Australian PM orders crackdown on visas for radical preachers
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday that he was ordering a crackdown to prevent radical Islamist preachers entering the country, amidst rising tension with the Muslim community following a series of security-relat…
Captain of doomed South Korean ferry apologizes for failure to rescue
SEOUL (Reuters) – The captain of a South Korean ferry that capsized in April killing about 300 people, most of them school children, apologized in court on Wednesday for his failure to rescue passengers in the country’s worst maritime disaster for deca…
Hong Kong protests dwindle, but talks with government likely to go nowhere
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong pro-democracy protests that brought tens of thousands on to the streets last week dwindled to a few hundred on Wednesday after activist leaders agreed to talks with the government which are all but certain to go nowhere….
China last again in global aid transparency index
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – China took last place in an aid transparency index listing 68 donors released on Wednesday, which said the majority of the world’s donors were not sharing enough information about their activities.
Indonesian lawmakers to probe alleged graft under Widodo’s watch
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian opposition lawmakers plan to investigate alleged wrongdoing when President-elect Joko Widodo was governor of the capital, Jakarta, and mayor of the city of Solo, a senior opposition member said.
Magnitude 6.2 quake strikes northern Mexico, no damage reported
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A magnitude 6.2 quake struck Mexico on Tuesday in the Gulf of California, 75 miles (121 km) west south-west of the city of El Dorado, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
Southeast Asia authorities search for Vietnamese oil tanker amid hijack fears
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Maritime authorities across Southeast Asia are scouring the seas for a Vietnamese oil tanker, which has not been heard from for six days and is now feared to have been taken by pirates.
One killed in strong quake in China’s remote southwest
BEIJING (Reuters) – One person was killed and 324 were injured when an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 struck in China’s southwestern province of Yunnan on Tuesday. The United States Geological Survey said the quake’s epicenter was 163 km (100 miles…
Regional leaders step up Boko Haram fight with troops, command center
Niamey (Reuters) – Leaders of Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Benin on Tuesday announced plans to step up the fight against Boko Haram with an additional battalion and a command center to tackle the militants whose insurgency has spread beyond Nigeria, a stat…
Turkey says Syria town about to fall as Islamic State advances
MURSITPINAR Turkey/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Turkey’s president said the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani was “about to fall” on Tuesday as Islamic State fighters pressed home a three-week assault that has cost a reported 400 lives and forced thousands to flee t…
