Russian lawmakers propose cutting foreign ownership in media
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian lawmakers proposed cutting foreign ownership in Russian media assets to 20 percent in an attempt to limit outside influences and protect Russia’s “information sovereignty”, a copy of a draft law showed on Wednesday.
Xi sees factory China and back office India as global engine
AHMEDABAD India (Reuters) – The “world’s factory” and the “world’s back office” could together drive global economic growth, Chinese President Xi Jinping said as he began a rare visit to India on Wednesday, playing down mistrust that has long kept the …
France drops case against Iranian dissidents after 11-year probe
PARIS (Reuters) – Prosecuting judges in Paris on Wednesday dropped all charges of money laundering and fraud against nine people close to an exiled Iranian opposition group more than 10 years after they were arrested on terrorism charges.
France’s Hollande heads for showdown over job deregulation drive
PARIS (Reuters) – Thousands of French “notaires” held what they said were their first-ever street protests in Paris and Marseille on Wednesday to challenge plans by President Francois Hollande to deregulate their activities.
U.N. torture inspectors say barred from Azerbaijan jails
GENEVA (Reuters) – A United Nations human rights team looking into complaints of torture in Azerbaijan said on Wednesday it had cut short its investigations because it had been stopped from visiting some government detention centres.
Nigeria says 70 dead in building collapse, queries South Africa Zuma’s comments
LAGOS (Reuters) – Seventy bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a collapsed church building in Lagos but remain unidentified, a Nigerian official said on Wednesday, questioning South Africa’s assertion that 67 of the victims had come from there…
Exclusive: Syria reveals more chemical weapons facilities to watchdog – sources
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Syria has revealed a previously undeclared research and development facility and a laboratory to produce the poison ricin to the global chemical weapons watchdog, diplomatic sources told Reuters.
Eyeing ‘fatal blow’ against IS, Britain lays ground to join U.S. air strikes
LONDON (Reuters) – The British government is preparing the ground to join the United States in launching air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, but is moving cautiously to ensure it avoids a parliamentary defeat and acts as part of a regional coali…
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…
