As Fiji election nears, Western nations look to revive influence
SUVA (Reuters) – Voters in Fiji’s election this month are keen to end a dictatorship that has ruled the South Pacific island nation since a military coup in 2006, but sprucing up its human rights situation, and ties with Western neighbors, will take ti…
Britain considering arming, training Kurdish forces: PM Cameron
NEWPORT Wales (Reuters) – Britain said on Thursday it was considering arming Kurdish forces but Prime Minister David Cameron signaled he would not sanction U.K. airstrikes against Islamic State militants before a new Iraqi government is in place.
Fire from fighting in Syria hits Israeli-held Golan, Israel shoots back
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A projectile from fighting in the Syrian civil war struck the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Thursday and Israeli forces responded by attacking a Syrian army position, the military said.
Thai cabinet meets king; doubt grows over power handover schedule
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s new military-stacked cabinet met King Bhumibol Adulyadej in Bangkok on Thursday, marking the formal start of an administration that will spend at least a year overhauling the political system before calling an election.
Taliban detonate truck bombs in central Afghanistan, 18 killed
GHAZNI Afghanistan (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents detonated truck bombs and fired rocket-propelled grenades outside the office of Afghanistan’s spy agency and a police compound in the central town of Ghazni on Thursday, killing 18 people, the provincia…
NATO chief, at summit, says Russia attacking Ukraine
NEWPORT Wales (Reuters) – NATO’s top official accused Moscow outright on Thursday of attacking Ukraine as allied leaders gathered for a summit to buttress support for Kiev and bolster defenses against a Russia they now see as hostile for the first time…
Afghan forces hunt militant leader once welcomed under peace process
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan security forces are hunting a senior Islamist militant allowed to settle in the country in 2011 under a government peace plan but who is now leading hundreds of insurgents seeking to overrun the northern province of Kunduz, off…
Putin unveils Ukraine ceasefire plan, France halts warship
KIEV/ULAN BATOR (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin outlined plans for a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday but Ukraine’s prime minister dismissed the proposal, while France expressed its disapproval of Moscow’s support for separatist forces by…
Putin plays cat and mouse with Russian online critics
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Before the Internet, Anton Nossik remembers painstakingly copying out Soviet dissident Joseph Brodsky’s forbidden writings on a clattering typewriter for samizdat publications.
Japan’s First Lady speaks out on sales tax, nuclear power
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese First Lady Akie Abe – often called the “household opposition” for her penchant to speak out – said on Thursday the country should consider cutting wasteful spending and boosting the economy before going ahead with a rise in t…
