Mexico ruling party ready to back higher junk food tax: lawmaker
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is ready to support an opposition proposal to increase a planned tax on junk food included in the government’s fiscal reform, the PRI’s leader in the Senate said on Wednesd…
Brazil high court ruling on large Indian reserve a setback for farmers
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the terms for the creation of one of the country’s largest Indian reservations did not apply elsewhere, in a setback for agricultural interests hoping to limit the expansion of reserve…
Tunisian police battle militants, talks delayed
TUNIS (Reuters) – Seven Tunisian policemen were killed in clashes with militants on Wednesday as the government cracked down on Islamist fighters using the chaos in neighboring Libya to get weapons and training.
Tank traps meet tourist traps at Korea’s Demilitarised Zone
DEMILITARISED ZONE, South Korea (Reuters) – South Korean soldiers are everywhere on the south side of the misleadingly named Demilitarized Zone. They guard buildings and man roadblocks to keep the invading hordes at bay.
Pakistan prime minister urges Obama to end drone strikes
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif urged U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday to end drone strikes in Pakistan, touching on a sore subject just as relations between the two countries improve after years of suspicion over A…
Insight: China party’s secretive judicial system laid bare in torture case
BEIJING (Reuters) – As Yu Qiyi’s interrogation entered its 39th day, officials from the Chinese Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog debated how to get a confession out of the detained man, the chief engineer at a state-owned firm in eastern Wenz…
Insight: China party’s secretive judicial system laid bare in torture case
BEIJING (Reuters) – As Yu Qiyi’s interrogation entered its 39th day, officials from the Chinese Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog debated how to get a confession out of the detained man, the chief engineer at a state-owned firm in eastern Wenz…
United Nations set to send mission guards to Central African Republic
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has recommended 560 troops be sent to the Central African Republic to protect a United Nations political mission in the virtually lawless country.
U.N. envoy says Iran human rights record should not be overlooked amid overtures
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Iran’s human rights record should not be overlooked amid overtures to the West by new President Hassan Rouhani, a U.N. envoy said on Wednesday as he criticized Tehran for executing 724 people in 18 months, including dozens ju…
Germany says U.S. may have monitored Merkel’s phone
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government has obtained information that the United States may have monitored the mobile phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel and she called President Barack Obama on Wednesday to demand an immediate clarification, her spokes…
