Syria opposition holds first “unified” meet ahead of peace talks
CORDOBA, Spain (Reuters) – Disparate Syrian opposition groups, including several Islamist rebel representatives, met for the first time in the Spanish city of Cordoba to seek common ground ahead of peace talks with President Bashar al-Assad’s governmen…
Egyptian courts convict 113 over pro-Mursi protests
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian courts convicted 113 Muslim Brotherhood supporters on Thursday on charges including attacking police, rioting and weapons possession in three separate cases brought after protests against the army-backed government.
Belgium to let child killer accomplice go abroad to find new home
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The ex-wife and accomplice of Belgian child killer Marc Dutroux, whose crimes sparked mass protests from a shocked Belgian public, will be allowed to travel abroad with a view to finding a new home, a Belgian court has ruled.
U.N. strike stokes Palestinian refugee protests
JALAZOUN, West Bank (Reuters) – Residents of Palestinian refugee camps burnt tires and closed roads in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday in protests stemming from a month-long strike by the U.N. agency that operates the camps.
French court rules Kazakh dissident should be extradited
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) – Dissident Kazakh Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling up to $6 billion from his former bank BTA, should be extradited from France to Ukraine or Russia, a French court ruled on Thursday.
Israeli military lifts veil on its Iran listeners
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Iranian-born immigrants to Israel are drafted to its military intelligence units in disproportionately large numbers, an official report said on Thursday, reflecting high demand for Farsi speakers to monitor the Jewish state’s arc…
Afghanistan to free all but 16 of 88 prisoners seen as threat by U.S.
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan has enough evidence to try only 16 of 88 prisoners that the United States considers a threat to security and plans to free the remaining detainees, the president’s spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.
Syrian car bomb kills at least 18, dozens wounded
BEIRUT (Reuters) – At least 18 people, including women and children, were killed by a car bomb that went off near a school in the village of Al-Kafat in central Syria on Thursday, a monitoring group said.
Philippines typhoon rebuilding may cost 50 pct more this year than estimated
MANILA (Reuters) – The cost of typhoon reconstruction this year could reach 138 billion pesos ($3.1 billion), more than 50 percent higher than initially estimated, as the Philippines seeks to build back better and put in safeguards for future disasters…
Thai anti-government protesters march, consumer confidence slumps
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Protesters trying to topple Thailand’s prime minister marched in Bangkok again on Thursday, testing support for a planned “shutdown” of the capital next week, and a survey showed consumer confidence slumped last month because of the…
