Kurds use well-oiled lobbying to plead for help in Washington
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When radical Islamic forces threatening to dismember Iraq unexpectedly captured several towns from the Peshmerga Kurdish fighters last weekend, the Kurds’ public relations machine quickly seized on the setback to boost their case…
Palestinian shift brings war crimes case closer to Israel
THE HAGUE/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The possibility of a war crimes investigation into the conduct of Israeli forces in Gaza, until recently unthinkable, has grown after the Palestinians said this week they wanted to become a party to the International Cri…
Exclusive: China police investigate U.S. citizen near border with North Korea – source
SEOUL/BEIJING (Reuters) – A Korean-American who runs a Christian NGO in a Chinese city on the border with North Korea is being investigated by Chinese authorities and has had his bank accounts frozen, a source with direct knowledge of the case told Reu…
Militants pull out of Lebanese border town with captives
OUTSKIRTS OF ARSAL Lebanon (Reuters) – Militant Islamists withdrew from a Lebanese border town they seized at the weekend, ending five days of deadly fighting but taking with them captured Lebanese soldiers as hostages, militant and security sources sa…
Special Report: How scams and shakedowns brought Ukraine to its knees
KIEV (Reuters) – Late last year, Ukraine’s consumer protection agency began filing lawsuits against Foxtrot, the country’s largest electronics retailer. By early March, Foxtrot faced at least 231 separate suits that demanded fines totaling more than $150 million.
Egypt’s Mufti rejects Brotherhood leader’s death sentence, court urges rethink
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s top religious authority has rejected a death sentence proposed for the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and 13 associates for murder and violence, but was asked by a court on Thursday to reconsider.
Erdogan’s intensifies battle against Islamic critic ahead of presidential vote
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A battle between Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen intensified on Thursday, with police arrests, a government move against an Islamic lender and a reported purge of the domestic intelligence a…
Snowden receives three-year Russian residence permit – lawyer
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, wanted by the United States for leaking extensive secrets of its electronic surveillance programs, has been given a three-year residence permit by Russia, his Russian lawyer said on…
China suspends work at hundreds of factories after deadly blast
KUNSHAN China (Reuters) – China has suspended work at more than 200 factories in an eastern province for safety checks as part of a nationwide review following an explosion at an auto parts plant that killed 75 people, government officials and state me…
Iran, U.S. officials hold nuclear talks in Geneva to narrow gaps
GENEVA (Reuters) – Iranian and U.S. officials met in Geneva on Thursday for the first time since the Islamic state and six world powers agreed to extend talks to resolve a decade-long dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
