Japanese reporter’s bid to save friend led to Islamic State abduction
TOKYO (Reuters) – It is an unlikely friendship that ties the fates of war correspondent Kenji Goto and troubled loner Haruna Yukawa, the two Japanese hostages for which Islamic State militants demanded a $200 million ransom this week.
Yemen leader ready to accept demands of Houthis after his guards defeated
SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi expressed readiness on Wednesday to accept demands for constitutional change and power sharing with Houthi rebels who took up positions outside his home after defeating his guards in two days o…
El Salvador police free to shoot gang members if threatened
SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – El Salvador’s vice president said on Wednesday that police should respond with force “without any fear of suffering consequences” if threatened by gang members, following the killing of seven officers in ambushes so far this ye…
Libyan rival parliament suspends U.N.-sponsored peace talks
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – A parliament set up in Libya to rival the elected assembly has suspended U.N.-sponsored peace talks because of what it called fresh violence from the country’s recognized government, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
German PEGIDA leader resigns after Hitler pose prompts investigation
BERLIN (Reuters) – The leader of the fast-growing German anti-Muslim movement PEGIDA resigned on Wednesday after a photo of him posing as Hitler, and reports that he called refugees “scumbags”, prompted prosecutors to investigate him for inciting hatre…
U.S., Cuba clash over immigration at start of historic talks
HAVANA (Reuters) – The United States and Cuba clashed over U.S. immigration policy on Wednesday at the first session of high-level talks seeking to restore diplomatic ties between the Cold War adversaries.
Russia has 9,000 troops in Ukraine, Poroshenko tells Davos forum
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused Russia on Wednesday of sending 9,000 troops to back separatist rebels in the east of his country, and the IMF chief said she backed extra financial help for Kiev as the conflic…
Impeachment verdict of ousted Thai PM could test fragile calm
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s army-stacked parliament will vote in an impeachment hearing against ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Friday, testing a fragile calm between the rural poor and the royalist establishment backed by the Bangkok m…
Teenager says he escaped North Korea and made it to Sweden, claims asylum
STOCKHOLM/SEOUL (Reuters) – A 17-year-old who says he is a street child from North Korea is seeking refugee status in Sweden, maintaining he walked across a frozen river into China and traversed two continents in cars, the trans-Siberian railway and th…
How can U.N. measure if better governance programs work?
WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Anti-corruption and governance programs sound like a good way to help countries develop, but measuring their impact on ending extreme poverty remains elusive, a new study has found.
