Tunisian opposition agrees to transition talks
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia’s opposition coalition agreed on Friday to start direct talks with ruling Islamists on a transition plan under which the government would step down and make way for a caretaker administration and new elections.
Venezuela arrests ex-policemen who shamed new force
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan authorities on Friday arrested six former policemen who appeared in uniform in a homemade video cursing and firing their pistols in the air, embarrassing a new national force set up to improve the police’s dire image.
Violent gangs smuggle thousands into Italy: U.N. expert
ROME (Reuters) – Violent gangs are smuggling thousands of men, women and children into Italy, bypassing often inadequate border checks and other efforts to control the growing problem, the United Nations’ trafficking expert said on Friday.
India rushes to ready nuclear deal before Singh’s U.S. trip
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is making a last-minute push to close a nuclear deal in time for a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has made atomic energy cooperation with Washington a hallmark of his tenur…
Mexico scours for dozens missing amid floods as storms abate
LA PINTADA, Mexico (Reuters) – Rescuers cleared mud from shattered houses on Friday, searching for dozens of people missing after a mudslide flattened their village in southwest Mexico as some of the most destructive storms to hit the country in decade…
Child labor rising among Lebanon’s Syria refugees: UNICEF
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian refugees in Lebanon are becoming increasingly reliant on child labor to earn money for families now desperate to maintain basic necessities, the director of the United Nations children’s agency said.
Security forces hunt militants after storming town near Cairo
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian security forces were hunting for armed supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood on Friday after retaking control of a town near Cairo in a crackdown on Islamists.
Britain’s surging anti-EU party promises ‘earthquake’ at polls
LONDON (Reuters) – The leader of Britain’s rising right-wing anti-EU party on Friday promised a political “earthquake” with victory in next year’s European elections, a challenge that could threaten David Cameron’s hopes of a second term as prime minis…
Death toll from Boko Haram attack rises to 143: Nigerian official
MAIDUGURI (Reuters) – The death toll from an Islamist militant assault on travellers along a road in northeast Nigeria has risen to 143, an official from the local branch of the Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday.
Nigerian forces raid building in Abuja, seven killed
ABUJA (Reuters) – At least seven people were killed in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Friday in what security forces said was a shootout with Islamists, but witnesses at a hospital said was an attack on unarmed squatters.
