Thai crisis deepens as PM’s supporters weigh in
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s red-shirted supporters said on Wednesday they were ready to defend her government in the streets from an elite-backed protest movement seeking to install an unelected “People’s Council”.
France’s Greens start fight against new surveillance powers
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s Green Party said it would back a campaign to force the constitutional court to review a new law that expands the government’s powers to monitor phone and Internet connection data without authorization from a judge.
Media urge Syrian rebels to stop kidnappings
LONDON (Reuters) – International news organizations called on Syrian rebel leaders on Wednesday to stop armed groups kidnapping journalists, saying dozens of abductions were preventing full media coverage of the civil war.
Mexico Senate passes energy bill; goes to lower house
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s Senate on Wednesday passed an energy bill that aims to lure private capital into the state-run oil and gas industry, in the biggest strategic shift since the world’s No. 10 oil producer nationalized the sector in 1938.
Uruguay’s move to legalize marijuana breaks treaty: INCB
VIENNA (Reuters) – Uruguay’s legalization of marijuana violates an international drug control convention and fails to consider a negative health impact, a body set up to monitor compliance with the five-decade-old treaty said on Wednesday.
Uproar in Egyptian court halts Islamist leaders’ trial
CAIRO (Reuters) – An Egyptian judge halted the trial of leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday after they shouted slogans and refused to cooperate with the court.
Religious leaders seek calm in tense Central African Republic
BANGUI (Reuters) – Religious leaders sought reconciliation between Muslims and Christians in Central African Republic on Wednesday during a lull in violence that has killed hundreds of people and drawn in French troops seeking to stop the bloodshed.
Thousands of South Africans line up to see Mandela lie in state
PRETORIA (Reuters) – Thousands of people lined up on Wednesday to say goodbye to Nelson Mandela, whose body lay in state in Pretoria in the building where the anti-apartheid hero was inaugurated in 1994 as South Africa’s first black president.
Portugal considers asylum for 74 Syrians with fake passports
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal is considering asylum requests from a group of 74 Syrians detained after flying in from Guinea-Bissau using fake Turkish passports, Portuguese officials said on Wednesday.
Opposition mounts to Israel’s Arab Bedouin transfer plan
BIR MSHASH, Israel (Reuters) – Israel is promoting a plan to transfer some 40,000 Arab Bedouin citizens from traditional villages into towns despite opposition by activists and senior government officials that threatens to derail it.
