Special Report: How scams and shakedowns brought Ukraine to its knees
KIEV (Reuters) – Late last year, Ukraine’s consumer protection agency began filing lawsuits against Foxtrot, the country’s largest electronics retailer. By early March, Foxtrot faced at least 231 separate suits that demanded fines totaling more than $150 million.
Egypt’s Mufti rejects Brotherhood leader’s death sentence, court urges rethink
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s top religious authority has rejected a death sentence proposed for the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and 13 associates for murder and violence, but was asked by a court on Thursday to reconsider.
Erdogan’s intensifies battle against Islamic critic ahead of presidential vote
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A battle between Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen intensified on Thursday, with police arrests, a government move against an Islamic lender and a reported purge of the domestic intelligence a…
Snowden receives three-year Russian residence permit – lawyer
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, wanted by the United States for leaking extensive secrets of its electronic surveillance programs, has been given a three-year residence permit by Russia, his Russian lawyer said on…
China suspends work at hundreds of factories after deadly blast
KUNSHAN China (Reuters) – China has suspended work at more than 200 factories in an eastern province for safety checks as part of a nationwide review following an explosion at an auto parts plant that killed 75 people, government officials and state me…
Iran, U.S. officials hold nuclear talks in Geneva to narrow gaps
GENEVA (Reuters) – Iranian and U.S. officials met in Geneva on Thursday for the first time since the Islamic state and six world powers agreed to extend talks to resolve a decade-long dispute over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Ukraine government suspends ceasefire at MH17 crash site after recovery mission halted
KIEV (Reuters) – The Ukrainian government said on Thursday it was suspending a ceasefire with separatist rebels at the crash site of the Malaysian airliner after an international recovery mission had been halted.
Russia bans fruit, veg, meat, fish, dairy imports from U.S., EU
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will ban fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, milk and dairy imports from the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told a government meeting on Thursday.
Sierra Leone police blockade Ebola areas, Liberia declares emergency
FREETOWN/MONROVIA (Reuters) – Police and soldiers in Sierra Leone blockaded rural areas hit by the deadly Ebola virus on Thursday, a senior officer said, after neighboring Liberia declared a state of emergency to tackle the worst-ever outbreak of the d…
Bangladesh police forcibly end garment workers’ strike
DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh police used water cannons and teargas on Thursday to disperse hundreds of garment workers staging a hunger-strike to demand back-pay and a holiday bonus.
