Leaders hold Ukraine peace talks as fighting surges
MINSK (Reuters) – The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine held peace talks in Belarus on Wednesday, while in Ukraine pro-Moscow separatists tightened the pressure on Kiev by launching some of the war’s worst fighting.
Euro zone, Greece fail to agree way forward following meeting
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministers were unable to agree with Greece a final statement or a way to continue talks until their next meeting on Monday, following hours of discussions in Brussels to extend an international bailout.
Canada ‘inclined’ to extend mandate of forces in Iraq: minister
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada is inclined to extend the six-month mandate of its military mission in Iraq, which comprises special forces on the ground as well as fighter bombers, Defence Minister Jason Kenney said on Wednesday.
Greek finance minister enters euro zone lion’s den
ATHENS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis began tense talks with euro zone finance ministers on Wednesday after his new leftist-led government won a parliamentary confidence vote for its refusal to extend an international bail…
Sri Lanka says seeking delay in U.N. war-crimes report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said on Wednesday his country was seeking a delay of several months in the release of a U.N. report on alleged war crimes during his country’s civil war until the government had tim…
Costa Concordia captain sentenced to 16 years for 2012 shipwreck
GROSSETO, Italy (Reuters) – The former captain of the Costa Concordia cruise liner was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in the 2012 shipwreck, which killed 32 people off the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio.
Colombia’s ELN rebels free Dutch citizen
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s Marxist ELN rebels have freed a Dutch citizen kidnapped in January, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday after facilitating his liberation.
Thousands protest against Houthi rule in Yemen after embassies close
SANAA (Reuters) – Yemenis in the capital Sanaa and the central city of Taiz held the largest protests yet against a takeover by a Shi’ite Muslim militia group on Wednesday after the United States, Britain and France shut their embassies over security f…
Obama administration weighs Afghan request to slow withdrawal of U.S. troops
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama is considering a request from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to slow the pace of the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.
Afghan Taliban now smuggle drugs and gems like mafia: U.N. report
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s Taliban Islamist movement is increasingly financed by criminal enterprises including heroin laboratories, illegal ruby and emerald mines and kidnapping, making negotiated peace harder, according to a report for the U.N. …
