Labour says it wants budget surplus if it wins next UK election
LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of the opposition Labour party said on Sunday his party wants to eliminate Britain’s budget deficit by 2020 if it wins the next election, matching a pledge by Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party.
Violence-hit Central African Republic shortlists eight for president
BANGUI (Reuters) – Central African Republic lawmakers shortlisted eight candidates, including two sons of former presidents, on Sunday to become interim leader and pull the country out of months of turmoil and factional killings.
With eye on troubled region, UAE plans military service for men
DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will introduce compulsory military service for young Emirati men, it said on Sunday, a move highlighting the Gulf state’s concern over turmoil in its neighborhood.
Egypt charges secularists alongside Mursi in new case
CAIRO (Reuters) – Deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi was on Sunday ordered to stand trial for insulting the judiciary, legal sources said, alongside 24 others including liberal activists who opposed his Islamist rule but have also been critical o…
Syria says Interfax Assad comments on not giving up power inaccurate
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Syrian state media dismissed as “not accurate” a report by news agency Interfax that President Bashar al-Assad told visiting Russian parliamentarians he has no intention of giving up power and the issue is not up for discussion.
South Africa’s AMCU union to strike at world’s top platinum producers
RUSTENBURG, South Africa (Reuters) – The main trade union for South African platinum miners will strike next week at the world’s top three producers, hitting over half of global output and the margins of companies struggling to make profits.
Twenty Pakistani soldiers killed, PM cancels Davos trip
DERA ISMAIL KHAN/MIRANSHAH, Pakistan (Reuters) – A bomb planted by Taliban insurgents ripped through a vehicle carrying Pakistani troops on Sunday, killing 20 soldiers and prompting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to cancel his trip to the World Economic F…
Seven seriously hurt in Bangkok blast; military urges end to crisis
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Twenty-eight people were wounded, seven seriously, in explosions on Sunday at a camp of anti-government protesters in Bangkok, the latest violence in a prolonged political crisis dividing the country and threatening the Thai economy…
Russia’s Putin denies large-scale Olympic corruption
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that any large-scale corruption surrounded the Sochi Winter Olympics and challenged those with allegations of misconduct to come forward with proof.
Indian minister pledges cooperation for probe into wife’s death
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – An Indian government minister promised to cooperate in a probe into the death of his wife days after she accused him of adultery in a case that has become a political embarrassment for the ruling Congress in an election year.
