Prominent defector says North Korea has taken his father hostage
SEOUL (Reuters) – A prominent North Korean defector who has advocated U.N. action to stop the country’s human rights abuses said on Tuesday authorities have taken his father hostage in a campaign to discredit his story of survival and escape from a pri…
Suicide bomber kills 27 militiamen south of Iraqi capital
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least 27 Shi’ite militiamen outside the Iraqi town of Jurf al-Sakhar on Monday after security forces pushed Islamic State militants out of the area over the weekend, army and police sources said.
Poland says to beef up military on its eastern border
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland said on Tuesday it is drawing up a long-term plan to shift some of its military strength towards its eastern border, closer to Ukraine and Russia, in response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
Japan nuclear plant gets approval to restart, over three years after Fukushima
TOKYO (Reuters) – A town in southwest Japan became the first to approve the restart of a nuclear power station on Tuesday, a step forward in Japan’s fraught process of reviving an industry left idled by the Fukushima catastrophe in 2011.
Japan opposition DPJ takes aim at Abe govt scandals, Abenomics
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s main opposition party vowed on Tuesday to pursue Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over a string of cabinet funding scandals that have dented his popularity ratings, and attacked his signature “Abenomics” economic revival recipe as a …
China, Taiwan trade barbs over student spying report
BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) – China and Taiwan have traded barbs about spying after a report in a Chinese state-run newspaper said that Taiwanese intelligence operatives had tried to recruit Chinese students studying on the island to spy on China upon the…
In France, kebabs get wrapped up in identity politics
BLOIS France (Reuters) – In a country whose national identity is so closely connected to its cuisine, France’s hard right has seized on a growing appetite for kebabs as proof of cultural “Islamisation”.
China to tighten laws to combat illegal cults
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will tighten the law to impose harsher punishments on people participating in illegal cults, a state-run newspaper said on Tuesday, after a brutal murder earlier in the year.
Magnitude 6.1 earthquake hits near Samoa: USGS
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck near the south Pacific island nation of Samoa on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, and there were no initial reports of damage or injuries.
Top Chinese prosecutor guarantees protection for whistleblowers
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s top prosecuting body said on Tuesday that whistleblowers who expose corruption and other wrongdoing would receive legal protection against reprisals.
