Italy’s Renzi pushes for change on election law
ROME (Reuters) – Italian center-left leader Matteo Renzi called on Thursday for swift reform of an electoral system blamed for the country’s bouts of political deadlock and said he expected an agreement could be completed within weeks.
U.S. senators press Afghan president over prisoner release
KABUL (Reuters) – U.S. senators visited the Afghan president on Thursday to try to push forward talks to sign a crucial bilateral security deal and halt the release of prisoners the United States considers a threat to security.
Suicide car bomber kills at least 12 in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A suicide bomber driving a car packed with explosives killed at least 12 people who had gathered to buy and sell cars in Iraq on Thursday, local officials said.
South Sudan army advances on rebel towns before peace talks
JUBA/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – South Sudan’s army (SPLA) said it was advancing on two rebel-controlled towns on Thursday as both sides gathered in Ethiopia for peace talks to end three weeks of violence that has pushed the world’s youngest nation towards…
Scandal-plagued Toronto mayor launches re-election campaign
TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who won global ridicule last year after admitting to having used crack cocaine, registered on Thursday for the October mayoral election, saying he was the best mayor Canada’s largest city has ever had and wou…
Snowden ‘justified,’ deserves lighter punishment: NYT editorial
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government should grant former NSA contractor Edward Snowden clemency or a plea bargain given the public value of revelations over the National Security Agency’s vast spying programs, the New York Times editorial board s…
Former Israeli leader Sharon’s condition deteriorating: hospital
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, comatose since a 2006 stroke, slipped closer to death on Thursday after a sharp decline in the condition of the ex-general who long symbolized Israel’s military might.
Somali Islamists claim Mogadishu hotel bombing
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Islamist militants in Somalia said on Thursday that they carried out the triple bombing on a Mogadishu hotel that killed at least 11 people.
Egypt arrests seven over Mansoura suicide bombing
CAIRO (Reuters) – Seven people, including the son of a Muslim Brotherhood leader, have been arrested in connection with a suicide bomb attack on a police station north of Cairo that killed 16 people last month, the interior minister said.
Yemeni al Qaeda claims responsibility for Aden bombing
DUBAI (Reuters) – Al Qaeda’s wing in Yemen on Thursday claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a police headquarters this week in southern Yemen’s main city and said it would make more assaults on the army.
