Guatemalan president eyes drug legalization proposal in late 2014
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – Guatemala could present a plan to legalize production of marijuana and opium poppies towards the end of 2014 as it seeks ways to curb the power of organized crime, President Otto Perez said on Wednesday.
Russia could achieve Ukraine incursion in 3-5 days
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Russia has massed all the forces it needs on Ukraine’s border if it were to decide to carry out an “incursion” into the country, and it could achieve its objective in three to five days, NATO’s top military commander said on Wednes…
New Zealand tops social progress index, world’s biggest economies trail
LONDON, April 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – New Zealand came first in a global index published on Thursday that ranks countries by social and environmental performance rather than economic output in a drive to make social progress a priority for pol…
U.S. calls for end to humanitarian curbs in Myanmar’s Rakhine
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States called on Myanmar on Wednesday to lift travel restrictions on U.N. and other humanitarian staff to allow them to resume work in the country’s Rakhine State, which has been hit by ethnic and religious violence.
Suicide bomber kills six police at Afghan ministry ahead of vote
KABUL (Reuters) – A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up outside Afghanistan’s interior ministry in central Kabul on Wednesday, killing himself and at least six policemen, the latest in a string of attacks ahead of Afghanistan’s April 5 presidential …
Catholic Church blasts Venezuela for ‘brutal repression’ of protesters
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s Roman Catholic Church accused President Nicolas Maduro’s government on Wednesday of “totalitarian” tendencies and “brutal repression” of demonstrators during two months of political unrest that has killed several dozen p…
Almost 2 tons of cocaine seized off Puerto Rico coast
SAN JUAN (Reuters) – A 1.8 ton cocaine shipment worth an estimated $50 million that was thought to be destined for the U.S. market was seized off the coast of Puerto Rico, federal authorities said on Wednesday, in one of the largest drug busts there in…
U.S. looking for way forward in faltering Mideast peace talks
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – The Obama administration scrambled on Wednesday to rescue faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations after what it called “unhelpful, unilateral actions” by both sides.
U.S., eyeing exit and mindful of past, keeps distance from Afghan election
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ahead of Afghanistan’s last presidential election in 2009, the United States used its diplomatic and military muscle to try to pull off a successful vote in a nation expected to define the foreign policy of President Barack Obama…
U.N. Arms Trade Treaty takes leap toward entry into force
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty took a major step forward on its eventual entry into force on Wednesday as 18 countries, including five of the world’s top 10 arms exporters, delivered proof of its ratification to the United Nation…
