Merkel coalition in dead heat with opposition: Allensbach poll
BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition was in a dead heat against the combined leftist opposition in an opinion poll by the Allensbach institute that was released on Friday ahead of Sunday’s election.
Brazilian rancher found guilty of ordering American nun’s death
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – A rancher in Brazil’s Amazon was sentenced to 30 years in prison for ordering the 2005 killing of American nun and environmental activist Dorothy Stang, an emblematic case for the many conflicts over land use in Brazil’s resource-…
Syria has given chemical weapons details to watchdog
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Syria has submitted details of its chemical weapons to Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, the organization told Reuters on Friday.
U.N. nuclear assembly rejects Arab push on Israel
VIENNA (Reuters) – Member states of the U.N. nuclear agency on Friday rejected an Iranian-backed Arab bid to single out Israel for criticism over its assumed atomic arsenal, in a diplomatic victory for Western powers that opposed the initiative.
Ukraine leader says on course for EU deals, stalls on Tymoshenko
YALTA, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukraine’s president said on Friday he was trying to resolve a standoff over jailed opponent Yulia Tymoshenko, whom European leaders want freed before a landmark summit, but that no decision had been made.
Exotic language stalls U.S. trial of Guinea Bissau’s ex-navy chief
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States is struggling to prosecute one of the prized catches in its global war on drugs, Guinea Bissau’s former navy chief Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto, because lawyers cannot find enough translators who speak his native K…
Merkel coalition and left neck-and-neck in Sunday’s vote: poll
BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition and the combined leftist opposition parties are running neck-and-neck before Sunday’s election, a poll showed on Friday, increasing the likelihood of a Merkel-led right-left coalition…
Hundreds of Syria rebels pledge loyalty to Qaeda groups: activists
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hundreds of rebels have pledged allegiance to al Qaeda-affiliated forces in northern and eastern Syria, activists and Islamist sources said on Friday, strengthening the group’s control in the region.
Nigerian forces fight Islamists near lawmakers’ Abuja quarters
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigerian forces and members of Boko Haram clashed in a shoot out near the main residential compound for lawmakers in Abuja on Friday, state security services said, the first clash involving Islamist militants in the capital this year….
Pakistani army, government at loggerheads over Taliban talks
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Disagreement over how to handle an escalating insurgency has put Pakistan’s all-powerful army on a collision course with the government, with the military increasingly vocal in its criticism of civilian leaders, officials and dipl…