Tunisian Islamists accept union plan to resolve crisis
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia’s governing Islamists edged closer to negotiations with secular opponents on Thursday by agreeing in principle to a plan for a transition toward new elections proposed by the powerful trade unions.
Kazakh tycoon sought by Russia, Ukraine to stay in French jail
MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) – Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling up to $6 billion from his former bank, was denied release on bail from a French jail on Thursday while he awaits a decision on whether he will be extradited.
Egypt’s Mubarak flown from prison to hospital: sources
CAIRO (Reuters) – Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was flown from prison to a nearby hospital on Thursday, officials said, after judicial authorities ordered his release from jail.
PM pledges to spare crisis-hit Greeks from home foreclosures
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras pledged on Thursday banks would not seize the homes of borrowers unable to pay their mortgages, seeking to soothe fears that plans to lift a ban on repossessions will make thousands homeless.
Mugabe, 89, sworn in for five more years as Zimbabwe’s president
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader at 89, was sworn in on Thursday for a new five-year term in the face of criticism from opponents and the West that his re-election in a July vote was not credible.
Feature: Web-based apps pose tricky problem for Saudi monitors
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia is seeking to tighten control over web-based applications that offer a freedom to communicate that is impossible for most Saudis in the real world, and may even seek to ban such apps altogether.
Election ads put Merkel in focus while rivals hide their man
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s conservative Christian Democrats will focus their TV advertising campaign on Chancellor Angela Merkel while the opposition Social Democrats put ordinary people in their ads and all but ignore their struggling candidate, Pee…
Helicopter lands at Cairo prison to transport Mubarak: state TV
CAIRO (Reuters) – A helicopter landed at the Cairo prison where deposed President Hosni Mubarak is being held to take him to a new location where he will be put under house arrest, state TV reported.
Japan accuses Russia of air space intrusion; Moscow denies it
TOKYO/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Two Russian bombers briefly entered Japan’s air space near its major southern island of Kyushu on Thursday, prompting Japan to scramble its fighter jets and lodge a protest, the Japanese government said, but Russia denied any i…
Kazakh tycoon sought by Russia, Ukraine to stay in French jail
MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) – Kazakh oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov, accused of embezzling up to $6 billion from his former bank BTA, was denied release on bail from a French jail on Thursday as he awaits a decision on whether he will be extradited.
