Brazil’s Rousseff lowers taxes for workers as popularity drops
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Wednesday announced lower taxes for workers and a hike in stipends for the poor as her popularity ebbs five months before elections.
Ukraine’s restive east slipping from government’s grasp
HORLIVKA, Ukraine (Reuters) – Pro-Moscow separatists seized government offices in more Ukrainian towns on Wednesday, in a further sign that authorities in Kiev are losing control of the country’s eastern industrial heartland bordering Russia.
Northern Ireland police arrest Gerry Adams over 1972 murder
BELFAST/DUBLIN (Reuters) – Northern Ireland police arrested Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on Wednesday as part of an investigation into one of the province’s most controversial murders, a move likely to cause a political earthquake in Belfast and Dublin…
Iraqis vote as violence grips a divided country
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq held a democratic vote to choose a leader with no foreign troops present for the first time on Wednesday, as Shi’ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought to hold power for a third term in a country again consumed by sectarian b…
U.S. says al Qaeda core weak, but affiliates still threaten
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States said on Wednesday that while al Qaeda’s Pakistan-based “core organization” had been severely degraded, affiliates of the militant group in Africa and the Middle East were becoming more “operationally autonomous”…
EU peacekeepers take charge at Central African Republic airport, violence rages
BRUSSELS/BANGUI (Reuters) – European Union peacekeepers took charge of security at Central African Republic’s main airport on Wednesday in their first major operation to try and end months of sectarian slaughter.
Air strike on Aleppo school kills 18: Syrian activists
BEIRUT (Reuters) – An air strike on a school in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces killed at least 18 people on Wednesday, mainly children, a day after attacks on government-controlled cities killed more than 100 peop…
China says three killed in attack at Xinjiang train station
BEIJING (Reuters) – Three people were killed and 79 wounded in a bomb and knife attack at a train station in the far western region of China on Wednesday, state media said, as President Xi Jinping was wrapping up a vist to the area.
Mid-sized quake hits off central Chile coast; no damage reported
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – A shallow 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of central Chile on Wednesday, rattling buildings in the capital, Santiago, but not causing any damage.
Lebanese presidential vote delayed as deputies boycott vote
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese politicians abandoned their second attempt to elect a new president on Wednesday after dozens of deputies boycotted a parliamentary vote to choose a successor to President Michel Suleiman.
