Czech president sets election date for October 25-26
PRAGUE (Reuters) – The Czech Republic will hold an election on October 25-26, President Milos Zeman officially announced on Friday, confirming a date he gave earlier for a snap poll that is expected to usher in a left-leaning, pro-European cabinet.
Gang rape of photo journalist shocks Indian financial city Mumbai
MUMBAI (Reuters) – A photo journalist was gang-raped in the Indian city of Mumbai, police said on Friday, evoking comparisons with a similar assault in New Delhi in December that led to nationwide protests and a revision of the country’s rape laws.
Britain operates secret monitoring station in Middle East: report
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain runs a secret monitoring station in the Middle East to intercept large numbers of telephone calls, emails and internet traffic that it shares with intelligence agencies in the United States, the Independent newspaper reported…
Tunisian opposition demands Islamist government quit
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia’s secular opposition said on Friday that the governing Islamists must quit power before they would join negotiations to resolve the country’s worst crisis since its Arab Spring revolt, declaring otherwise the talks would be a …
U.N. combat brigade fires on Congo rebel positions
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – A new U.N. combat brigade formed to try to neutralize armed groups in Congo by force if needed fired artillery at M23 rebels menacing the eastern border city of Goma anew, U.N. and Congolese military offic…
Long-term nerve damage feared after Syria chemical attack
LONDON (Reuters) – Even those who survived the suspected chemical weapons attack in Damascus – and many hundreds didn’t – may have life-long disabilities and health problems for which there are few effective treatments.
Gambling queen Pansy Ho primes business empire for a new Macau
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Pansy Ho, Hong Kong’s richest woman and the daughter of Macau gambling godfather Stanley Ho, is lining up her chips for a new era in the world’s casino capital that promises much more than gambling.
UK says it thinks Syria’s Assad was behind chemical attack
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Friday it believed forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were responsible for a chemical weapons attacks in the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus, saying it thought the Syrian government had “something to hide…
Rebels smuggling Syria chemical weapons strike evidence to U.N. experts
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian activists say they are smuggling out body tissue samples from victims of an alleged chemical weapons attack outside Damascus and are trying to get them to a team of United Nations inspectors staying in a hotel a few miles away…
UK’s Hague says believes Syria’s Assad behind chemical attack
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Friday it believed forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were responsible for a chemical weapons attacks in the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus, saying it thought the Syrian government had “something to hide…