Abbas designates PM to head new Palestinian unity cabinet
RAMALLAH West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday asked Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to head a new national unity government which will bring together the feuding Hamas and Fatah parties.
Hungary’s Socialist leader quits after crushing poll defeats
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungarian Socialist party Chairman Attila Mesterhazy resigned on Thursday, paying the price for crushing election defeats in a move likely to reinforce Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s already strong hold on power.
Iran plans June launch of plant for curbing low-grade uranium stash: diplomats
VIENNA (Reuters) – Iran is planning to start up a plant in June that will convert low-enriched uranium gas into an oxide form less suitable for making nuclear bombs, as required by a landmark deal with world powers, diplomats said.
China vows to strengthen education, development in restive west
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that China must strengthen education and work to alleviate poverty in the western region of Xinjiang, as the government works to weed out extremism in a region prone to unrest.
China suggests U.S. may have fabricated evidence for cyberattacks
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s suggested on Thursday that the United States had fabricated evidence to underpin accusations of cyber attacks and had incited China’s neighbors to “stir up trouble” in disputed waters.
Indian teen girls gang-raped and hanged from a tree: police
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Indian police have arrested one man and are looking for four other suspects after two teenage girls were gang-raped and then hanged from a tree in a village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, police said on…
Sudan says it declined Iran air defense offer after attack
DUBAI (Reuters) – Sudan turned down an Iranian offer to set up air defenses on its Red Sea coast after a 2012 air strike Khartoum blamed on Israel, fearing they would upset Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia, Sudan’s foreign minister was quoted as sayi…
South Africa’s mines minister: from hunter to strike buster
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – In his spare time, South Africa’s tough new mines minister, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, enjoys stalking game with a rifle in the wild bush of his native Limpopo province.
Ukraine separatists down army helicopter, 14 killed
DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) – Pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian army helicopter on Thursday, killing 14 soldiers including a general, as government forces pressed ahead with an offensive to crush rebellions in the east swiftly following the e…
Australia says missing Malaysia plane not where ‘pings’ heard
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner suffered a further setback on Thursday after Australian officials said wreckage from the aircraft was not on the seabed in the area they had identified.
