Belarus releases human rights activist ahead of time
MINSK (Reuters) – Belarus on Saturday unexpectedly freed leading rights activist Ales Belyatsky whose jailing for tax evasion in November 2011 prompted an outcry in the European Union and human rights circles.
Egypt jails man for a year as push against sexual harassment begins
CAIRO (Reuters) – A Cairo court sentenced a man to one year in jail on Saturday for harassing a woman, the swiftest such ruling since Egypt introduced a new law in early June to combat sexual harassment.
Israel steps up West Bank search for missing teens
RAMALLAH West Bank (Reuters) – Israel sent more troops to the occupied West Bank on Saturday to search for three missing teenagers it says were abducted by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Tension mounts in Afghanistan as U.N. urges Abdullah to return to electoral process
KABUL (Reuters) – The United Nations on Saturday urged Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah to return to the electoral process after he dropped out earlier this week, accusing the organizers and the president of fraud.
Crowds turn out for Nigerian vote seen as test case for 2015
ONITSHA Nigeria (Reuters) – Large crowds of voters gathered in Nigeria’s southwest Ekiti state on Saturday for a hotly contested local election that will be scrutinized for fairness and signs of violence ahead of next year’s national poll.
Pope condemns mob violence against children on trip to Italy’s south
CASSANO ALL’ JONIO Italy (Reuters) – Pope Francis, visiting a stronghold of one of Italy’s most dangerous crime groups, on Saturday comforted the jailed father of a three-year-old boy killed in an ambush and condemned mob violence against children.
Chinese police shoot dead 13 attackers in restive Xinjiang
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese police shot dead 13 attackers in the restive far-western region of Xinjiang on Saturday after they rammed a car into a police station and detonated explosives, Xinhua news agency said, in the latest of a series of attacks t…
Al Qaeda denies majority of its fighters in Yemen are foreigners
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – Islamist websites published an al Qaeda statement on Saturday denying claims by Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi about the vast majority of its members in the troubled country being foreigners.
Ferry sinking: South Korea closes net round family of most wanted man
SEOUL (Reuters) – The wife of South Korea’s most wanted man, a businessman linked to a ferry disaster in which hundreds of school children drowned, was arrested on Saturday, prosecutors said, as the net tightens around the fugitive’s family.
Italian parties reach deal on Senate reform
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s center-left Democratic Party (PD) has reached an accord with center-right parties over proposals to curtail the powers of the Senate, one of the key planks in a wider constitutional reform package….
