Exclusive: Japan makes first oil payment to Iran in a year: sources
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan this week became the first of Iran’s oil buyers to make a payment for crude imports under an interim nuclear deal, sources told Reuters on Wednesday, as the West eased a year-long stranglehold on revenues that has crippled the I…
Protests hurting Ukraine economy: interim PM
KIEV (Reuters) – The confrontation between opposition-led protesters and the government of President Viktor Yanukovich, and a refusal to agree a compromise, is weighing on the Ukrainian economy, acting prime minister Serhiy Arbuzov said on Wednesday.
Thai protest leader mocks, PM defends rice-buying scheme
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s fiery protest leader denounced the government’s battered rice-buying scheme as corrupt and the prime minister leapt to its defense on Wednesday, days after an election did nothing to restore stability in the divided count…
Stormy start to Indian parliament’s last session before election
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Congress party hopes of pushing through new laws to tackle corruption stalled on Wednesday when the Indian parliament’s last session before a general election was adjourned amid rowdy scenes over the proposed creation of a new sta…
Kenyatta trial doomed unless Kenya helps: ICC prosecutors
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – The International Criminal Court has no realistic chance of successfully prosecuting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in the face of the Nairobi government’s “pure obstructionism”, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
U.S. bugged Schroeder when he was German chancellor: paper
BERLIN (Reuters) – The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) bugged the phone of former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder from at least 2002, a German newspaper reported on Wednesday, compounding the most serious row between between the allies in a dec…
Bahrain toughens penalties for insulting king
MANAMA (Reuters) – The king of Bahrain has approved a law imposing a jail sentence of up to seven years and a fine of up to 10,000 dinars ($26,500) for anyone who publicly insults him.
Explosion on Britain’s east coast destroys two houses, injures seven
LONDON (Reuters) – An explosion at a house in Clacton on England’s east coast on Wednesday destroyed two houses and injured up to seven people, one seriously, emergency services said.
Eight trapped South African gold miners freed, nine still missing
DOORNKOP, South Africa (Reuters) – South African emergency workers rescued eight miners trapped a mile underground on Wednesday by a fire and rock-fall at Harmony Gold’s Doornkop mine near Johannesburg, but nine other workers remained unaccounted for.
Stormy start to Indian parliament’s last session before election
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s parliament opened its last session before a general election on Wednesday only to adjourn after a few hours of rowdy debate over the creation of a new state, with the pressing issue of corruption pushed into the background…
