White House seeks to limit fallout from U.S.-Saudi tensions
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration sought on Wednesday to limit any damage to the long-standing U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia in a rift over America’s role in the Middle East that has underscored growing strategic differences.
Afghan bomb squads in short supply as NATO prepares to leave
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) – The Afghan soldiers studying the art of controlled detonations of explosive devices would have to wait until another day for a practical demonstration due to an unspecified security threat.
A new leader rises as India’s regions flex their muscle
HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) – When Jagan Mohan Reddy finally emerged from 16 months behind bars in southern India last month, the adoring crowd that greeted the young politician was so enormous that it took him six hours to drive the 11 km (7 miles) to …
Tunisian police battle militants before political talks
TUNIS (Reuters) – Six Tunisian policemen were killed in armed clashes with militants in a central town on Wednesday, as the government cracked down on Islamist fighters using the chaos in neighboring Libya’s to get weapons and training.
Russia reduces charges against Greenpeace activists over Arctic protest
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia on Wednesday dropped piracy charges against 30 people involved in a Greenpeace protest against Arctic oil drilling, replacing them with lesser offences and cutting the maximum jail sentence they face to seven years from 15.
Suicide attack kills two Chadian UN troops, child in Mali
BAMAKO (Reuters) – A suicide blast killed two Chadian troops from the U.N. mission in Mali and injured six other peacekeepers in an assault on a checkpoint at the entry to the northern town of Tessalit on Wednesday.
Much of Syria blacked out by rebel attack on gas pipeline: government
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Much of Syria, including the capital Damascus, was hit by a power cut late on Wednesday after rebels attacked a gas pipeline, state media said.
Egypt military officers back army chief for president
CAIRO (Reuters) – Anxious over months of turmoil in Egypt, military officers are pushing popular army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to run for president, after a 2011 popular uprising had inspired hopes for democratic change in a country long dominated by…
Mexico ruling party ready to back higher junk food tax: lawmaker
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is ready to support an opposition proposal to increase a planned tax on junk food, the party’s leader in the Senate said on Wednesday.
Congo’s Kabila pledges unity government, pressures rebels
KINSHASA (Reuters) – President Joseph Kabila said on Wednesday he would create a national unity government in an attempt to end years of crisis in Democratic Republic of Congo, a move cautiously welcomed by some rivals but which analysts warned could d…
