Pope brings in lay experts to help reform Vatican
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis has brought in international experts to help him overhaul the Holy See and move on from a series of scandals under his predecessor Benedict XVI.
Australia slams door on refugees with tough new measures
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australia announced tough new measures to stem a dramatic increase in refugee boats from Indonesia on Friday, with a deal to send all boat arrivals to Papua New Guinea (PNG) for assessment and eventual settlement.
Italy government survives vote on Kazakh case
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano survived a no-confidence vote on Friday, averting a political crisis that could have brought down the fragile coalition government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
Ethnic clashes erupt in northern Mali town before vote
BAMAKO (Reuters) – Malian troops deployed in the northern town of Kidal on Friday after attacks by light-skinned Tuareg separatists on black residents killed at least one, a week before elections meant to unify the fractured nation.
Israel indicts Palestinian seized after vanishing in Egypt
JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) – A Palestinian secretly held by Israel after he vanished during a visit to Egypt last month was indicted on terrorism charges on Friday, though Israeli authorities kept a lid on how and where he was detained.
Kurd militants give Turkey ‘final warning’ on peace deal
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Kurdish militants issued what they said was a final warning to Turkey on Friday to take concrete steps to advance a peace process aimed at ending a three-decade insurgency, or be responsible for it grinding to a halt.
Myanmar president says not preparing himself for 2015 election
PARIS (Reuters) – Myanmar President Thein Sein is not preparing himself at the moment to contest the 2015 presidential election and has “no objections” to Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi running, he said in an interview aired on Friday.
Britain says ties with Russia played part in Litvinenko ruling
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Friday that relations with Russia had played a part in its refusal to hold a public inquiry into the murder in London of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko but denied this had been the main consideration.
Syrian Kurdish group aims for independent local administration
BEIRUT/ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – A Syrian Kurdish group said on Friday it aims to set up an independent council to run Kurdish regions until Syria’s civil war has ended, a move likely to alarm Syrian rebels and neighboring Turkey, both wary of a possible…
U.N. rights chief presses Egypt on Mursi detention
GENEVA (Reuters) – The top United Nations human rights official has asked Egypt’s interim government to explain why the army detained ousted President Mohamed Mursi and his close aides and whether it plans to put them on trial, a U.N. spokesman said on…
