Colombia questions Venezuela’s border closure to stem smuggling
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia on Wednesday questioned an effort by Venezuela to reduce smuggling of heavily subsidized fuel and food by shutting their shared border overnight, saying joint military cooperation would be more effective.
Egypt’s Mubarak tells Cairo court his conscience is clear
CAIRO (Reuters) – In rare testimony to a Cairo court, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak denied on Wednesday that he ordered the killing of protesters in a 2011 uprising, saying history would vindicate him.
Siege mentality grips Pakistan ahead of Independence Day protests
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Riot police sealed off Pakistan’s capital with barbed wire and shipping containers on the eve of Independence Day, in a bid to foil mass protests aimed at toppling embattled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Libya’s parliament calls for U.N. aid to quell militia fighting
BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) – Libya’s parliament on Wednesday voted to disband the country’s militia brigades and called on the United Nations to protect civilians in an effort to end the worst fighting between armed factions since the 2011 fall of Muamma…
Swiss passenger train derails into ravine, eleven injured
ZURICH (Reuters) – A passenger train derailed into a ravine in a mountainous region of southeastern Switzerland after encountering a mudslide on the tracks, Swiss police said on Wednesday.
Ukraine accuses Russia of cynicism over convoy; death toll rises sharply
KIEV/VORONEZH Russia (Reuters) – Ukraine described Russia’s dispatch of an aid convoy advancing now towards its border as a cynical act designed to fan a pro-Russian rebellion the UN said on Wednesday had claimed nearly 1,000 lives, fighters and civili…
NATO nears agreement on beefing up presence in eastern Europe: Poland
WARSAW (Reuters) – NATO member states are close to reaching consensus over steps to beef up the alliance’s military presence in eastern Europe in response to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Wednesday …
Exclusive: Islamic State militants grab new weapon – Iraqi wheat
BAGHDAD/ABU DHABI (Reuters) – After seizing five oil fields and Iraq’s biggest dam, Sunni militants bent on creating an Islamic empire in the Middle East now control yet another powerful economic weapon – wheat supplies.
Iran’s Supreme Leader says interaction with U.S. limited to nuclear talks
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday nuclear talks with world powers would continue, but added there was no point in holding negotiations with the United States on other issues.
Militants kills nine in southern Yemen, 15 die in northern clashes
ADEN/SANAA (Reuters) – A bomb killed nine people in southern Yemen on Wednesday, a local official said, and tribal sources in the north said 15 more died in clashes between Shi’ite Muslim fighters and Sunnis loyal to an Islamist party.
