In Syria outbreak, polio exploits conflict once more
LONDON (Reuters) – With the world tantalizingly close to wiping out polio, conflict in Syria has allowed the crippling disease to take hold again, putting at risk the rest of the region as well as plans for global eradication.
Libya oil crisis deepens as protesters shun talks
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s oil crisis deepened on Tuesday after protesters blocking western fields shunned talks and locals denied that an eastern terminal would reopen, frustrating government efforts to end three months of disruptions.
Czech left leader gains ground in post-election party row
PRAGUE (Reuters) – Czech Social Democrat leader Bohuslav Sobotka gained ground on Tuesday against rivals trying to depose him as party chief and candidate for prime minister, after an unconvincing election win last weekend.
Moldovan dancer says she was Concordia captain’s lover
GROSSETO, Italy (Reuters) – A young Moldovan dancer who was on the bridge of the Costa Concordia cruise liner with Captain Francesco Schettino when it capsized last year told an Italian court on Tuesday she had been his lover.
U.N. urges end of U.S. embargo on Cuba for 22nd time
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly for the 22nd time to condemn the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba, whose foreign minister said the American policy in place since 1959 was barbaric and amounted to g…
Sudan arrests seven university professors in crackdown on protests
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudanese authorities arrested seven university professors, a human rights lawyer said on Tuesday, extending a crackdown on opposition activists after fuel price increases touched off the country’s worst unrest for years.
Hollande says four French hostages kidnapped in Niger freed
PARIS (Reuters) – Four French hostages kidnapped by al Qaeda’s north African arm three years ago in Niger have been released, President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday.
Cyprus DNA tests rule out link to lost British toddler
NICOSIA (Reuters) – DNA tests in Cyprus have definitively ruled out the possibility that a Romanian man is Ben Needham, a British toddler who went missing on a Greek island 22 years ago, authorities said on Tuesday.
British justice on trial in phone-hacking trial, jury told
LONDON (Reuters) – The jury trying the editors of one of Rupert Murdoch’s former newspapers over phone hacking were told on Tuesday that British justice itself would be on trial.
Man found guilty of rape, mutilation that shocked South Africa
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A South African court found a 21-year-old man guilty on Tuesday of the rape, mutilation and murder of a teenager in a case that shocked a nation with one of the world’s highest levels of sexual violence.