Italy’s Renzi wins confidence vote on labor decree
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi easily won a confidence vote on Wednesday over his plans to ease rules for companies that hire temporary workers, part of a broader plan to overhaul labor regulations.
Yemeni forces kill three militants blamed for attack on German diplomat
SANAA (Reuters) – Yemeni forces on Wednesday killed three members of a militant cell who authorities believe carried out assassinations in the capital Sanaa and attacked a German diplomat late last month, a Yemeni official and a security source said.
Baltics can keep lights on if Russia turns off the gas
VILNIUS/RIGA (Reuters) – Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia depend on Russia for all their gas imports, but they each have defenses in place to ensure sufficient energy supplies if Moscow cuts off gas exports in an escalation of the Ukraine crisis.
‘We’re already not in Ukraine’ – rebel east readies secession vote
DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Behind the barricades of tires and car bumpers, past the masked militants who hold Donetsk’s filthy administration building, there is a man in a suit in a spotless office, working from an Apple iMac on a vote to dismember U…
Lebanon expects Gulf Arabs to end travel warning this month
DUBAI (Reuters) – Gulf Arab states will scrap by the end of the month a travel warning for citizens thinking of visiting Lebanon, in a sign of improving relations with the new Lebanese government, its tourism minister said on Wednesday.
Uruguay says legal marijuana to be good and cheap
MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) – Uruguayans will be allowed to buy enough marijuana to roll about 20 joints a week at a price well below the black market rate, the government said on Tuesday as it detailed a new law legalizing the cannabis trade.
As European elections loom, parties struggle for attention
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – In a little over two weeks, in a vast exercise spread over four days and 28 countries, as many as 350 million Europeans will go to the polls to vote in elections to the European Parliament, the EU’s only directly elected body.
Ukraine forces briefly occupy city hall in eastern Mariupol
MARIUPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces seized the rebel-held city hall in the eastern port city of Mariupol overnight, driving out pro-Russian activists, then withdrew, making no attempt to hold onto the building, witnesses said on Wednesday.
Japan PM adviser says revision of pacifist constitution vital
TOKYO (Reuters) – The idea that Japan can improve its security without dropping a long-standing ban on aiding friendly countries under attack is a miracle that just won’t happen, the acting head of an advisory panel to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on…
‘Vacuum’ looms as Lebanese lawmakers fail to choose a president
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese lawmakers failed for a third time to choose a president on Wednesday, raising fears the seat will remain vacant after President Michel Suleiman’s term expires in less than three weeks.
