China’s state planning body grows more assertive as revamp looms
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will present proposals to revamp its behemoth economic planning agency at an annual session of parliament this week, sources said, but the organization’s role as an antitrust regulator could eventually be enhanced.
Magnitude 6.7 quake hits off Okinawa, Japan
(Reuters) – A magnitude 6.7 quake struck off Okinawa, Japan, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Sunday, but no tsunami was expected.
Tired of protests, Venezuelans take politics to the beach
CATIA LA MAR, Venezuela (Reuters) – Thousands of Venezuelans have escaped to the beach for the long Carnival weekend, heeding President Nicolas Maduro’s call to leave behind nearly a month of anti-government protests.
Gunmen kill French national in Libya’s Benghazi
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Gunmen killed a Frenchman and wounded an Egyptian in separate attacks in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi on Sunday, security sources said, as insecurity threatens to overwhelm the North African nation.
Suspected Islamists kill 85 in northeast Nigeria
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Suspected Islamist militants have killed at least 85 people in northeastern Nigeria, witnesses and officials said on Sunday, in a further setback to President Goodluck Jonathan’s military campaign.
Nine bodies, mostly women, found on Sri Lanka’s last battlefield
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Nine bodies, most of them women, have been found in a mass grave in Sri Lanka in the area where the last, bloody battle of a 26-year war with Tamil separatists was fought in 2009.
Suspected Kurdish rebels abduct local official in southeast Turkey
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Gunmen have abducted the top elected official of a village in southeastern Turkey, security sources said on Sunday, stirring concerns that violence could mount in the region before municipal polls on March 30.
Putin takes on West over Ukraine: who blinks first?
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken a gamble on Ukraine and is betting that U.S. President Barack Obama will blink first.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews stage mass protest against Israeli draft law
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews held a mass prayer in Jerusalem on Sunday in protest at a bill that would cut their community’s military exemptions and end a tradition upheld since Israel’s foundation.
Indian Hindu nationalist Modi turns to Muslim voters
LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) – Narendra Modi, the Hindu nationalist leader tipped as India’s next prime minister, appealed to Muslim voters on Sunday and hit out at rivals accusing him of bias against the country’s largest religious minority.
