Berlusconi masterminded tax evasion plan, Italian court says
ROME (Reuters) – Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was the mastermind behind a complex system of tax evasion by his holding company Fininvest, Italy’s highest appeals court said on Thursday.
Egypt arrests senior Brotherhood politician El-Beltagi
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian police captured senior Muslim Brotherhood official Mohamed El-Beltagi on Thursday, security sources said, as they pressed on with a crackdown that has put most of the Islamist group’s top leaders behind bars.
Portugal top court rejects bill on firing public sector workers
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s Constitutional Court on Thursday dealt a new blow to the government’s austerity efforts under an EU/IMF bailout by rejecting a bill that would have effectively allowed the state to fire public sector workers after a requal…
U.N. five permanent members to meet on Syria Thursday
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The five permanent U.N. Security Council members will meet again on Thursday to discuss an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria last week as Western powers consider possible military action against the Syrian government, …
U.S. Officials say ‘no smoking gun’ implicating Assad in chemical attack
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. and its allies have “no smoking gun” proving Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad personally ordered his forces to use chemical weapons to attack a rebel-held Damascus neighborhood, U.S. national security officials said on T…
Shelling into Rwanda came from Congo rebel areas, U.N. says
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. peacekeepers in eastern Congo have witnessed shelling into Rwandan territory from positions occupied by M23 rebels over the past week and has not observed any firing into Rwanda by the Congolese army, a U.N. spokesman sa…
Ghosts of Iraq war force Britain to delay Syria strike
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron’s plans for joining a looming military strike on Syria were in disarray on Thursday after a revolt by lawmakers warning him to heed the “lessons of Iraq”.
Hungary’s leftist opposition forms alliance for 2014 vote
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary’s two main opposition parties joined forces ahead of an election due in 2014, an alliance that could pose a real challenge to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling party which has so far benefited from deep divisions on the …
Insight – Getting tough in Congo: can risk pay off for U.N. forces?
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – In lawless eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a new U.N. force is trying a different strategy for keeping the peace: going on the attack.
Insight: Syria pays for Russian weapons to boost ties with Moscow
MOSCOW (Reuters) – More than two years into Syria’s civil war, President Bashar al-Assad is settling his bills for Russian arms orders through the Russian banking system to try to shore up ties with his most powerful ally, according to a Russian arms i…
