Philippines’ Aquino keeps budget chief amid corruption scandal
MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Benigno Aquino on Friday rejected a resignation offer from his budget secretary after the top court declared the government’s discretionary fund illegal in the biggest test yet for its battle against graft.
Kenya’s coastal killings pose insurgency risk for Kenyatta
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya may face a full-blown insurgency on its coast unless President Uhuru Kenyatta can douse a combustible mix of ethnic rivalries, land rows and Islamist militancy.
Taliban sympathizer posts pictures of smiling Bowe Bergdahl
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was held captive by the Taliban for five years, appeared smiling alongside a commander from the militant Haqqani network in a photo posted on a Twitter account by a supporter of the Afghan Taliban.
China sentences 32 in Xinjiang for ‘terror’ videos
BEIJING (Reuters) – China sentenced 32 people in its western Xinjiang region to prison terms for downloading or sending “violent terror” videos, state media said, as authorities crackdown on people they say are Islamists and separatists behind recent a…
Eleven killed in China school bus crash
BEIJING (Reuters) – Eleven people died, including eight children, in a school bus crash in China’s southern Hunan province, state media said on Friday, the latest in a string of traffic accidents that have fueled public anger over unsafe transport for …
Berlin tells CIA station chief to leave in spy scandal
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany told the CIA station chief in Berlin to leave the country on Thursday in a dramatic display of anger from Chancellor Angela Merkel at the behaviour of a close ally after officials unearthed two suspected U.S. spies.
Ukraine readies plan against rebels; Germany, France press Putin
KIEV/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces regained more ground but sustained further casualties on Thursday in clashes with separatists, while two Western allies urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin to exert more pressure on the rebels to find a negot…
Gaza dead reach 78 as Israelis hint at invasion
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – At least 78 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s Gaza offensive, Palestinian officials said on Thursday as militants in the enclave kept up rocket attacks on Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities….
Kerry arrives in Afghanistan to broker resolution in disputed election
KABUL (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Afghanistan on Friday for talks in an effort to broker a resolution to a disputed election that threatens to stir up ethnic tensions and undermine a peaceful political transition.
Crime spree helps Pakistani Taliban squirrel away cash before raids begin
PESHAWAR Pakistan (Reuters) – In the months before Pakistan jets began pounding Taliban hideouts in the lawless border region near Afghanistan, militants were busily conducting an unprecedented wave of kidnapping and extortion, stockpiling cash for the…
