Kazakh MPs ask President Nazarbayev to extend his rule in early polls
ASTANA (Reuters) – Kazakhstan’s parliament asked President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Wednesday to set the date for an early election which is likely to extend his rule over the oil producing nation into a fourth decade.
Fists fly as Turkish MPs debate bill on violent demonstrations: media
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish parliamentarians threw punches and two were taken to hospital late on Tuesday after a debate over a bill aimed at cracking down on violent demonstrations descended into a brawl, local media reported.
Japanese man arrested for sending boy to help Fukushima clean-up
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese police arrested a businessman on Wednesday for sending a 15-year-old boy to help clean up radioactive waste outside the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant.
Poland will comply with ruling in CIA prisons case: minister
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland will comply with a European Court of Human Rights ruling that the country had hosted a secret CIA jail, foreign minister Grzegorz Schetyna said on Wednesday.
Dozens of Christian tombs damaged in northern France: minister
PARIS (Reuters) – Dozens of tombs at a Christian cemetery in northeastern France were damaged late on Tuesday, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said, days after the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in the east.
India’s Modi wants more technology transfer from global defense firms
BENGALURU, INDIA (Reuters) – India’s prime minister has asked global defense contractors to transfer more technology to the country as part of the lucrative deals that they win to modernize its armed forces.
Syria willing to suspend Aleppo air strikes for six weeks: U.N.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The Syrian government is willing to suspend its aerial bombardment and artillery shelling of the northern city of Aleppo so that a local ceasefire can be tested, the United Nations mediator on Syria said on Tuesday.
Australia ratchets up pressure on Indonesia over executions
JAKARTA/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Indonesia owes it to Australia not to execute two Australian drug offenders on death row, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday, ratcheting up a diplomatic war of words that is threatening to sour relations between the…
Muslim rebels hand over some police weapons in Philippine south
MANILA (Reuters) – The largest Muslim rebel group in the Philippines handed in 16 assault rifles taken from police commandos killed in a January firefight that has jeopardized milestone peace talks, in what the group said on Wednesday was a show of goo…
In Afghanistan’s deadliest year, battles, not bombs, top killer of civilians
KABUL (Reuters) – Battles between the Taliban and government forces were responsible for the most Afghan civilian casualties in 2014, the war’s deadliest year, surpassing roadside bombs as the leading killer for the first time, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
