Kerry in Kabul to try to break deadlock over Afghan presidency
KABUL (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday for his second visit in under a month to push a deal between the country’s two presidential candidates on how to share power after an audit of a disputed election i…
Cockpit voice recorder in crashed Air Algerie jet unintelligible
PARIS (Reuters) – Cockpit voice recordings from an Air Algerie jet that crashed last month in northern Mali are unintelligible, investigators said on Thursday, depriving them of vital clues on what sent it into a sudden plunge that killed all 116 passe…
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…
