Italy PM Letta says his budget can’t be everyone’s ‘Father Christmas’
ROME (Reuters) – Prime Minister Enrico Letta told critics of his 2014 budget on Friday that Italy still needed to demonstrate its credibility to wary financial markets, rejecting calls for steeper tax cuts and more measures to stimulate growth.
Egyptian soldier killed in gunbattle with militants in Sinai
ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) – An Egyptian soldier was shot dead in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday while the army was conducting a raid to arrest al Qaeda-linked militants, security sources said.
West increasingly wary of Assad ouster by Islamists: Russia
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Western diplomats are increasingly saying that President Bashar al-Assad keeping power is a better option for Syria than his overthrow by Islamist militants, Russia’s foreign minister was quoted as saying on Friday.
Uganda passes law meaning life in prison for some homosexual acts
KAMPALA (Reuters) – Uganda’s parliament passed a law on Friday that makes some homosexual acts punishable by life in prison, a move that raised alarm among gays who are already afraid to express their sexuality openly.
Turkish PM purges police, facing biggest threat of his rule
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan pressed a widening purge of the police command on Friday, tackling the biggest challenge of his rule from what he describes as a foreign-backed conspiracy to undermine him and create a “state within a …
In bleak Arab hinterland, hints of Jerusalem’s partition
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian Sana Musa holds her 8-year old daughter Susann’s hand as they start the long trek home from school across a caged walkway through Israel’s concrete separation wall.
Spanish police raid ruling party HQ in graft probe
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish police searched the headquarters of the ruling People’s Party (PP) for 14 hours on Thursday and Friday as part of a corruption investigation that earlier this year threatened to destabilize the government of Prime Minister Ma…
India government presses Supreme Court to drop gay sex ban
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s government petitioned the Supreme Court on Friday urging it to reverse a ban on gay sex, saying individual rights must be respected.
China probes top official in powerful ministry
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s vice minister of public security is under investigation for “suspected serious law and discipline violations”, the Communist Party’s anti-graft watchdog said on Friday.
Militia attack Muslims in Central African Republic’s capital
BANGUI (Reuters) – Heavy arms fire and gunshots rang out across the capital of the Central African Republic on Friday as Christian militia forces attacked Muslim neighbourhoods, sending residents fleeing.
