Macedonia calls early parliamentary election for April 27
SKOPJE (Reuters) – Macedonia’s parliamentary speaker on Thursday scheduled an early national election for April 27, a day after lawmakers in the multi-ethnic coalition dissolved parliament after failing to agree on a candidate for president.
Bahrain and Iran trade accusations at U.N. rights forum
GENEVA (Reuters) – Bahrain accused Shi’ite Iran on Thursday of fomenting deadly violence in the kingdom, and a Tehran official accused the Sunni-ruled island state of torturing and imprisoning its critics.
Kunming attack shouldn’t be treated as ethnic issue: China official
BEIJING (Reuters) – A deadly knife attack at a Chinese train station last week should not be linked to ethnicity, a senior government official said, days after authorities blamed the incident on separatists from the country’s troubled far western regio…
France’s Sarkozy to sue over secret audio recordings: lawyers
PARIS (Reuters) – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni are to file a legal complaint over secret audio recordings made of them by an adviser during the 2012 election campaign, lawyers for the couple said on Thursday.
U.S. seeks ‘talk and trade’ to rebuild India ties
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The United States sought on Thursday to rebuild rocky ties with India, while stressing it would tackle differences “head on” in pursuit of its drive to quintuple bilateral trade in a decade.
Soldier killed by explosive device in southeast Turkey
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – A Turkish soldier was killed by an explosive device in southeastern Turkey, the first such death since Kurdish militants declared a ceasefire a year ago, security sources said on Thursday.
Prominent Indian in Thailand faces expulsion over protests
BANGKOK (Reuters) – A prominent member of Thailand’s Indian community is fighting efforts to force him out the country for joining anti-government protests and appealed on Thursday to King Bhumibol Adulyadej for help in finding justice.
Israel says it seized Gaza-bound rocket shipment from Iran
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli navy seized a ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday that was carrying dozens of advanced Iranian-supplied rockets made in Syria and intended for Palestinian guerrillas in the Gaza Strip, the military said.
Iran to get second tranche of payment under nuclear deal: IRNA
ANKARA (Reuters) – Iran will soon receive a second installment of previously frozen assets which are being returned to it under an interim nuclear agreement with world powers, the official IRNA news agency quoted its central bank chief as saying.
Graft-hit China province says has only a few ‘bad apples’
BEIJING (Reuters) – The leader of China’s scandal-plagued southwestern province of Sichuan said on Thursday that a few “bad apple” corrupt officials should not negate the hard work of the vast majority of party members, despite spiraling graft allegati…
