US: Sri Lanka refuses visa for State Dept official after war crime accusations
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka has refused a visa request for a U.S. State Department official, the U.S. Embassy said on Tuesday after Washington signaled it would propose a U.N. resolution against the South Asian state over alleged war crimes.
Colombia probes reported military spying of peace negotiators
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos ordered an investigation into the apparent spying of his negotiating team at peace talks with Marxist FARC rebels and suggested that “dark forces” were trying to sabotage his bid to end five de…
Two rockets hit Baghdad’s Green Zone, car bombs kill 10
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Rockets hit Baghdad’s heavily fortified “Green Zone”, home to the prime minister’s office and several Western embassies, on Tuesday and car bombs elsewhere in the capital killed 10 people, police and medical sources said.
Tunisian police kill seven militants, including senior commander
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian police killed seven Islamist militants, including a senior commander wanted for the assassination of two opposition leaders, after a clash outside Tunis where the armed group had stashed arms and bomb belts.
Blast outside minority Shi’ite mosque in Pakistan kills eight
By Hameedullah Khan PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least eight people on Tuesday near a mosque frequented by minority Shi’ite worshippers in a densely populated neighborhood of the Pakistani city of Peshawar, police and docto…
Somaliland blessed by dodging aid ‘curse’: minister
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – The breakaway territory of Somaliland cannot access foreign aid because it has not yet been recognized internationally as a state, and that suits it just fine.
Britain reveals it advised India on 1984 Golden Temple assault
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain secretly helped India plan a deadly assault on Sikh separatists holed up in the Golden Temple at Amritsar in 1984, the government said on Tuesday, saying London’s influence was limited and there was therefore no need for an a…
Ukrainian opposition seeks to cut president’s powers
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovich, battling mass unrest against his rule, faced demands from the opposition on Tuesday for a constitutional change that would seriously curtail his powers.
Erdogan struggles with Merkel’s scepticism on Turkish EU bid
BERLIN (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged Angela Merkel to throw Germany’s full weight behind his country’s bid to join the European Union but there was no sign the chancellor had been swayed from her skeptical stance on Turkish me…
Egypt summons Qatar’s chargé d’affaires over Egyptian cleric
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it had summoned Qatar’s chargé d’affaires to demand the extradition of Youssef al-Qaradawi, one of the most influential Sunni Muslim clerics in the Middle East.
