Isolated North Korea a visitor draw, but sometimes literally a tourist trap
SEOUL (Reuters) – “Taking you to places where your mother would rather you stayed away from.” That’s how one Western travel agency advertises its tours to North Korea.
Cambodia’s strongman affirms pre-eminence as opposition challenge falters
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – Riot police with assault rifles stand guard near high metal walls. Lines of parked trucks and coiled razor wire mark the perimeter of a site in Cambodia’s capital that’s strictly off limits to the public.
Exclusive: Kurdish oil finds new buyers in Europe despite Baghdad threats
LONDON (Reuters) – Russian oil firm Rosneft bought a cargo of Kurdish oil for a German refinery it co-owns with oil major BP, quietly circumventing Baghdad’s ban on independent oil sales by its autonomous region, according to trading sources.
Putin accuses Ukraine of sabotaging gas talks
BRUSSELS/NOVO-OGARYOVO Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine on Wednesday of forcing gas talks into a “dead end” by rejecting the offer of a cut in duty to resolve a price dispute that threatens supplies not just to Ukrain…
Defense chief defends Taliban prisoner swap before Congress
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told a contentious congressional hearing on Wednesday the exchange of five Taliban leaders for war prisoner Bowe Bergdahl was an imperfect decision that eroded trust with Congress but he denied it in…
Rwanda, Congo trade accusations over border fighting
KINSHASA (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda accused each other’s armies of mounting cross-border raids that led to a rare exchange of heavy weapons fire between the two nations on Wednesday.
Iraqi insurgent commander is jihad’s rising leader
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The leader of radical Sunni fighters who have made rapid military advances in Iraq is the rising star of global jihad, driven, Islamist fighters say, by an unbending determination to fight for and establish a hardline Islamic state.
Car bomb kills up to four UN soldiers in northern Mali
BAMAKO (Reuters) – As many as four United Nations peacekeepers were killed when a car bomb exploded in the northern Malian town of Aguelhoc on Wednesday, U.N. and diplomatic sources said.
Iraq insurgents take Saddam’s home town in lightning advance
TIKRIT Iraq (Reuters) – Sunni rebels from an al Qaeda splinter group overran the Iraqi city of Tikrit on Wednesday and closed in on the biggest oil refinery in the country, making further gains in their rapid military advance against the Shi’ite-led go…
Pact to halt forced labor snubbed by Thailand, Gulf: ILO
GENEVA (Reuters) – Perpetrators of forced labor, which affects 21 million people globally, will be punished in most countries under a U.N. treaty clinched on Wednesday, despite being snubbed by Thailand and nearly all Gulf countries.
