“Teflon Angie” averts pre-election blow from drone affair
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s defense minister defended his handling of a costly drone deal and rejected calls to resign on Wednesday, averting an embarrassing setback for his boss Chancellor Angela Merkel months before an election.
Netanyahu signals readiness to consider 2002 Arab peace plan
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled readiness on Wednesday to consider a 2002 Arab peace plan whose terms were recently softened to include possible land swaps between Israel and the Palestinians.
Saudis release writer jailed for tweets against Islamism: lawyer
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has released prominent novelist Turki al-Hamad, who was arrested in December after a series of tweets criticizing extreme versions of Islamism and saying Islam needed renewal, an activist said on Wednesday.
Yemenis bury remains of founder of Houthi rebel group
SAADA, Yemen (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Yemeni Shi’ite Muslims chanting “death to America” and “death to Israel” buried the remains of the founder of the armed Houthi rebel group on Wednesday, nine years after he was killed in fighting with gover…
Britain agrees compensation deal for Kenya torture victims
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Britain has agreed on a multi-million dollar compensation settlement for thousands of Kenyans tortured by colonial forces during an uprising at the tail end of the British Empire, a lawyer and expert witness said on Wednesday.
In ex-Soviet Georgia, political feud shakes investors
TBILISI (Reuters) – A political tug of war in Georgia is unsettling business and hurting the economy in the former Soviet state that has won the most international praise for its market-friendly reforms.
Gunmen ambush bus, kill 15 passengers in Iraqi desert
ANBAR, Iraq (Reuters) – Gunmen ambushed a bus and executed 15 passengers on a remote desert road in Iraq on Wednesday, as growing sectarian violence raises fears of a return to civil war.
Worker rights issues pose a challenge to Gulf building boom
DUBAI (Reuters) – A strike by thousands of migrant workers at Dubai’s biggest builder Arabtec last month may be a harbinger of a new wave of industrial activism that threatens to disrupt the Gulf’s latest construction boom.
UK coroner calls for public inquiry into Litvinenko murder
LONDON (Reuters) – The coroner tasked with overseeing an inquest into the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko called for the British government to hold a public inquiry into the death after he concluded evidence would be kept secret from …
Former Slovenia PM sentenced to jail for bribes
LJUBLJANA (Reuters) – Slovenia’s opposition leader and former prime minister was sentenced to two years in jail on Wednesday for bribery in a 2006 arms purchase, one of several scandals that have fuelled public anger over the country’s financial crisis…
