Algeria’s Bouteflika camp claims election win, rival alleges fraud
ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika looked set to win a fourth term with allies claiming victory in an election on Thursday, despite questions over his health and his rare appearances since suffering a stroke in 2013.
Students add Easter twist to dwindling Venezuela protests
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan students are marching barefoot, building crucifixes and planning to burn effigies of President Nicolas Maduro to try and breathe new life into their protest movement over Easter.
U.N. inquiry chief wants North Korea hauled before international court
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The chief U.N. investigator into human rights abuses in North Korea appealed to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to refer the situation in the reclusive Asian state to the International Criminal Court for prosecution.
Nigerian state, army says most abducted schoolgirls still missing
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Nigeria’s northeast Borno state said on Thursday only 20 of up to 129 schoolgirls abducted by Islamist rebels were back with their parents, and the military retracted an earlier statement in which it said it had freed mos…
French troops free five aid workers kidnapped in Mali
GAO/PARIS (Reuters) – French troops in Mali on Thursday freed five local aid workers kidnapped in February, the French and Malian governments said, killing about a dozen of their captors in the process.
Gunmen kidnap Tunisian diplomat in Libya
TRIPOLI/TUNIS (Reuters) – A Tunisian diplomat was kidnapped on Thursday in the Libyan capital Tripoli, Libya’s foreign ministry said, two days after gunmen seized Jordan’s ambassador.
U.S. envoy Power urges Myanmar action to stop Rakhine violence
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power on Thursday urged the Myanmar government to intervene in Rakhine State to stop violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims and ensure the delivery of hum…
No U.N. rights monitoring in U.S. draft on Western Sahara mission
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States on Thursday prepared a draft resolution that would renew the U.N. mission in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, but it did not ask for sustained U.N. human rights monitoring as demanded by rights advo…
Divers struggle in search for South Korean ferry survivors
MOKPO/JINDO, South Korea (Reuters) – Rescuers struggled with strong waves and murky waters on Thursday as they searched for hundreds of people, most of them teenagers from the same school, still missing after a South Korean ferry capsized on Wednesday….
Gulf Arab states agree on measures to heal internal rift
DUBAI (Reuters) – Gulf Arab states took a step towards resolving a severe rift in the U.S.-backed alliance on Thursday by agreeing on ways to implement a security agreement they reached last year.
