U.N. urges Iraq to halt executions seen breaching international law
GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations called on Iraq on Friday to halt all executions after 42 people were hanged this week in what it said were most probably illegal mass executions ordered by Baghdad’s “seriously flawed” justice system.
Car bomb at Swedish consulate in Libya’s Benghazi, no casualties
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – A car bomb exploded outside the Swedish consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Friday, damaging the front of the building and nearby houses, but no casualties were immediately reported.
Turkish spending plans not an ‘election budget’: finance minister
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s government will not overspend next year in the run-up to a series of elections, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek promised on Friday.
African Union runs critical eye over International Criminal Court
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) has become a “political instrument”, Ethiopia’s foreign minister said on Friday, opening a meeting at which Africa will review its ties with the Hague-based war crimes tribunal.
Russia refuses to bail two Britons held for Greenpeace protest
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Two Britons held in Russia for a Greenpeace protest were ordered to remain in pre-trial detention on Friday, a defeat for the first of the many foreigners among the 30 detainees to seek bail.
China criticizes U.S. for giving tacit backing to Philippines in sea dispute
BEIJING (Reuters) – China criticized U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday for giving tacit backing to the Philippines’ stance in a tense maritime dispute, stressing again that it rejects Manila’s attempt to seek arbitration.
Lebanese risk everything in perilous exodus from poverty
QABBAIT, Lebanon (Reuters) – Hussein Khodor sold his small poster shop in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli to pay the $80,000 cost of smuggling him and his family to Australia where he hoped to build a better life.
Israeli man killed in West Bank attack
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli man was killed and his wife injured in what appeared to be an attack by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials said on Friday.
German Greens voice doubts after coalition talks with Merkel
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Greens played down prospects of forming a government with Angela Merkel’s conservatives, a day after a first round of exploratory coalition talks highlighted policy differences between the parties on clean energy and indust…
EU, opposition leaders press Ukraine’s Yanukovich on Tymoshenko
KIEV (Reuters) – The European Union on Friday warned Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich he would have to free former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko to be sure of sealing agreements on association and free trade next month.
