China’s Xi to take personal charge of pushing through reforms
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping will head a group steer economic and social reforms, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday, underscoring his determination to push through change amid fears of resistance from vested interests.
China says Japan PM ‘shuts door’ on talks with war shrine visit
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Monday that its leaders will not meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after his visit to a shrine seen by critics as a symbol of Tokyo’s wartime aggression, underscoring the deteriorating ties between Asia’s two big…
Special Report: Japan’s homeless recruited for murky Fukushima clean-up
SENDAI, Japan (Reuters) – Seiji Sasa hits the train station in this northern Japanese city before dawn most mornings to prowl for homeless men.
Chinese police kill eight in Xinjiang ‘terrorist attack’
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese police shot dead eight people during a “terrorist attack” in the western region of Xinjiang on Monday, the government said, raising the death toll from violent clashes there to at least 35 since November.
Second blast in Russia’s Volgograd kills 14 on trolleybus
VOLGOGRAD, Russia (Reuters) – A bomb blast ripped a trolleybus apart in Volgograd on Monday, killing 14 people in the second deadly attack in the southern city in two days and raising fears of further violence as Russia prepares to host the Winter Olym…
Antarctic blizzard halts icebreaker’s bid to rescue stranded ship
SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Antarctic blizzard has halted an Australian icebreaker’s bid to reach a Russian ship trapped for a week with 74 people onboard, rescuers said on Monday.
Former aide to retired Chinese security chief probed for graft
BEIJING (Reuters) – A former aide to retired Chinese security tsar Zhou Yongkang has been placed under investigation for corruption, the government said, the latest move targeting people close to Zhou who is himself subject to a graft probe.
Libyan oil guards threaten to block gas pipeline to Tripoli: sources
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Oil security guards in central Libya have threatened to block a gas pipeline to the capital Tripoli unless the government meets their salary demands, oil sources and local media said on Sunday.
U.S. defense chief voices concern in call to Egypt army head
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top U.S. defense official expressed “concern” about recent developments in Egypt in a call on Sunday to Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Pentagon said.
Suicide bomber kills at least 16 at Russian train station
VOLGOGRAD, Russia (Reuters) – A suicide attacker set off a bomb in the entrance hall of a Russian train station on Sunday, investigators said, killing at least 16 people in the second deadly attack within three days as Russia prepares to host the Winte…
