Putin’s high approval ratings not real: protest group
LONDON (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin may not be as popular as opinion polls suggest in Russia because the public has only limited access to information and the media is tightly controlled, members of the feminist punk protest band Pussy Riot sai…
Islamic State targeted in 30 air strikes by U.S., allies
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and its allies have staged 30 air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq since Wednesday, the U.S. Central Command said on Friday.
Romanian prosecutors probe their own crime unit chief
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romanian prosecutors obtained permission on Friday to detain their own organized crime unit chief pending a criminal investigation, the latest in a series of high-profile corruption cases in the eastern European state.
EU agrees law to curb plastic bag use
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU governments unanimously approved a new law to slash the use of plastic grocery bags on Friday, hoping to curb litter on land and a spreading “plastic soup” in the world’s oceans.
Sri Lankan minister quits, to challenge Rajapaksa for presidency
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lankan Health Minister Mithripala Sirisena resigned on Friday and said he would run as an opposition candidate against President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a snap election in January.
In Mali’s desert French troops hunt al Qaeda well by well
NORTH OF TIMBUKTU Mali (Reuters) – If the French army and its allies are to keep al Qaeda at bay in the desert of northern Mali they must stop them seizing the biggest prizes in the sea of white sand – the wells.
Islamic State attacks Iraq provincial capital: officials
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Islamic State fighters attacked a government complex in the heart of an Iraqi provincial capital on Friday, local officials said, in an apparently coordinated effort to seize full control of the city.
In blow to PM Cameron, Britain’s anti-EU UKIP party wins second parliamentary seat
ROCHESTER/LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives lost a second parliamentary seat to the anti-EU UKIP party on Friday, an embarrassing defeat heralding a possible fragmentation of Britain’s two-party system in next year’s natio…
Japan PM seeks verdict on ‘Abenomics’ in snap election
TOKYO (Reuters) – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved parliament’s lower house on Friday for a snap election on Dec. 14, seeking a fresh mandate for his struggling “Abenomics” revival strategy just two years after he returned to power promising that “J…
Merkel aide raps Russia after report on aid to Ukraine rebels
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman accused Moscow on Friday of actively stoking the conflict in eastern Ukraine after a senior separatist in the region was quoted as saying the rebels were receiving “a lot” of Russian money….
