U.N. battles for more people-trafficking convictions
VIENNA (Reuters) – Global efforts to stop the multi-billion-dollar business of trafficking in people are being hampered by perceptions that it is a soft crime unlikely to be punished, the head of the U.N. drugs and crime office told Reuters.
Armed men blow up Yemen’s oil pipeline halting crude flows
SANAA (Reuters) – Armed men blew up Yemen’s main oil export pipeline on Wednesday, a local official said, halting crude flows and disrupting an important source of revenue for the impoverished state.
Temporary ceasefire in Tripoli, 75 bodies found in Benghazi
BENGHAZI/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Rival Libyan militias fighting for control of Tripoli’s airport agreed to a temporary ceasefire on Wednesday to allow firefighters to try to control a huge blaze at a fuel depot hit by a rocket.
South Korea president’s party wins vote, green light for economic reforms
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean voters in 15 districts gave President Park Geun-hye’s ruling party an enhanced parliamentary majority in by-elections on Wednesday, and the political momentum to drive an economic stimulus program and regulatory reforms.
Iraqi Kurdish pipeline stopped; tanker in limbo off Texas
ISTANBUL/LONDON (Reuters) – Iraqi Kurdistan’s attempts to export oil independently of Baghdad hit another obstacle on Wednesday, as a Turkish energy official and industry sources said the autonomous region’s pipeline to the Mediterranean has been shut …
Tunisia’s chief of army land forces resigns: official
TUNIS (Reuters) – The commander of Tunisia’s army land forces has resigned, the defense ministry said on Wednesday, as the military struggles to contain attacks by al Qaeda-linked militants.
Air Algerie jet plunged rapidly from altitude before crash: official
DAKAR (Reuters) – The Air Algerie flight that crashed in Mali last week appears to have plummeted to the ground from an altitude of 10,000 meters in just a few minutes after flying into a storm, a senior official involved in the investigation was quote…
More violence in China’s Xinjiang, prominent academic indicted
BEIJING (Reuters) – China formally indicted a prominent ethnic Uighur professor for separatism on Wednesday, as security forces flooded into the far western region of Xinjiang amid more reports of violence following what the government called a terrori…
Some Ukrainian rebels vent frustration with Putin
DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) – Western leaders may be Vladimir Putin’s biggest critics over the conflict in east Ukraine but the Russian leader is also facing criticism from some of the rebels they accuse him of arming.
Moscow says ‘short-sighted’ sanctions will aggravate Russia-U.S. ties
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia called new U.S. sanctions “destructive and short-sighted” on Wednesday and said they would only aggravate ties between Russia and the United States, already at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War over the Ukraine …
