Insight: Assad forces fear rebel rampage in aftermath of U.S. strikes
BEIRUT (Reuters) – It isn’t the U.S. cruise missiles that terrify Saleem, a pro-government militia fighter who survived some of the toughest battles of Syria’s civil war. It’s the rebel onslaught that could begin once American bombs start to fall.
China releases prominent dissident early: group
BEIJING (Reuters) – China has released from prison early a prominent dissident and journalist who was jailed in 2005 for leaking state secrets abroad after Yahoo! was accused of helping authorities identify him, a rights group said.
Forty years after coup, Pinochet again divides Chile
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Four decades after a military coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power in Chile, a fierce debate over his long rule has shaken up the presidential election, with some right-wing politicians under fire for their past support of t…
NATO airstrike kills insurgents, possibly civilians, in Afghanistan
KABUL (Reuters) – A NATO airstrike targeting insurgents in Afghanistan’s lawless east hit a pickup truck carrying up to ten militants, officials said on Sunday, amid reports that at least eight civilians, including seven women and children, were also a…
ICC trials of Kenya’s leaders threaten to reopen wounds
ELDORET, Kenya (Reuters) – The approaching trials of Kenya’s president and his deputy in The Hague are worrying the upland communities that were rent apart by a post-election bloodbath more than five years ago, violence the two men are accused of orche…
Mafia hurt by asset seizures but still too strong to beat
NAPLES, Italy (Reuters) – Syringes litter the floor of an abandoned school in the crime-plagued Scampia district of northern Naples, alongside tin foil used for crack cocaine, a filthy mattress and piles of clothing.
Australia’s new government aims to re-boot mining boom
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australia’s incoming conservative government promised to re-boot a stalled mining boom and revive an appetite for investment on Sunday after leader Tony Abbott swept into office on a platform to scrap a mining tax and run a stable …
China premier calls for ‘human focus’ to urbanization plan
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s premier, Li Keqiang, wants his plan to turn more Chinese into city dwellers to be “humanity-centered”, focusing on quality of life and the environment and driven by job creation, the official China Daily newspaper reported o…
Mexican tax reform to avoid sales tax on food, medicine – officials
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The Mexican government has decided against levying a controversial sales tax on food and medicine as part of a key fiscal reform it will present on Sunday, officials in the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said …
Obama appeals for backing to hit Syria, Europeans urge delay
WASHINGTON/VILNIUS (Reuters) – President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to back him in launching an attack on Syria, as diplomatic pressure grew on the United States to wait for a U.N. report expected in a week’s time before beginning militar…
