Afghan presidential election heads for run-off in mid-June
KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan election headed for a second round run-off in mid-June between Abdullah Abdullah, a former opposition leader, and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani after final results on Thursday showed no candidate had won an absolute …
As attitudes change in China, people look to the sea for burial
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Before Li Zhenxuan died at the age 101, the former chief officer of a Chinese riverboat told his son he wanted his ashes to be spread at sea along with those of his mother, who passed away in 1965, and his wife, who died in 1995.
Exclusive: Egypt’s Sisi asks for U.S. help in fighting terrorism
CAIRO (Reuters) – Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who ousted an elected Islamist president and is set to become Egypt’s next head of state, called on the United States to help fight jihadi terrorism to avoid the creation of new Afghanistans in the Mi…
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe on another ‘routine’ Singapore check-up
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s 90-year-old President Robert Mugabe is in Singapore for “another routine eye check-up”, his spokesman said on Thursday, playing down concerns about the health of the veteran African leader who has no obvious successor.
Quake of magnitude 6.6 strikes off Guam: USGS
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck off Guam on Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
Polish PM says NATO needs larger presence in eastern Europe
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) – NATO needs to have a larger presence in eastern Europe in light of the crisis in Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday.
Elusive Muscovite with three names takes control of Ukraine rebels
SLAVIANSK, Ukraine/MOSCOW (Reuters) – He is a man with three names, sought by Ukrainian intelligence as the top Russian operative in the separatist east. He moves through the streets in a black Mercedes, his face with pencil moustache hidden behind tin…
Air strikes kill over 40 in northern Syria: monitoring group
BEIRUT (Reuters) – More than 40 people, many of them civilians, were killed by air strikes across northern Syria, a monitoring group said on Thursday.
Thai protesters force PM to flee meeting after three killed in Bangkok
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Protesters seeking to oust Thailand’s government broke into the grounds of an air force compound on Thursday where the acting prime minister was meeting the Election Commission to fix a date for new polls, forcing him to flee.
Nigeria rejects swap of Boko Haram prisoners for schoolgirls: UK official
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Nigeria’s president has rejected an offer from Islamist rebel group Boko Haram to exchange schoolgirls it abducted for imprisoned militants, but the government is open to broader talks with the rebels, a visiting British …
