Thai polling chiefs, seeking to fix broken vote, meet and adjourn
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai election officials struggled on Thursday to shore up a chaotic weekend ballot disrupted by anti-government protesters who blocked polling stations and stopping people voting in nearly a quarter of the country.
Turkey tightens Internet controls as government battles graft scandal
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s parliament has approved internet controls enabling web pages to be blocked within hours in what the opposition decried as part of a government bid to stifle a corruption scandal with methods more suitable to “times of coups”…
North Korea says B-52 run imperils family reunions
SEOUL (Reuters) – A nuclear-capable U.S. B-52 bomber sortie over South Korea has endangered plans for reunions between families from the North and South of the country and risks triggering a further escalation of military tension, North Korea said on T…
France likely to extend mission in Central African Republic: minister
PARIS (Reuters) – French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Thursday the United Nations would probably have to renew a French mandate for French troops to restore order in Central African Republic when it expires in May.
Iran says may modify Arak reactor to allay nuclear concerns: TV
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran is prepared to modify its planned Arak heavy water reactor to help allay Western concerns, its nuclear energy chief said in published remarks that could be the first such suggestion by a senior Iranian official.
Afghanistan’s election watchdog plagued by delays, funding woes
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s election watchdog may not be ready in time for a presidential vote in April because of funding and staffing problems, a setback that could undermine a ballot already threatened by a repeat of the widespread fraud seen in…
Syrian rebels declare new assault on Aleppo after Assad gains
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Rebels announced a new military campaign in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo on Thursday, a few days after government forces stepped up air attacks in a bid to recapture territory and drive residents out of opposition-held area…
Egypt army chief Sisi says he will run for president: report
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who deposed the country’s first freely elected leader, has said he will run for president, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Thursday.
At least eight dead in South African gold mine accident
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Rescuers recovered eight bodies and continued to search for another missing worker on Thursday after a fire and rock-fall at a Harmony Gold mine near Johannesburg, the worst accident in South Africa’s mines in nearly five years…
Russia says now is not the time for U.N. resolution on aid to Syria
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – As Western and Arab nations prepared to push for a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for better access to aid in war-torn Syria, Russia said on Wednesday that now was not the right time for such a move.
