Guatemala convicts ex-police chief for student leader’s disappearance
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – A Guatemalan court sentenced a former national police chief on Friday to 40 years in prison for orchestrating the disappearance of a student union leader in 1984 during the country’s bloody civil war.
Hollande to urge Iran to help seek political solution for Syria
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Francois Hollande hopes to convince Iran to pursue a political solution to the civil war in Syria when he meets his Iranian counterpart next week, aides said on Friday.
Russia’s Putin brings ‘grey cardinal’ Surkov back to Kremlin
MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin named his former deputy chief of staff Vladislav Surkov as an aide on Friday, bringing back the creator of modern Russia’s tightly controlled political system just four months after he quit the government in …
Obama to meet with Abbas, discuss Middle East peace at U.N.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday and will discuss the Middle East peace process during a speech that day to the United Nations General Assembly, the White House said o…
Tunisian opposition agrees to transition talks
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia’s opposition coalition agreed on Friday to start direct talks with ruling Islamists on a transition plan under which the government would step down and make way for a caretaker administration and new elections.
Venezuela arrests ex-policemen who shamed new force
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan authorities on Friday arrested six former policemen who appeared in uniform in a homemade video cursing and firing their pistols in the air, embarrassing a new national force set up to improve the police’s dire image.
Violent gangs smuggle thousands into Italy: U.N. expert
ROME (Reuters) – Violent gangs are smuggling thousands of men, women and children into Italy, bypassing often inadequate border checks and other efforts to control the growing problem, the United Nations’ trafficking expert said on Friday.
India rushes to ready nuclear deal before Singh’s U.S. trip
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is making a last-minute push to close a nuclear deal in time for a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has made atomic energy cooperation with Washington a hallmark of his tenur…
Mexico scours for dozens missing amid floods as storms abate
LA PINTADA, Mexico (Reuters) – Rescuers cleared mud from shattered houses on Friday, searching for dozens of people missing after a mudslide flattened their village in southwest Mexico as some of the most destructive storms to hit the country in decade…
Child labor rising among Lebanon’s Syria refugees: UNICEF
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian refugees in Lebanon are becoming increasingly reliant on child labor to earn money for families now desperate to maintain basic necessities, the director of the United Nations children’s agency said.
