France’s Hollande heads for showdown over job deregulation drive
PARIS (Reuters) – Thousands of French “notaires” held what they said were their first-ever street protests in Paris and Marseille on Wednesday to challenge plans by President Francois Hollande to deregulate their activities.
U.N. torture inspectors say barred from Azerbaijan jails
GENEVA (Reuters) – A United Nations human rights team looking into complaints of torture in Azerbaijan said on Wednesday it had cut short its investigations because it had been stopped from visiting some government detention centres.
Nigeria says 70 dead in building collapse, queries South Africa Zuma’s comments
LAGOS (Reuters) – Seventy bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a collapsed church building in Lagos but remain unidentified, a Nigerian official said on Wednesday, questioning South Africa’s assertion that 67 of the victims had come from there…
Exclusive: Syria reveals more chemical weapons facilities to watchdog – sources
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Syria has revealed a previously undeclared research and development facility and a laboratory to produce the poison ricin to the global chemical weapons watchdog, diplomatic sources told Reuters.
Eyeing ‘fatal blow’ against IS, Britain lays ground to join U.S. air strikes
LONDON (Reuters) – The British government is preparing the ground to join the United States in launching air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, but is moving cautiously to ensure it avoids a parliamentary defeat and acts as part of a regional coali…
Russia, Egypt seal preliminary arms deal worth $3.5 billion: agency
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia and Egypt have reached a preliminary deal for Cairo to buy arms worth $3.5 billion from Moscow, Interfax news agency quoted the head of a Russian state arms agency as saying on Wednesday.
French welfare fraud costs 20-25 billion euros per year – report
PARIS (Reuters) – Fraud in France’s indebted welfare system costs the country between 20-25 billion euros ($26-32 billion) per year and only a tiny fraction of that amount is ever recovered, an estimate by the French national auditor showed on Wednesda…
Bissau president picks close confidant as army chief
BISSAU (Reuters) – Guinea-Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz has appointed a close confidant and head of the presidential guard as army chief to replace Antonio Indjai who was dismissed early this week, a statement said Wednesday.
As migrants flee eastern Cuba, a town mourns those lost at sea
MANZANILLO Cuba (Reuters) – Eighteen-year-old Miguel Lopez Maldonado boarded a homemade boat last month with 31 others, leaving behind this sleepy fishing town on Cuba’s southeast coast to seek a new life in the United States.
Death toll from Nigeria church building collapse at 70: emergency services
LAGOS (Reuters) – A total of 70 bodies have been pulled from the rubble of a building that collapsed in Lagos last week, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said at the site of the disaster on Wednesday.
