Italy’s Monti quits party as budget opposition mounts
ROME (Reuters) – Former Prime Minister Mario Monti on Thursday left the party he founded this year as political tensions over Italy’s 2014 budget raised a new threat to the stability of Enrico Letta’s government.
Palestinian rams digger into Israel army base, shot dead: military
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian after he rammed a mechanical digger through the gate of an army base in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem on Thursday, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.
Saudi, Chad, Nigeria, Chile, Lithuania elected to U.N. Security Council
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia, Chad and Nigeria were elected by the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday to serve a two-year term on the U.N. Security Council as human rights groups called for all three countries to improve their records.
Merkel to enter full coalition talks with center-left SPD
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) agreed on Thursday to begin formal negotiations on a grand coalition government that is likely to ramp up public investment and introduce a mi…
Family demands return of Nazi war criminal’s body
ROME (Reuters) – The family of Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke demanded the return of his body on Thursday after his funeral was disrupted by protesters and his coffin taken away by Italian authorities.
Azerbaijan protests over Russia’s handling of murder suspect
BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan said on Thursday it has protested to Russia about police treatment of an Azeri migrant suspected of killing an ethnic Russian man in Moscow last week.
Syrian refugees camp out in Milan train station
MILAN (Reuters) – About 200 refugees fleeing Syria’s civil war are camping out in Milan’s central railway station after many were stopped from leaving Italy as they tried to reach northern Europe.
Pirate attacks by heavily armed gangs surge off Nigerian coast
LONDON (Reuters) – Pirate attacks off Nigeria’s coast have jumped by a third this year with ships passing through West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, a major commodities hub, increasingly under threat from gangs wanting to snatch cargoes and crews.
Bachelet way ahead of the pack, but Chile runoff likely: poll
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Popular center-left candidate Michelle Bachelet is poised to win Chile’s presidential election next month, but eight other candidates jostling in the first round may push the vote to a runoff, a poll showed on Thursday.
Nobel winners urge Putin to drop Greenpeace piracy charge
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Eleven Nobel Peace Prize laureates urged Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday to drop piracy charges against 30 people detained over a Greenpeace protest last month at an Arctic oil rig.
