EU to launch mission to help Italy cope with boat migrants
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission said on Wednesday it would launch an EU version of Italy’s sea rescue operation to help it deal with the droves of migrants crossing the Mediterranean in crowded boats from North Africa, something Italy has …
Islamic State commits war crimes, Syrian govt using poison gas: U.N.
GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations accused Islamic State insurgents on Wednesday of committing war crimes including amputations and public executions, sometimes in the presence of children, and said it believed Damascus had used chlorine gas in comb…
Iran says tested new nuclear enrichment machine, may irk West
DUBAI/VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran has conducted “mechanical” tests on a new, advanced machine to refine uranium, a senior official was quoted as saying on Wednesday, a disclosure that may annoy Western states pushing Tehran to scale back its nuclear progra…
Police shoot dead three criminals near U.N., U.S. sites in Nairobi
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Police killed three people trying to steal a truck near a United Nations complex and the nearby U.S. embassy in Nairobi on Wednesday, police said, but staff at both sites said they were continuing with normal business soon afterward…
Deadline passed, no sign of breakthrough in Iran nuclear probe
VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran may have failed to meet a deadline for addressing U.N. concerns about suspected nuclear bomb research, but it could still act to influence a key report due next week, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.
China says wants to mend ties with Vietnam: Xinhua
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s President Xi Jinping told a special envoy from Vietnam on Wednesday that both countries should be “friendly to each other” to help mend ties after a flare-up over sovereignty in the South China Sea, the official Xinhua news …
President-elect Erdogan heralds ‘new Turkey’ in last party speech
ANKARA (Reuters) – In a farewell speech to supporters of his AK Party, Turkish president-elect Tayyip Erdogan said its mission to reshape the nation would go on after he left party politics and took office as head of state.
A broken man living on dreams pulls Japan into Syria hostage drama
TOKYO (Reuters) – When Haruna Yukawa was captured in Syria earlier this month, a video apparently released by his captors showed them pressing the Japanese man to answer questions friends say he had struggled with for years: Who are you? Why are you he…
Germany steps up fight against far right after neo-Nazi murders
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany has drafted legislation to help prevent a repeat of a racist murder spree by a neo-Nazi cell in 2011, giving a bigger role to federal prosecutors and allowing courts to focus more on xenophobic motives.
Afghan election audit disrupted as candidates declare walk-out
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s disputed presidential election veered further off course on Wednesday after both candidates withdrew their observers from a U.N.-supervised audit of votes that was meant to resolve the crisis.
