Bahrain toughens penalties for insulting king
MANAMA (Reuters) – The king of Bahrain has approved a law imposing a jail sentence of up to seven years and a fine of up to 10,000 dinars ($26,500) for anyone who publicly insults him.
Explosion on Britain’s east coast destroys two houses, injures seven
LONDON (Reuters) – An explosion at a house in Clacton on England’s east coast on Wednesday destroyed two houses and injured up to seven people, one seriously, emergency services said.
Eight trapped South African gold miners freed, nine still missing
DOORNKOP, South Africa (Reuters) – South African emergency workers rescued eight miners trapped a mile underground on Wednesday by a fire and rock-fall at Harmony Gold’s Doornkop mine near Johannesburg, but nine other workers remained unaccounted for.
Stormy start to Indian parliament’s last session before election
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s parliament opened its last session before a general election on Wednesday only to adjourn after a few hours of rowdy debate over the creation of a new state, with the pressing issue of corruption pushed into the background…
Business trip to Iran “not helpful”, Kerry tells France
DUBAI (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has told his French counterpart a trip to Iran by French business executives was “not helpful” and gave the wrong impression that Tehran was open for business as usual, a U.S. official said.
Former Greek bank chief arrested in bad loan inquiry
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek authorities arrested the former chairman of defunct state lender Hellenic Postbank (TT) on Wednesday on charges of money laundering and fraud, police and court officials said.
Israeli pilots punished for storing sensitive data on smartphones
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Two Israeli combat pilots were jailed for five days and 12 others were disciplined for storing operational maps on their smartphones, Israeli Army Radio reported on Wednesday.
North and South Korea to hold reunions in shadow of war drills
SEOUL (Reuters) – North and South Korea agreed on Wednesday to allow some families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War to hold brief reunions, despite a campaign by Pyongyang that Seoul cancel planned war games with the United States.
Indian parliament’s last session set to be pre-election scrap
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s parliament reconvened on Wednesday for its last session before a general election, a final chance for the ruling Congress party to convince voters it is taking action on corruption and to showcase the resolve of leader Rah…
Bloomberg to plug mayors’ climate progress to motivate world leaders
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg aims to use his new role as U.N. envoy on cities and climate change to help “frustrated” U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon motivate world leaders to cut greenhouse gas emissions by showing them pr…
