India bids to reassert influence in Nepal with power pact
NEW DELHI/KATHMANDU (Reuters) – India is set to offer Nepal a landmark pact to help develop its huge hydro-electric power potential as the South Asian giant takes another step to re-assert influence among smaller neighbours where China has been forging…
U.N. chief names Danish diplomat new envoy to South Sudan
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday named Danish diplomat Ellen Margrethe Loj as his new special envoy to South Sudan and head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the world’s newest nation.
Chinese president ends regional tour in cradle of Cuban Revolution
HAVANA (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping ended an eight-day trip through Latin America on Wednesday with a visit to eastern Cuba, where both the island’s independence struggle against Spain and Fidel Castro’s revolution began.
Islamic State says carried out Baghdad suicide bombing
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Islamic State militants claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an overnight suicide bombing in a Shi’ite district of Baghdad which killed 33 people, one of the deadliest recent attacks in the Iraqi capital.
Concordia finally heads for scrapyard after massive salvage operation
GIGLIO ISLAND Italy (Reuters) – The rusty hulk of the Costa Concordia began its journey to the scrapyard on Wednesday, after a two-year salvage operation off the Italian island where the cruise liner capsized two years ago, killing 32 people. Boats sou…
Iraq postpones vote for president, delaying power-sharing deal
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s parliament, which had been due to elect the country’s president on Wednesday, postponed the vote by a day, delaying the formation of a power-sharing government urgently needed to confront a Sunni Muslim insurgency.
Bulgaria’s prime minister resigns with bank crisis unresolved
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski stood down on Wednesday, leaving his successor to sort out the Balkan state’s worst banking crisis since the 1990s with the fate of its fourth largest lender undecided.
Lebanese soldier defects to al Qaeda in Syria: video
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A Lebanese soldier has defected to an al Qaeda group in neighboring Syria, in the first such incident, in protest at what he said was the injustice against Sunni Muslims in his country.
Yemen president says Houthis agree to return town to state control
SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen’s president on Wednesday visited a town close to the capital that was captured by Shi’ite Muslim Houthi fighters this month, and said all sides had agreed to allow the state to retake control, state news agency Saba reported.
Islamists gun down Somali protest singer-turned-lawmaker
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – A veteran Somali protest singer who had become a member of parliament was shot dead in central Mogadishu on Wednesday by Islamist gunmen who blocked her car and sprayed it with bullets.
