Italy’s Renzi cuts local government in first step of ambitious agenda
ROME (Reuters) – Italy passed legislation on Thursday to eliminated wasteful layers of government at the provincial level in the initial step of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s ambitious reform agenda.
Bahrain police, protesters clash after Shi’ite funeral: witnesses
MANAMA (Reuters) – Anti-government demonstrators throwing petrol bombs clashed with police who fired tear gas and birdshot in Bahrain on Thursday following a funeral procession in a Shi’ite Muslim village south of the capital Manama, witnesses said.
Fearing cyberattack, Israel curbs government websites’ foreign traffic
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel will temporarily suspend some of its government websites’ international traffic to fend off a potential mass-cyber attack by pro-Palestinian hackers, an Israeli security source said on Thursday, without elaborating on the t…
Erdogan takes battle with enemies beyond Turkish frontiers
ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s battle to root out the “terrorists” he says are embedded in the Turkish state is extending beyond its frontiers to Africa and Asia, further complicating foreign policy already hit by tensions …
Iran, six powers start expert-level nuclear talks in Vienna
VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran and six world powers began an expert-level meeting about Tehran’s nuclear program on Thursday, part of efforts to reach an agreement by late July on how to resolve a decade-old dispute that has stirred fears of a Middle East war…
Sweden should come question Assange: Ecuador’s UK ambassador
LONDON (Reuters) – Sweden should question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador’s London embassy about sex assault claims that have kept him stuck there for almost two years, Quito’s ambassador to Britain said on Thursday.
Chileans split on whether Bachelet can clinch social reforms
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chileans are split on whether center-left president Michelle Bachelet will deliver on her three flagship proposals for tax, education and constitutional reforms, a poll showed on Thursday.
Four Russian servicemen killed in North Caucasus bomb attack
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Four Russian servicemen were killed and seven wounded after a bomb hit their infantry combat vehicle in the restive North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, Russia’s Interior Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Palestinian U.N. moves designed to avoid U.S. retaliation
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed onto 15 international conventions on Tuesday, he shocked the U.S. sponsors of troubled Middle East peace talks. But the move was carefully limited to avoid American retalia…
More Brazilian police sentenced to jail for 1992 prison massacre
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A Brazilian court has sentenced 15 police officers to 48 years in prison each for their roles in the deaths of four inmates in the bloody crackdown of a 1992 prison riot that left 111 people dead.
