Israel cuts army exemption granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s parliament on Wednesday approved a contentious law that abolishes blanket military exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students, ending a tradition upheld since the state’s foundation.
Six killed in Thailand in three-car crash caused by elephant
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Six people were killed in Thailand in a three-vehicle accident when a van crashed into a wild elephant crossing a road in pre-dawn darkness on Wednesday, a hospital official said.
Palestinian shepherds bitter at rise in Israeli demolitions
EIN EL HILWE, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian shepherd Mahmoud Ka’abneh has squeezed his family of 12 into a neighbor’s hut on a hilly desert oasis since an Israeli bulldozer turned his own flimsy dwelling into a pile of stones and twisted metal.
Nine arrested over stabbing of Hong Kong newspaper editor
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Police in Hong Kong and China have arrested nine men with suspected links to organized crime for the stabbing of a prominent Hong Kong journalist, the territory’s chief of police said on Wednesday, an attack that was seen by many …
Japan’s Abe seeks trilateral summit with Korea, U.S
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan is trying to arrange a trilateral summit with South Korea and the United States for this month, a government official said on Wednesday, in a bid to thaw Tokyo’s frozen relations with Seoul.
Greek public sector workers strike as job cuts run into fifth straight year
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek public sector workers shut schools and left hospitals on emergency staffing levels on Wednesday to protest against thousands more job cuts demanded by foreign lenders even as unemployment holds near record highs.
Sudanese police fire tear gas at funeral for slain student
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Security forces in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Wednesday fired tear gas at demonstrators attending a funeral for a student killed a day earlier, a Reuters witness said.
Manila air drops supplies to troops on disputed shoal
MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines air dropped food and water to soldiers stationed on a grounded transport ship on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, after China blocked two Filipino supply ships from reaching the troops, a senior navy official said on…
Saudi listing of Brotherhood as terrorist group complicates Gulf ties
DUBAI/KUWAIT (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s fierce campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood, already on the run in its Egyptian birthplace, has divided a Gulf Arab bloc, causing discomfort in some member states where the Islamist group is embedded in daily …
Broken north undermines Keita’s pledge of strong, united Mali
BAMAKO (Reuters) – President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita won power with a pledge to resurrect a “strong and united” Mali from the ashes of a war against Islamists militants yet six months later he has done little to heal the wounds of the conflict.
