Brazil unions try to seize protest momentum with strikes
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of union demonstrators blocked roads and snarled traffic in dozens of Brazilian cities on Thursday in a one-day strike aimed at seizing the momentum of huge protests that swept the country last month.
Ireland parliament votes to allow limited abortion
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s parliament voted on Friday to allow abortion under certain conditions for the first time, after months of polarizing debate in the staunchly Catholic country including letters to the premier written in blood.
Portugal president throws politics into disarray
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s president threw the bailed-out euro zone country into disarray on Thursday after rejecting a plan to heal a government rift, igniting what critics called a “time bomb” by calling for early elections next year.
U.S., China disagree sharply over handling of Snowden case
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senior U.S. and Chinese officials sharply disagreed on Thursday over China’s handling of fugitive Edward Snowden, the former spy agency contractor accused of divulging U.S. surveillance program secrets who was allowed to leave Ho…
Syria war imperils education of 2.5 million children: aid agency
LONDON (Reuters) – More than a fifth of Syria’s schools have been destroyed or made unusable in more than two years of conflict, jeopardizing the education of 2.5 million young people, Save The Children aid agency reported on Friday,
More residents return to devastated Canadian town, more bodies found
LAC-MEGANTIC, Quebec (Reuters) – Provincial and municipal leaders lashed out on Thursday at the company whose runaway train leveled the center of a tiny Quebec town as more residents returned home and officials opened up a site for tributes to the 50 p…
Syrian bid for U.N. rights body criticized, Iran withdrew
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Syrian plans to run for a spot on the U.N. Human Rights Council met with sharp criticism from the United States and Israel on Thursday, while Tehran announced it had withdrawn its candidacy for the world body’s rights watchdo…
UK parliament wins veto over any decision to arm Syrian rebels
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s parliament backed a motion on Thursday requiring Prime Minister David Cameron to give it a veto over any future move to arm Syrian rebels, in a symbolic vote the government said it would heed.
Russia slams West’s ‘propaganda storm’ on Syria chemical arms
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Russia’s U.N. envoy on Thursday sharply criticized what he described as Western nations’ “small propaganda storm in a glass of water” regarding allegations that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons against its own …
U.S. lawmakers may ease ‘coup’ ban on aid to Egypt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers will begin to vote as soon as next week on legislation that could continue aid to Egypt even if the Obama administration determines that the ouster of elected President Mohamed Mursi was a military coup, lawmakers …
