Stubb to be Finland’s next PM, backs NATO membership
LAHTI Finland (Reuters) – Finland’s EU minister Alexander Stubb, who wants to cut taxes and take his neutral country into NATO, won the leadership of his ruling conservative party on Saturday, putting him on track to become prime minister later this mo…
Vice-head of China government advisory body under investigation: graft watchdog
BEIJING (Reuters) – The vice-chairman of China’s top parliamentary advisory body has been put under investigation for serious “disciplinary violations”, usually Chinese Communist Party shorthand for graft, the country’s corruption watchdog said on Satu…
Iran says envisages Iraq role with U.S. if Washington tackles regional militants
ANKARA (Reuters) – Iran could contemplate cooperating with its old adversary the United States on restoring security to Iraq if it saw Washington confronting “terrorist groups in Iraq and elsewhere”, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday.
Iran’s Rouhani: Nuclear deal possible by July 20 with goodwill
ANKARA (Reuters) – President Hassan Rouhani urged world powers on Saturday to cut a deal with Iran by a July 20 deadline to end a dispute over its nuclear program, arguing that in any case sanctions meant to restrict its atomic activity have frayed bey…
Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric issues call to fight jihadist rebels
Baghdad, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraq’s most senior Shi’ite Muslim cleric urged followers to take up arms against a full-blown Sunni militant insurgency to topple Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a conflict that threatens civil war and a possible break-…
France deports Tunisian accused of jihadist recruitment for Syria
PARIS (Reuters) – France has deported a Tunisian national suspected of recruiting young French people for jihadist forces in Syria’s civil war, the interior ministry said on Saturday.
Syria car bomb near Iraq kills at least 8: monitoring group
BEIRUT (Reuters) – At least eight people were killed on Saturday when a car bomb exploded in a market in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq, a monitoring group said.
Finnish conservatives set to pick country’s next PM
LAHTI Finland (Reuters) – Finland’s ruling conservative party prepared to elect a new leader on Saturday who will take over from Jyrki Katainen as the country’s prime minister and contest a general election due in April 2015.
Israel reinforcing West Bank troops to search for three teens
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel is significantly reinforcing its troop deployment in the occupied West Bank to search for three Israeli teenagers who it believes were abducted by Palestinians, a military source said on Saturday.
Voting begins in Afghanistan’s presidential election run-off
KABUL (Reuters) – The final round in Afghanistan’s presidential election began at 7 a.m. (10.30 p.m. ET) on Saturday as voters headed for the polls to pick a successor to President Hamid Karzai who has been in power since the U.S.-led invasion ousted t…
