Sri Lanka president seeks third term, critics want powers curbed
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Thursday he would seek an unprecedented third term as president, prompting one of his lawmakers to join the opposition with a call to curb the presidency’s “draconian powers”.
Ukraine peace outlook is bleak: OSCE official
VIENNA (Reuters) – Prospects for peace in eastern Ukraine are “bleak”, underscoring the need to uphold a shaky ceasefire between government forces and pro-Russian separatist rebels, a senior official from the OSCE security watchdog said on Thursday
U.S. Navy supply ships collide in Indian Ocean, minor damage
RIYADH (Reuters) – Two U.S. Navy supply ships collided in the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean early on Thursday, but no crew members were injured and initial reports suggested the vessels suffered only minor damage, the force said in a statement.
Israel to cooperate with U.N. Gaza war inquiry
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel said on Thursday it would cooperate with a United Nations investigation into Israeli attacks on U.N. facilities during last summer’s Gaza war and the use of U.N. sites by Palestinian militants to store weapons.
Egypt arrests Brotherhood leader as crackdown intensifies
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian police on Thursday arrested Mohamed Ali Bishr, one of the few Muslim Brotherhood leaders to escape jail after last year’s overthrow of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, in the latest sign of a crackdown on political dissent.
Anti-EU party set to win second UK parliament seat in blow to Cameron
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservatives risk losing a second British parliamentary seat to the anti-EU UKIP party on Thursday, foreshadowing a possible political upheaval in next year’s national election.
Israeli mayor imposes partial ban on Arab workers
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli mayor has imposed a partial ban on employing Arab workers in his city in a sign of mounting security concerns after a surge in deadly Palestinian attacks.
Three Thais detained for handing out tickets to Hunger Games
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Three Thai university students were taken into police custody on Thursday for handing out free tickets to the latest film in the Hunger Games series, from which Thai protesters have borrowed a gesture of resistance to a totalitarian…
Hungary’s Orban: we’ll choose our own path in ties with Russia
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, seen by some in Brussels and Washington as cozying up to the Kremlin, said his country would not be forced to pick one side or another in a Cold War-style standoff in Europe.
U.S. war planes strike Qaeda militants in Syrian border town: group
AMMAN (Reuters) – U.S. air strikes on a Syrian border town with Turkey killed at least two militants from Nusra Front, in the fourth such attack against the al Qaeda affiliate group since September, a monitoring group and Syrian activists said on Thurs…
