Cyprus leaders agree to ratchet up slow moving peace talks: U.N.
NICOSIA (Reuters) – Rival leaders of ethnically-split Cyprus agreed on Wednesday to try to speed up the pace of slow-moving peace talks to resolve outstanding issues in the decades-old conflict, a U.N. official said.
China Muslim scholar rejects ‘separatism’ evidence as widely criticized trial opens
BEIJING (Reuters) – A prominent Uighur academic charged with separatism rejected evidence presented by Chinese prosecutors on Wednesday on the first day of a trial that has drawn criticism from international judicial and human rights activists.
Tunisian forces and militants clash near border, two killed
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian police killed two Islamist militants in clashes near the Algerian border, the interior and defense ministries said on Wednesday, after Tunis raised the security alert level before elections next month.
Clashes in Yemen capital suburb kill at least 20: sources
SANAA (Reuters) – At least 20 people were killed when Shi’ite Muslim rebels clashed with army soldiers and allied tribesmen in an outer suburb of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, tribal and medical sources said on Wednesday.
New al Qaeda wing in South Asia claims major attack
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s South Asia wing has claimed responsibility for hijacking a Pakistani naval ship and trying to use it to fire rockets at U.S. vessels in the Arabian Sea, in the first major assault by the newly created group.
Russia and West at odds over Syria at U.N. nuclear meeting
VIENNA (Reuters) – Russia is pushing for the issue of Syria’s alleged past nuclear activities to be removed from the agenda of the U.N. atomic agency’s board, diplomats said on Wednesday.
China mum on diplomat’s whereabouts amid Japan spying report
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Foreign Ministry refused to say on Wednesday where its ambassador to Iceland was or who was even representing Beijing in the country, following reports he had been arrested by state security for passing secrets to Japan.
Saudi Arabia’s top clerics speak out against militancy
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s top clerical council, the only body in the country authorized to issue fatwas or Islamic legal opinions, declared on Wednesday that “terrorism is a heinous crime” under Sharia, and perpetrators should be made an exampl…
Pakistan’s PM threatens to clear protesters camped in capital
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, weakened by weeks of demonstrations calling for him to resign, threatened on Wednesday to clear a protest camp established more than a month ago outside government offices in Islamabad.
Bangladesh top court commutes Islamist leader’s death sentence
DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted to life imprisonment a death sentence for a top Islamist leader convicted of war crimes during the country’s war of liberation in 1971.
