Syrian opposition vows to help prevent journalists being kidnapped
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Syrian rebel leaders said they would do all they could to protect journalists but were hampered by infighting, after international news organizations complained kidnappings were preventing full media coverage of the civil war.
Qatari-funded fuel enters Gaza to ease power crisis
GAZA (Reuters) – Israel allowed the entry of 450,000 liters of fuel, paid for by Qatar, into the Gaza Strip on Sunday to enable the Palestinian territory’s sole power plant to resume operations.
No whiff of dissent in Turkmenistan’s first multi-party vote
ASHGABAT (Reuters) – The Central Asian state of Turkmenistan, described by rights groups as one of the world’s most repressive, proclaimed its first multi-party elections on Sunday; but both parties vowed loyalty to its leader and opponents remained in…
Catalans want independence referendum in 2014: poll
MADRID (Reuters) – The majority of Catalans want the right to decide on independence in a referendum and believe Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy should authorize such a vote, a poll showed on Sunday.
Japanese diplomat stabbed in Yemen kidnap bid: source
SANAA (Reuters) – Armed men stabbed a Japanese diplomat in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday when he resisted a kidnapping attempt near his house, a security source said.
Iran committed to continuing nuclear talks: foreign minister
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran will continue nuclear negotiations with world powers despite “unsuitable actions” which led to it halting technical talks in Vienna, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday.
France says to seek European help in Central African Republic
PARIS (Reuters) – France will ask for more help from European partners to bolster its peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday.
Death toll in Kenya bus attack rises to six
NAIROBI (Reuters) – The death toll in a grenade attack on a minibus near a Somali-dominated area in Kenya’s capital at the weekend has risen to six after two more of the wounded died, police said on Sunday.
Wary of Roma, Europe cold-shoulders its new eastern workmates
BERLIN/BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Mitko keeps a tidy squat, a tartan blanket on the bed and his clothes stowed away. Lit by candles, heated by a gas canister and padlocked when he is out, it is the 39-year-old Roma’s haven inside an old graffiti-covered ice…
Insight: Syria uses red tape, threats to control U.N. aid agencies
BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) – It is a 15-minute drive from the five-star hotel that houses U.N. aid staff in Damascus to rebel-held suburbs where freezing children are starving to death.
