India extends monsoon session of parliament by a week to pass bills
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India has extended the monsoon session of parliament by seven days until September 6, government officials said on Monday, giving the Congress party-led ruling coalition more time to pass economic reforms after weeks of disruption…
Ex-Maoist fighters join army in Nepal but challenges remain
KHARIPATI, Nepal (Reuters) – Nepal commissioned a group of former Maoist rebel fighters as officers in the national army on Monday, fulfilling a main component of a fragile peace deal that ended civil war but has failed to bring political stability to …
Sri Lankans protest against U.N. rights chief’s visit
COLOMBO (Reuters) – About 100 Sri Lankan demonstrators led by Buddhist monks protested on Monday against U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, saying she should get out of the country and not criticize its human rights record.
Syria rebels seize strategic town, execute Alawite cleric: activists
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Rebel forces took control of a strategic town in northern Syria on Monday, cutting off government forces’ only supply route out of the city of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Macedonia overcomes political impasse, averts election
SKOPJE (Reuters) – Macedonia’s government and opposition on Monday resolved a row over responsibility for a parliamentary brawl that had threatened to trigger a snap election and further damage the country’s attempt to start European Union membership t…
U.S. would only act on Syria with international community: Hagel
JAKARTA (Reuters) – The United States would only take action on Syria in concert with the international community and with legal justification in response to the alleged chemical weapons attacks in Damascus, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on M…
Gunmen shoot at weapons experts’ vehicle in Damascus: U.N
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Unidentified snipers shot at and damaged a vehicle being used by U.N. chemical weapons investigators in Damascus on Monday as they sought to reach the site of a suspected poison gas attack, a U.N. spokesman said.
Iran’s Khamenei blames outsiders for Middle East’s woes
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed countries outside the Middle East on Monday for the region’s turmoil and the Shi’ite cleric said regional states backing radical Sunni Islamists would be damaged by conflict.
U.N. experts enter alleged poison gas attack site, test wounded: medic
BEIRUT (Reuters) – United Nations chemical weapons experts entered a Damascus suburb hit by an apparent chemical weapons attack and are now testing the victims, a doctor in the rebel-held town of Mouadimiya said on Monday.
Tens of thousands of Filipinos protest “pork barrel” funds
MANILA (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Filipinos angry at official corruption marched through the center of Manila and other cities to demand the abolition of a misused fund for legislators’ pet projects, the biggest protest aimed at Benigno Aquino’s …
