In peril under India’s new PM, a vestige of Soviet-style planning
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi never had a high opinion of the Planning Commission, an institutional vestige of the country’s attempts to mimic the Soviet command economy during the infancy of its independence more than half …
Iraqi army presses Tikrit assault as lawmakers scramble to fill posts
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s army sent tanks and armored vehicles to try to dislodge insurgents from the northern city of Tikrit on Sunday, the second day of a pushback against a Sunni militant takeover of large stretches of Iraq.
Israel bombs Gaza after rocket attacks, Hamas gunman killed
GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces attacked militant targets in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing a Hamas gunman and wounding two others after a spate of rocket launches from the Palestinian territory, officials on both sides said.
Nigerian Islamists attack villages, churches near Chibok, dozens killed
MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) – Suspected Islamist militants killed dozens of people on Sunday in an attack on three Nigerian villages, including one targeting worshippers at a church, a few kilometres (three miles) from Chibok, the scene of an abduction…
Ukraine’s Poroshenko urges Putin to tighten borders after violence
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko urged President Vladimir Putin on Sunday to strengthen Russian control over its borders to prevent militants and arms entering Ukraine after violence broke a truce there.
Police use pepper spray to break up fan fight in Rio stadium
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Police used pepper spray to break up fights between Brazilian and Uruguayan fans during a World Cup match at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium on Saturday, a spokesman for the event’s local organizing committee said on Sunday…
Israel cranks up media campaign ahead of Iran nuclear deal deadline
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged international negotiators on Sunday not to “surrender” to Tehran, as he launched a media blitz three weeks ahead of a deadline for an Iranian nuclear deal.
Sectarian genie is out of the bottle from Syria to Iraq
BEIRUT (Reuters) – As jihadists storm through the Sunni heartlands of Iraq towards Baghdad, where a Shi’ite government they regard as heretic clings on, they have lifted the veil on deep sectarianism which has also stoked the fires of Syria’s civil war and is spilling over into vulnerable mosaic societies such as Lebanon.
Eyes on defense deals, Western powers rush to court India’s Modi
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Western governments are rushing to visit India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi, drawn by the prospect of multi-billion-dollar deals as the government prepares to open the nascent defense industry to foreign investment.
Ukraine’s Poroshenko: bustle and brio, but is he a match for Putin?
KIEV (Reuters) – Three weeks into his job, Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko looks like a man in a hurry.
