Council of Europe raps Azerbaijan over rights record
BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan suffered an embarrassing and sharply timed rebuke on Friday when Europe’s main human rights and democracy forum accused it of intimidating and repressing its critics.
Congolese warlord jailed for brutal machete attack
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Congolese warlord Germain Katanga was given a 12 year sentence on Friday by the International Criminal Court for his part in an ethnically motivated attack more than a decade ago in which the victims were “carved” limb from limb.
Rumblings of dissent against India’s Gandhi after election drubbing
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Dissenting voices in India’s Congress party have for the first time lashed out at the campaign team of Rahul Gandhi, who led the 128-year-old party to the worst electoral defeat in its history last week.
Tunisian soldier killed in landmine explosion near Algerian border
TUNIS (Reuters) – A Tunisian soldier was killed and five wounded on Friday in a landmine explosion near the Algerian border where security forces have been hunting Islamist militants, the army said.
Egypt’s Brotherhood struggles to regroup in exile
DOHA/DUBAI (Reuters) – Exiled leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood are struggling to regroup, targeted by hostile Arab powers, cut off from senior colleagues imprisoned back home and challenged by angry young followers tempted to seek change by violen…
U.N. torture watchdog urges Vatican to pursue sex criminals
GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations torture watchdog called on the Vatican on Friday to cooperate with civil authorities in prosecuting all cases of suspected sexual abuse by pedophile priests and to set up its own independent complaints mechanism.
Nigerian president, leaders to discuss African militant threat
ABUJA/MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, facing a mounting Islamist insurgency at home, will fly to South Africa to discuss ways of tackling militancy across the continent with African heads of state, his spokesman sai…
China warns Japan, Philippines accuses China in maritime spat
BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) – China warned Japan on Friday to stay out of a growing dispute with its neighbors over the South China Sea, as the Philippines implicitly accused Beijing of delaying talks aimed at a solution.
Pakistani government feels weight of army’s heavy hand
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – At Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s palatial offices in Islamabad this week, the army chief sat down to deliver the head of government a message he did not want to hear: The time for talks with the troublesome Pakistani Tal…
Erdogan visit brings Turkey’s divisions to streets of Cologne
BERLIN (Reuters) – A visit by Tayyip Erdogan to Cologne on Saturday to address thousands of expatriate Turks threatens to bring Turkey’s political tensions to German streets, despite an appeal by Chancellor Angela Merkel for him to adopt a sensitive to…
