Indonesia’s president faces pressure over police chief nominee suspected of graft
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s new president, Joko Widodo, faced mounting pressure on Friday to replace his sole pick for national police chief after the anti-graft agency declared the nominee a corruption suspect.
Ousted Thai PM a no-show at second round of impeachment hearings
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Former Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra failed to appear at her second impeachment hearing on Friday, sending ministers involved in a controversial rice subsidy program to answer questions from parliamentarians critical of he…
Indonesia to execute drug convicts, first under new president
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian authorities plan to execute six prisoners on Sunday convicted of drug offences, including five foreigners, the government said, the first time capital punishment will be carried out under new President Joko Widodo.
Cameroon says Chad to send large military contingent to fight Boko Haram
DAKAR (Reuters) – Chad will send a large number of troops to neighboring Cameroon to help it fight increasing incursions from Boko Haram Islamist militants attacking from Nigeria, the Central African nation’s president said on Thursday.
Chinese police net over 60,000 people in vast drug sweep: Xinhua
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Police in China have arrested 60,500 people for drug-related crimes and seized 11.14 metric tons of narcotics in a vast, multi-city sweep, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Afghan leader seeks to sideline powerful bloc in break with past
KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan cabinet, finalised this week after months of haggling, leaves a powerful faction that helped oust the Taliban in 2001 significantly weakened, in a bold but risky break from the past by President Ashraf Ghani.
Kerry says may meet Iran’s Zarif again this week
SOFIA (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he may meet Iran’s foreign minister again this week to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program following their roughly six hours of talks on Wednesday.
Hezbollah says arrested operative confessed to spying for Israel
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah has detained one of its own operatives who has confessed to spying for Israel, its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged for the first time on Thursday, in a case that has shattered the group’s …
Belgian police kill two in raid on suspected Islamists
VERVIERS, Belgium (Reuters) – Belgian police killed two men who opened fire on them during one of about a dozen raids on Thursday against an Islamist group that federal prosecutors said was about to launch “terrorist attacks on a grand scale”.
Hollande reassures Muslims, Islamists hack French websites
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Francois Hollande reassured Muslims on Thursday that his country respected them and their religion but said France would not compromise on its commitment to freedom and democracy.
