable to abuse by male family members, who treat them like prisoners and sell them “like animals” into marriage, aid age…
Modern Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, dies at 91
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, died on Monday aged 91, triggering a flood of tributes to the man who oversaw the tiny city-state’s rapid rise from a British colonial backwater to a global trade and financial cente…
Spain’s Andalusia vote sets stage for national upheaval
SEVILLE, Spain (Reuters) – Leftist newcomer Podemos made spectacular inroads in elections in the Spanish region of Andalusia on Sunday, with the vote splitting over the political spectrum in a foretaste of the upheaval likely in national elections befo…
Sarkozy denies far-right Le Pen victory in French polls
PARIS (Reuters) – Former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party and their allies won the first round of French local elections on Sunday, denying Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front (FN) first place.
Sierra Leone opposition calls for civil disobedience over VP sacking
FREETOWN (Reuters) – Sierra Leone’s main opposition party has called for an indefinite campaign of civil disobedience if the country’s sacked vice president is not reinstated within a week, a party leader said on Sunday.
Syrian Islamist merger in northwest counters al Qaeda’s clout
AMMAN (Reuters) – The powerful Syrian Islamist insurgent group Ahrar al-Sham has merged with a smaller jihadist faction in a move that could thwart the growing influence of al Qaeda’s offshoot in northwestern Syria, jihadists sources said.
Houthis seize strategic Yemeni city, escalating power struggle
ADEN (Reuters) – Houthi fighters opposed to Yemen’s president took over the central city of Taiz in an escalation of a power struggle diplomats say risks drawing in neighboring oil giant Saudi Arabia and its main regional rival Iran.
Japan firms to be a surprise no-show at Australian submarine event
TOKYO (Reuters) – Two Japanese firms that until recently were the frontrunners to win a multi-billion dollar contract to build Australia’s new submarines have rebuffed an invitation to attend a gathering of top Australian naval officials and politician…
