Britain enters talks with two consortiums to outsource arms buying
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s defense ministry is in talks with two consortiums – led by U.S. engineers CH2M Hill and Bechtel – that are competing to run its 159 billion pound ($249 billion) equipment buying program to cut delays and cost overruns.
Britain defends top official’s role in halting Snowden reports
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Home Secretary Theresa May defended on Wednesday the involvement of the nation’s most senior civil servant in ordering the Guardian newspaper to surrender leaked documents related to British and U.S. surveillance programs.
Hamas calls on Egypt to reopen border crossing
GAZA (Reuters) – Palestinian Islamist group Hamas urged Egypt on Wednesday to reopen the border crossing with the Gaza Strip that was closed after a suspected militant attack on Egyptian policemen near the frontier earlier this week.
Syria opposition says 1,300 killed in Damascus attack, chemicals used
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A leading Syrian opposition figure said on Wednesday 1,300 people had been killed in attacks by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces around Damascus in which he said chemical weapons had been used.
Gunmen kill Aden intelligence chief, his nephew in south Yemen: agency
ADEN (Reuters) – Assailants shot dead the intelligence chief of the southern Yemeni city of Aden and his nephew on Wednesday, state news agency Saba said, the latest in a series of attacks against senior officers.
Catholic monastery in Israel attacked by vandals
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Vandals hurled a firebomb at the outer wall of a Roman Catholic monastery in Israel and daubed anti-Christian graffiti on it, a police spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Turkey urges U.N. inspectors to investigate Syria gas attack report
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey called on U.N. inspectors to look into Syrian rebel reports that almost 500 people were killed on Wednesday in a gas attack and shelling by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, and said it was monitoring the situation “with g…
U.N. must investigate alleged gas attack in Syria: French minister
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The United Nations’ mission in Syria must immediately investigate an alleged chemical attack near the Syrian capital Damascus, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Wednesday.
Old order ‘remnants’ flex muscle in Tunisian politics
TUNIS (Reuters) – Step by step, the once-shunned officials of Tunisia’s old order have returned to the political scene and are turning up the pressure on the governing Islamist party Ennahda to make way for them.
UK National Security Adviser intervened in Guardian case: sources
LONDON (Reuters) – Kim Darroch, Britain’s National Security Adviser and one of Prime Minister David Cameron’s closest aides, was involved in talks with the Guardian newspaper to try to get it to hand over or destroy spy secrets leaked by Edward Snowden…
