Venezuela’s Maduro slams Spain’s Rajoy over jailed opponent
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro lambasted Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Friday and ordered a revision of bilateral ties over his call for an opponent of Maduro to be released from jail.
Rwanda suspends BBC’s local radio service over genocide documentary
KIGALI (Reuters) – Rwanda has suspended the BBC’s local radio service after the broadcaster aired a documentary that questioned official accounts of the 1994 genocide, the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority said on Friday.
In eastern Ukraine, parliamentary election deepens divide
NOVOTROITSKE Ukraine (Reuters) – Standing at the village polling station where she will oversee Ukraine’s parliamentary election on Sunday, Irina Sobko points across a field of wilted sunflowers to a town controlled by Russian-backed rebels where she s…
No U.S. troop cuts without credible North Korea nuclear deal, says Kerry
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It is too premature to talk about reducing American forces in the Korean Peninsula without “authentic and credible” negotiations with Pyongyang about ending its nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday.
U.S. judge gives ex-Colombian rebel 27 years prison for taking hostages
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. judge sentenced a former member of a Colombian rebel group to 27 years in prison on Friday for his role in keeping three Americans hostage in the Colombian jungle in the mid-2000s.
International financial watchdog warns on Iran, North Korea
PARIS (Reuters) – An international financial watchdog said on Friday member states should take action to ward off risks emanating from Iran and North Korea, which it said had failed to tackle money-laundering and financing of terrorism.
French court approves Kazakh tycoon Ablyazov’s extradition to Russia
LYON France (Reuters) – A French appeals court approved on Friday the extradition from France to Russia or Ukraine of jailed Kazakh tycoon Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling up to $6 billion from his former bank BTA.
Suspicious powder sent to western consulates in Istanbul: officials
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Packets of an unidentified yellow powder were sent to five western consulates in Istanbul on Friday, officials said, prompting security alerts following two militant attacks in Canada this week.
U.S. diplomat criticizes PM Orban’s Russia policies
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary should back European Union sanctions against Russia and not talk about granting autonomy for ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine at this time of instability, an American diplomat said in Budapest on Friday.
Putin accuses United States of damaging world order
LAURA Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Friday of endangering global security by imposing a “unilateral diktat” on the rest of the world and shifted blame for the Ukraine crisis onto the West.