Russia, Egypt seal preliminary arms deal worth $3.5 billion: agency
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia and Egypt have reached a preliminary deal for Cairo to buy arms worth $3.5 billion from Moscow, Interfax news agency quoted the head of a Russian state arms agency as saying on Wednesday.
French welfare fraud costs 20-25 billion euros per year – report
PARIS (Reuters) – Fraud in France’s indebted welfare system costs the country between 20-25 billion euros ($26-32 billion) per year and only a tiny fraction of that amount is ever recovered, an estimate by the French national auditor showed on Wednesda…
Bissau president picks close confidant as army chief
BISSAU (Reuters) – Guinea-Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz has appointed a close confidant and head of the presidential guard as army chief to replace Antonio Indjai who was dismissed early this week, a statement said Wednesday.
As migrants flee eastern Cuba, a town mourns those lost at sea
MANZANILLO Cuba (Reuters) – Eighteen-year-old Miguel Lopez Maldonado boarded a homemade boat last month with 31 others, leaving behind this sleepy fishing town on Cuba’s southeast coast to seek a new life in the United States.
Death toll from Nigeria church building collapse at 70: emergency services
LAGOS (Reuters) – A total of 70 bodies have been pulled from the rubble of a building that collapsed in Lagos last week, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said at the site of the disaster on Wednesday.
Cyprus leaders agree to ratchet up slow moving peace talks: U.N.
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Rival leaders of ethnically-split Cyprus agreed on Wednesday to try to speed up the pace of slow-moving peace talks to resolve outstanding issues in the decades-old conflict, a U.N. official said.
China Muslim scholar rejects ‘separatism’ evidence as widely criticized trial opens
BEIJING (Reuters) – A prominent Uighur academic charged with separatism rejected evidence presented by Chinese prosecutors on Wednesday on the first day of a trial that has drawn criticism from international judicial and human rights activists.
Tunisian forces and militants clash near border, two killed
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian police killed two Islamist militants in clashes near the Algerian border, the interior and defense ministries said on Wednesday, after Tunis raised the security alert level before elections next month.
Clashes in Yemen capital suburb kill at least 20: sources
SANAA (Reuters) – At least 20 people were killed when Shi’ite Muslim rebels clashed with army soldiers and allied tribesmen in an outer suburb of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, tribal and medical sources said on Wednesday.
New al Qaeda wing in South Asia claims major attack
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s South Asia wing has claimed responsibility for hijacking a Pakistani naval ship and trying to use it to fire rockets at U.S. vessels in the Arabian Sea, in the first major assault by the newly created group.
