Pass the salt, not the politics: Catalan families split over independence
SANT CUGAT DEL VALLES Spain (Reuters) – The nine-member Vecino family are in many ways a close-knit southern European clan. They live minutes from one another, share school runs and enjoy home-cooked rice dishes.
Canada PM says raised case of detained couple with China’s Xi
BEIJING (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Sunday he had raised concerns about China’s detention of a Canadian couple near the North Korean border during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Security framework eyed as way out of Ukraine crisis
PARIS (Reuters) – Even as tension in Ukraine mounts anew, veteran diplomats are starting to think quietly about a way out of the worst East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War.
Lebanon’s Druze community fearful as Syria’s war moves closer
RASHAYA Lebanon (Reuters) – On mountains close to the Syrian border, members of Lebanon’s minority Druze sect say they are ready to defend their towns and villages with arms if the civil war next raging door gets much nearer.
Taliban suicide attack kills one at police HQ
KABUL (Reuters) – An Islamist Taliban suicide bomber attacked police headquarters in the Afghan capital on Sunday, killing at least one person and wounding six, police and the insurgents said.
Hong Kong’s post-handover leader says China won’t change mind on democracy: paper
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s first leader after its return to Chinese rule says Communist Party leaders in Beijing will not give in to students’ demands for democracy, a newspaper said on Sunday, an apparent response to their suggestion he could a…
Mysterious killings in east Congo prompt anger at U.N. and army
BENI Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – Rebecca Masika lives within a kilometre of two army bases and a U.N. peacekeepers’ camp yet assailants crept into her town under cover of darkness last month and hacked to death two dozen people before melt…
‘I’ve had enough’, says Mexico Attorney General in massacre gaffe
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – After weeks fielding questions about the abduction and apparent massacre of 43 trainee teachers by corrupt police in league with drug gang members, Mexico’s Attorney General Jesus Murillo has had enough.
Yemen kidnappers free U.N. water engineer, says world body
DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Nations said a Sierra Leonean water engineer working in Yemen on a sanitation project had been freed more than a year after being kidnapped by unidentified armed men.
Japan PM Abe considers sales tax hike delay, snap election: media
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering dissolving the lower house of parliament and calling a snap election if he decides to delay a plan to raise the sales tax next year, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
