Spanish journalist freed after being kidnapped in Syria
MADRID (Reuters) – Veteran Spanish journalist Marc Marginedas, kidnapped in Syria in early September last year, has been freed, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Sunday.
Mozambique’s Frelimo selects Guebuza loyalist as presidential candidate
MAPUTO (Reuters) – Mozambique’s ruling Frelimo party early on Sunday picked Defense Minister Filipe Nyusi, a close ally of current two-term President Armando Guebuza, to be its candidate for an election in October that will choose the country’s next le…
China sidesteps question on fate of former security chief
BEIJING (Reuters) – A senior Chinese government spokesman sidestepped a question about the fate of the country’s powerful former domestic security chief on Sunday, the first time a top official has been asked about a corruption case that has been shrou…
Thai vote goes smoothly as protesters regroup near Bangkok lakes
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand held re-run elections in five provinces where voting was disrupted in last month’s poll by anti-government protesters who decamped from a main Bangkok intersection on Sunday and moved inside a central park.
Iran says abducted border guards freed in Pakistan
DUBAI (Reuters) – Five Iranian border guards reportedly seized and held captive in Pakistan for three weeks have been freed, an Iranian military official has been quoted as saying, although Pakistani authorities said they had no knowledge of the incide…
Venezuela foreign minister to meet Ban Ki-moon in Geneva
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela said on Saturday its foreign minister will meet United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Geneva on Tuesday amid growing international calls for dialogue between political players to ease the OPEC nation’s worst unre…
Putin ready to invade Ukraine; Kiev warns of war
MOSCOW/KIEV (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded and won his parliament’s approval on Saturday to invade Ukraine, where the new government warned of war, put its troops on high alert and appealed to NATO for help.
At least 28 die in ‘terrorist’ attack at Chinese train station: reports
BEIJING (Reuters) – At least 28 people were killed by knife-wielding attackers in a “violent terrorist attack” at a train station in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming, and police shot dead five of the assailants, state media said on Sunday.
Obama, wary of foreign crises, faces East-West standoff in Ukraine
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As Russia deepened its military intervention in Ukraine’s Crimea region on Saturday, ignoring Barack Obama’s stern warning, the U.S. president faced a critical test of whether Washington has the leverage or the will to get Moscow…
Pakistani army fuels anger in securing Swat from Taliban
KHWAZAKHELA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani farmer Wazir Jamal was so upset about being forced off his patch of land to make way for an army base in the Swat Valley that he killed himself, family and friends say.
