Iraqi Kurdish president asks parliament to prepare for independence vote
ARBIL Iraq (Reuters) – The president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region asked its parliament on Thursday to plan a referendum on Kurdish independence, signaling his impatience with Baghdad, which is fighting to repel Sunni insurgents and struggling to…
Rescuers close in on three trapped Honduran miners, eight missing
SAN JUAN ARRIBA Honduras (Reuters) – Rescuers labored with pickaxes and shovels to dig out 11 miners trapped by a landslide at an illegal gold mine in southern Honduras, and are close to reaching three of the workers, officials said on Thursday.
U.N. states overcome impasse to pass peacekeeping budget
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A U.N. General Assembly committee approved on Thursday a new troop-reimbursement rate for countries contributing nearly 100,000 peacekeepers to 16 missions, overcoming an impasse that left the world body’s operations in finan…
African nations give rebels in Congo six months to disarm
LUANDA/KINSHASA (Reuters) – African nations have agreed to suspend military operations for six months against Rwandan rebels in Congo to give them more time to lay down their arms, regional government officials said.
Exclusive: Iran eases demands in Vienna nuclear talks – Western diplomats
VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran has reduced demands for the size of its future nuclear enrichment program in talks with world powers although Western governments are urging Tehran to compromise further, Western diplomats said on Thursday.
Power cuts hit parts of Greece as electricity workers strike
ATHENS (Reuters) – Parts of Greece were hit by power cuts on Thursday evening after electricity workers began one of a series of 48-hour strikes against government plans to sell off part of the country’s biggest power producer.
World Cup helps Brazil’s Rousseff score higher in polls
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The World Cup has improved the mood of Brazilians, brightened their country’s economic outlook and given President Dilma Rousseff a lift in popularity as she prepares to seek re-election in October, a new poll published late Wednes…
Japan lifts some North Korea sanctions amid report of surviving abductees
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan decided on Thursday to ease some sanctions on North Korea in return for its reopening of a probe into the fate of Japanese citizens abducted by the reclusive state decades ago, as a fresh report emerged that some of them were al…
Hollande, Merkel urge Putin to broker Ukraine ceasefire
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Thursday to encourage separatists in eastern Ukraine to reach an agreement with the Ukrainian authorities, the French president’s …
Head of U.N. Congo peacekeepers regrets failing to stop massacre
KINSHASA (Reuters) – The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has said he is sorry his forces reacted too slowly to prevent a massacre in the east of the country in June.
