World Cup helps Brazil’s Rousseff score higher in polls
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The World Cup has improved the mood of Brazilians, brightened their country’s economic outlook and given President Dilma Rousseff a lift in popularity as she prepares to seek re-election in October, a new poll published late Wednes…
Japan lifts some North Korea sanctions amid report of surviving abductees
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan decided on Thursday to ease some sanctions on North Korea in return for its reopening of a probe into the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by the reclusive state decades ago, as a fresh report emerged that some of them were al…
Hollande, Merkel urge Putin to broker Ukraine ceasefire
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Thursday to encourage separatists in eastern Ukraine to reach an agreement with the Ukrainian authorities, the French president’s …
Head of U.N. Congo peacekeepers regrets failing to stop massacre
KINSHASA (Reuters) – The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has said he is sorry his forces reacted too slowly to prevent a massacre in the east of the country in June.
U.S. wants sharp reduction of Iran’s enrichment capacity: official
VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran must drastically reduce its capacity to enrich uranium if it wants to reach a nuclear deal with six world powers that would lead to a gradual lifting of the crippling international sanctions on Tehran, a senior U.S. official sai…
Saudi Arabia deploys 30,000 soldiers to border with Iraq: al-Arabiya TV
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia deployed 30,000 soldiers to its border with Iraq after Iraqi soldiers abandoned the area, Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television said on Thursday, but Baghdad denied this and said the frontier remained under its full control.
Eyeing comeback, Sarkozy comes out fighting after legal blow
PARIS (Reuters) – Unsmiling, with clenched fists and a set jaw, Nicolas Sarkozy found himself yet again in the stance that has so often marked his political career – his back to the wall.
Dutch killer Van der Sloot sets date for prison wedding
LIMA (Reuters) – Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot will marry his pregnant Peruvian girlfriend on Friday in prison, where the main suspect in the 2005 disappearance of American teenager Natalee Holloway is serving a 28-year sentence for a separate murd…
Turkish high-speed train crashes on test drive
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s long-awaited high-speed rail link between Istanbul and Ankara suffered a setback on Thursday when a test train crashed only days before its official opening by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
Costa Concordia wreck set to be refloated in 10 days
ROME (Reuters) – The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise liner is set to be refloated within 10 days, to be towed away from the Italian island where it ran aground and capsized two and a half years ago, the group organising the removal said on Thursday…
