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…
In Assad’s Syria, women a small, symbolic part of fighting force
(The identity of the journalist has been withheld for security reasons)
Yemen launches assault on al Qaeda, several killed
ADEN (Reuters) – At least nine people were killed on Wednesday when Yemeni troops launched an offensive on an eastern city, targeting al Qaeda-linked fighters who have declared they aim to set up an Islamist state there, officials and residents said.
Latvia gets EU green light to adopt euro currency
By Aija Braslina RIGA (Reuters) – Latvia got the go-ahead on Wednesday to adopt the euro from 2014, crowning its emergence from an economic crisis and signaling to investors that the euro zone is set to expand rather than disintegrate.
Gunmen ambush bus, kill 15 passengers in Iraqi desert
ANBAR, Iraq (Reuters) – Gunmen ambushed a bus and killed 15 passengers in the Iraqi desert on Wednesday, security officials said, as growing sectarian violence raises fears of a return to civil war.
Civil war memories, oil wealth smooth Algeria politics
BOUMERDES, Algeria (Reuters) – With its president in a French hospital for over a month and the surrounding region in turmoil, Algeria looks from the outside to be on course for a period of unrest.
Egypt prosecutor orders trial for leading activists
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s public prosecutor ordered a group of political activists to stand trial on Wednesday on charges they incited violence near the Muslim Brotherhood’s headquarters in March, a case that has hardened rights activists’ fears of a c…
French will accept pain for reform gain: survey
PARIS (Reuters) – Nearly three-quarters of French want President Francois Hollande to push further ahead with economic reforms and are ready to make personal sacrifices as long the pain is fairly distributed, a survey by pollster BVA found on Wednesday…
