Colombia Conservative Party divided over run-off support
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Marta Lucia Ramirez, who came third in Colombia’s presidential election on Sunday, threw her support behind right-wing contender Oscar Ivan Zuluaga for June’s run-off, even while most lawmakers from her party will back incumbent Juan…
Boko Haram still holding 219 girls, after escape of four more reported
MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) – Four more of the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram last month have escaped than previously thought, Nigeria’s Borno state said on Wednesday, but 219 others were still missing and assumed held by the Islamist militants.
Venezuela government accuses opposition leader of ‘coup’ plot
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan officials on Wednesday accused hardline opposition leader Maria Corina Machado of leading plots to topple President Nicolas Maduro in league with U.S. officials.
Israeli soldier suspended after fatal West Bank shootings: reports
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has suspended a soldier in the fatal shootings of two Palestinian teenagers at a protest held on May 15 in the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.
Turkey’s Erdogan says foes may leak video in bid to smear him
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday followers of an Islamic cleric with whom he’s locked in a power struggle might leak a video about him and his family to smear him before an August presidential election.
U.S. investigates reports of American suicide bomber in Syria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. government agencies were examining social media postings purporting to show how an American who was fighting with an Al Qaeda affiliate blew himself up recently in a suicide attack in northern Syria, U.S. officials said.
Several killed in attack on church in capital of Central African Republic
BANGUI (Reuters) – Several people were killed in a attack on a church in capital of Central African Republic on Wednesday, residents and a Reuters witness said, after attackers hurled grenades into a courtyard where displaced people were sheltering.
Libyan warplanes strike Islamist militias in Benghazi
BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) – Libyan warplanes bombed militia bases in Benghazi on Wednesday as part of a renegade former general’s campaign to purge the chaotic North African state of Islamist militants, witnesses and officials said.
South Africa mines minister vows to break strike deadlock
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Deadlock in South Africa’s crippling 18-week platinum strike will soon be broken after movement made on both sides of the wage dispute, the country’s new mines minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi declared on Wednesday.
French court backs extradition of ex-policeman to Argentina over ‘dirty war’
PARIS (Reuters) – A Paris appeals court ruled on Wednesday in favor of extraditing a French-Argentine dual citizen wanted by Argentina for crimes against humanity during its 1976-1983 military dictatorship.