China investigates former NDRC finance chief in bribe probe
BEIJING (Reuters) – A former director at China’s economic planning agency who oversaw corporate bond issues between 2003-2006 is being investigated, the country’s top prosecutor said on Friday, the latest official to be implicated in an anti-corruption…
Amid outward calm, climate of fear cements Thai military rule
Thai opposition activist Kritsuda Khunasen said she was blindfolded and struggling to regain consciousness when she heard this chilling query from one of her interrogators.
Amid U.S. air strikes, Iraq struggles to build own air force
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama told a recent interviewer he did not want the U.S. military to become Iraq’s air force. But he may have little choice.
At least 33 dead in bus crash in Egypt’s Sinai
CAIRO (Reuters) – At least 33 people died and dozens were injured when two buses collided before dawn on Friday in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, the state news agency and security sources reported.
Australia defends detention of child asylum seekers
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s immigration minister defended his country’s tough policies on asylum seekers on Friday, saying measures including the detention of children and denial of permanent visas were needed to stop dangerous people-smuggling vent…
Israeli air strike kills three Hamas commanders in Gaza
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel killed three senior Hamas commanders in the Gaza Strip in an air strike on Thursday and said it would continue to target the group’s armed leadership after a ceasefire failed.
Turkish foreign minister set to be Erdogan’s new PM
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish president-elect Tayyip Erdogan named Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as his future prime minister on Thursday and said a power struggle with a U.S.-based cleric, a Kurdish peace process and a new constitution would be his to…
British Muslims blame jihadi subculture after beheading video
LONDON/BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A British Muslim leader called for action on Thursday to tackle a jihadi sub-culture after an Islamic State video showed a suspected Briton beheading U.S. journalist James Foley, held hostage in Syria.
Ukraine’s Poroshenko talks tough ahead of meetings with Merkel, Putin
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Thursday he would call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to rein in pro-Russian separatists when the two men meet next week and told the Kremlin chief he had “a strong country, a strong ar…
U.S. watchdog finds Pentagon broke law in Bergdahl transfer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Defense Department violated U.S. law by failing to alert Congress before releasing five Taliban members held at Guantanamo Bay military prison in exchange for a captured U.S. soldier, a government watchdog agency said on Thur…
