French government urges lawmakers to vote welfare cuts before EU verdict
PARIS (Reuters) – The French government urged rebel Socialist lawmakers on Tuesday to back cuts made to the 2015 social security budget, a day before the European Commission’s verdict on France’s deficit-cutting plans.
China Communist Party says opposes ‘external forces’ in Hong Kong
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Communist Party said on Tuesday it aims to prevent “external forces” intervening in Hong Kong and Macau, the official Xinhua news agency reported via its microblog.
Mexico arrests four gang members in students’ disappearance
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican authorities on Monday said they had arrested four drug gang members involved in the kidnapping of dozens of student teachers who disappeared last month and are feared massacred.
Britain says agrees to order four more F-35 stealth fighter jets
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain has reached an agreement in principle to order four more of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said on Tuesday.
Israeli cult leader jailed for 30 years for sex crimes
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – An Israeli court sentenced a polygamous cult leader to 30 years’ imprisonment on Tuesday for sex crimes against his wives and daughters as part of what prosecutors described as a mind-boggling saga of dominance and delusions of dei…
India to supply Vietnam with naval vessels amid China disputes
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India will soon be supplying naval vessels to Vietnam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, the first significant military transfer to Hanoi at a time when it is embroiled in a territorial dispute with China.
Prominent defector says North Korea has taken his father hostage
SEOUL (Reuters) – A prominent North Korean defector who has advocated U.N. action to stop the country’s human rights abuses said on Tuesday authorities have taken his father hostage in a campaign to discredit his story of survival and escape from a pri…
Suicide bomber kills 27 militiamen south of Iraqi capital
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least 27 Shi’ite militiamen outside the Iraqi town of Jurf al-Sakhar on Monday after security forces pushed Islamic State militants out of the area over the weekend, army and police sources said.
Poland says to beef up military on its eastern border
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland said on Tuesday it is drawing up a long-term plan to shift some of its military strength towards its eastern border, closer to Ukraine and Russia, in response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
Japan nuclear plant gets approval to restart, over three years after Fukushima
TOKYO (Reuters) – A town in southwest Japan became the first to approve the restart of a nuclear power station on Tuesday, a step forward in Japan’s fraught process of reviving an industry left idled by the Fukushima catastrophe in 2011.
