Manila backtracks on South China Sea accusation against China
MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Benigno Aquino said on Wednesday the concrete blocks found on a disputed shoal in the South China Sea are “very old”, backtracking on Manila’s earlier accusation that China was building new structures in the area…
Malaysia curbs on use of ‘Allah’ hurting moderate Muslim image
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s self-styled image as a global leader of moderate Islam has been undermined by a court ruling that only Muslims can use the word “Allah” to refer to God, with a growing number of Muslim scholars and commentators conde…
Yemeni burns daughter to death for contacting fiance: police
DUBAI (Reuters) – A Yemeni father has burned his 15-year-old daughter to death for keeping in touch with her fiance, police said, sparking further outrage in Yemen, where an eight-year girl died from internal bleeding on her wedding night a month ago.
Jerusalem mayor re-elected in blow to ex-Foreign Minister Lieberman
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Israeli mayor of Jerusalem won re-election on Wednesday in a hotly contested race that dealt a political blow to his challenger’s main backers, former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.
France may revise transport tax after trucker, farmer strike
PARIS (Reuters) – France will consider revising a proposed tax on heavy road transport following go-slow operations by farmers and truck drivers who say it will add to their economic problems, Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said on Wednesday.
Freed Chinese cartoonist refuses to be cowed by Internet crackdown
BEIJING (Reuters) – Political cartoonist Wang Liming has spent three years publishing caricatures skewering China’s leaders and is no stranger to the country’s police. But it was a microblog post that got him into trouble last week.
Insight: The struggle to tame Africa’s beast of a megacity
LAGOS (Reuters) – A walk along the two kilometers of light rail that Lagos authorities have managed to build in three years gives a sense of how hard it is to impose order on one of Africa’s most chaotic cities.
Australians evacuate homes as hot winds fan Sydney fire threat
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Thousands of Australians were urged to evacuate their homes on Wednesday as dry winds threatened to fan a firestorm in mountainous bushland around Sydney, where firefighters battled to control blazes which have been raging for a week…
U.S. broke international law by killing civilians with drones: rights groups
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Human rights groups on Tuesday accused the United States of breaking international law and perhaps committing war crimes by killing civilians in missile and drone strikes that were intended to hit militants in Pakistan and Yemen….
Saudi Arabia warns of shift away from U.S. over Syria, Iran
DOHA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Upset at President Barack Obama’s policies on Iran and Syria, members of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family are threatening a rift with the United States that could take the alliance between Washington and the kingdom to its lowes…
