Sanctions bind Russia’s energy elite to Putin
MOSCOW (Reuters) – An offer by Gazprom to help rival Rosneft salvage an Arctic oil project shows how tightly sanctions have bound Russia’s political and business elite together in the Ukraine crisis – an unintended consequence of the West’s punitive me…
China shipping delivers toxic pollution cocktail-report
BEIJING (Reuters) – China is waging war on pollution, closing factories and targeting dirty coal-fired power plants, but its ports are pumping out pollution virtually unchecked, according to a report by a U.S. environmental group.
Thai court throws out defamation case against British rights activist
BANGKOK (Reuters) – A Thai court on Wednesday dismissed on a technicality a defamation case brought against a British human rights activist by a Thai fruit company.
Around 100,000 Hungarians rally for democracy as internet tax hits nerve
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – About 100,000 Hungarians rallied on Tuesday night to protest at a planned tax on data traffic and the broader course of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government they saw as undermining democracy and relations with European Union pe…
Mastermind of failed Australia beheading plot killed in Middle East: reports
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A former Sydney bouncer said to have masterminded a failed plot by Islamic State militants to behead a random member of the public in Australia is believed to have died in the Middle East, Australian media reported on Wednesday.
Hopes dim for 18 workers trapped in Turkish mine
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Hopes were fading on Tuesday that 18 miners who were trapped in a flooded coal mine in southern Turkey would be rescued.
Venezuela calls back ambassador to Spain for consultations over Rajoy comment
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela said on Tuesday it is calling back its ambassador to Spain for consultations in protest over Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s call to free a Venezuelan opposition activist jailed for leading protests against Presiden…
Iraqi peshmerga fighters head for Syria to fight Islamic State
ARBIL Iraq/MURSITPINAR Turkey (Reuters) – Iraqi peshmerga fighters headed for the Syrian town of Kobani on Tuesday to help fellow Kurds repel an Islamic State advance that has defied U.S.-led air strikes and become an important test of the coalition’s …
Iran envoy rejects U.N. investigator’s charges of rights abuses
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Iran on Tuesday dismissed a U.N. investigator’s allegations of severe human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic, saying the criticisms were aimed at inciting “Iranophobia and Islamophobia.”
Thousands mourn at funeral of Canadian soldier slain in Ottawa
HAMILTON Ontario (Reuters) – Thousands of mourners packed a church and lined adjacent streets in industrial Hamilton, Ontario, on Tuesday for the funeral of the soldier shot dead in last week’s attack on the nation’s seat of government.
