Pressure mounts on Hong Kong leader over payout amid crisis
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Democratic lawmakers in Hong Kong demanded anti-graft officers investigate a $6.4 million business payout to Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying on Thursday, as political fallout grows from massive student-led protests calling for dem…
Big Brother Modi is watching India’s bureaucrats
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Narendra Modi has earned a reputation as a something of a control freak since becoming Indian prime minister, ordering bureaucrats to throw out office junk and go to work on a public holiday to clean the toilets.
Families torn apart as Western girls join Islamist cause
PARIS (Reuters) – Foad, a French truck driver of Moroccan origin, traveled alone through Syria to rescue his 15-year-old sister from an Islamist group she said was holding her captive. But when they finally stood face to face, in tears, she would not l…
Ukraine ‘frozen conflict’ could hurt Europe: Foreign Minister Klimkin
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Ukraine warned the European Union on Wednesday not to accept pro-Russian rebels carving out a de facto state and said that unlike other “frozen conflicts” in the former Soviet Union it could destabilize all of Europe.
China angered after FBI head says Chinese hacking costs billions
BEIJING (Reuters) – China accused the United States on Thursday of faking facts, after the head of the FBI said that Chinese hacking likely cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars every year.
Thai minister says U.S. ‘more confident’ of military-backed rule
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula said on Thursday that the United States has more confidence in Thailand’s government, four months after the military seized power in a bloodless coup.
Sri Lankan president considers early election, ally says, amid signs of fading popularity
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa could hold a snap election in January, nearly two years before he has to, a close ally said, amid signs his popularity is fading among people who criticise his party for abusing power.
Al Qaeda in Yemen says it executes 14 soldiers
(Reuters) – Al Qaeda in Yemen posted a video online purporting to show the abduction and execution of 14 soldiers the Sunni Muslim militants alleged were Shi’ite Muslim “apostates”.
Japan says South Korea’s indictment of Japanese reporter ‘extremely regrettable’
TOKYO (Reuters) – The indictment of a Japanese journalist in South Korea for defamation of its president was “extremely regrettable”, Japan said on Thursday, but added that the door for dialogue between the two countries’ leaders should stay open.
U.S. drones strike northwest Pakistan two days running
DERA ISMAIL KHAN Pakistan (Reuters) – A U.S. drone struck a vehicle carrying suspected militants in Pakistan’s volatile northwest on Thursday, intelligence and official sources said, a day after a U.S. drone killed two suspected militants in the same a…
