Reconstruction of Timbuktu tombs begins in Mali
DAKAR (Reuters) – Malian masons on Friday began rebuilding mausoleums in the historic city of Timbuktu destroyed by Islamists during their occupation of the country’s north, the United Nations said.
Ahead of St. Patrick’s Day, Obama hails U.S.-Irish ties
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama met with Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny on Friday – and even sang along to an Irish folk song – three days ahead of St. Patrick’s Day as the two leaders held the annual celebration of U.S.-Irish relati…
Venezuela’s foreign minister calls Kerry ‘murderer’
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s foreign minister lambasted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday as a “murderer” fomenting unrest that has killed 28 people in the South American OPEC member nation.
Israel fires into Lebanon after bomb targets its soldiers
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel fired tank rounds and artillery into southern Lebanon on Friday, its military said, in retaliation for a bomb that targeted Israeli soldiers patrolling the border.
Ukraine crisis hampers EU’s Central African Republic mission
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The Ukraine crisis is hampering the European Union’s plans to send a peacekeeping force to Central African Republic because nervous eastern European countries want to keep their troops at home rather than send them to Africa, diplo…
Romania bars Hungarian ‘extremists’ on eve of national day
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania has barred what it says are Hungarian extremists from four different organizations from entering the country, moving to prevent possible clashes when ethnic Hungarians celebrate their national day in Romania on Saturday.
Peru’s former president Fujimori suffers stroke, hospitalized
LIMA (Reuters) – Peru’s jailed former president Alberto Fujimori was hospitalized and in “moderately serious” condition after suffering a small stroke Friday, a doctor said.
Lithuania detains a Russian citizen suspected of 1991 crimes
VILNIUS (Reuters) – A Russian former tank officer was detained by a Lithuanian court on Friday on suspicion of involvement in a 1991 Soviet Army attack aimed at halting the Baltic state’s drive for independence from the Soviet Union, the General Prosec…
Uruguay not seen setting drug liberalisation trend: U.N. official
VIENNA (Reuters) – The United Nations anti-drugs chief said on Friday he did not see – for now at least – Uruguay setting a trend for countries to legalise the cultivation, sale and smoking of marijuana.
Anti-gay laws violate global pacts: U.N. rights chief
GENEVA (Reuters) – A legal ban on same-sex marriage in Nigeria, Africa’s largest country, violates international accords and could bring mob law against gays onto its streets, the United Nations’ human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Friday.
