Exclusive: Patience runs thin as Syrian chemical handover stalls
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Western governments are growing impatient with Syria’s failure to follow up promptly on a first small shipment of chemical weapons and fear Damascus will miss a deadline to hand over all toxins by mid-2014.
North Korea warns U.S., South Korea military drills could spark disaster
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – North Korea took its demand for the United States and South Korea to halt joint military drills to the United Nations, holding a rare news conference on Friday to warn that the exercises could get “out of control and plunge i…
Venezuela decrees new price controls to fight inflation
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela on Friday decreed a new price control law that sets limits on company profits and establishes prison terms for those charged with hoarding or over-charging, part of socialist President Nicolas Maduro’s efforts to tame infl…
Ukraine leader pledges government reshuffle ahead of more rallies
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, in what appeared to be an offer of concessions to the opposition amid violent protests against his rule, pledged on Friday to reshuffle the government next week and to amend sweeping anti-protest …
At least 10 killed after blast at Congo arms dump
KINSHASA (Reuters) – An explosion at an arms depot in Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 10 people in a nearby town on Friday, according to a senior local government official.
Pakistani court sentences mentally ill Briton to death for blasphemy
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan has handed a death sentence for blasphemy to a 69-year-old Briton with a history of mental illness, even though his lawyers were barred from the courtroom partway through the trial, the law firm said on Friday.
Israeli troops kill Palestinian man in northern Gaza
GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man on Friday and wounded another in a cross-border confrontation with protesters in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army and Palestinian hospital officials said.
Third of Indian voters want BJP’s Modi for prime minister: poll
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – A third of Indian voters want Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi to be their next prime minister, placing him well ahead of his rivals in general elections due by May, according to the latest in a series of opinion polls that show ri…
Greece faces criticism over migrant boat drownings
ATHENS (Reuters) – A migrant boat mishap that killed at least two and left 10 missing has become the latest headache for Greece’s government, which had to deny claims its coast guard triggered it by towing the boat toward Turkish waters.
U.N. nuclear chief says still ‘long way to go’ on Iran
VIENNA (Reuters) – The U.N. nuclear chief said on Friday there was “still a long way to go” to resolve a decade-old dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, a note of caution days after Tehran curbed its atomic activity under an interim deal with world pow…