China orders further crackdown on domestic media
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has ordered a further crackdown on its domestic media, telling news organizations to sack illegally recruited employees and close local offices if they have too many of them, state news agency Xinhua reported.
Honduras, Guatemala establish joint anti-drug force
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduras and Guatemala said on Wednesday they will set up a joint military force to battle drug trafficking on their shared border, where Mexico’s powerful drug cartels have driven a surge in violence.
U.S. military monitoring Islamic State training in Libya: general
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military is closely monitoring a nascent effort by Islamic State, the militant group that has overrun parts of Syria and Iraq, to train a couple of hundred fighters in eastern Libya, the commander of U.S. forces in Afric…
Colombia, Marxist FARC rebels to restart peace talks this month
HAVANA (Reuters) – The Colombian government and leftist rebels will renew peace talks this month, reviving efforts to end five decades of war, officials said on Wednesday.
Ambitious and impatient, Afghan leader eyes aid, peace, reform
KABUL (Reuters) – New Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has set about overhauling a dysfunctional administration and containing a growing insurgency with plenty of energy, and some would say impatience, in marked contrast to his predecessor.
Brazil targets Petrobras contractors as corruption probe expands
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s comptroller general opened cases on Wednesday against eight engineering conglomerates suspected of bribery and fraud in deals with Petrobras, holding them accountable for their role in a widening corruption scandal at the…
Putin under pressure to show he can cure Russia’s economic ills
MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin is under pressure to show he has a prescription to cure Russia’s rapidly growing economic ills in his annual state of the union address on Thursday.
Lebanon says detained woman was Baghdadi wife for three months
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s interior minister said on Wednesday that a women detained by security forces was the wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi for three months, the first Lebanese government official to speak publicly on the arrest…
Maritime guns for hire adapt to changes in sea piracy
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Cash-strapped maritime security firms are being forced to use fewer costly elite guards and to diversify into other businesses such as cyber security, as a steep decline in Somali pirate attacks and hotter competition erode fast-thinning margins. 
Obama says poor economic situation may change Putin ways
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he doubted Russian President Vladimir Putin will change course until politics catch up with the rough economic situation in Russia.
