Berlusconi ruling shakes Italy government
ROME (Reuters) – Silvio Berlusconi’s party boycotted a summit of Italy’s fragile coalition government and blocked parliamentary activity on Wednesday in protest against a supreme court decision to fast track a ruling that could ban him from public offi…
Italy investigating deportation of Kazakh oligarch’s wife
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta has ordered an investigation into the deportation in May of the wife and daughter of fugitive Kazakh oligarch and dissident Mukhtar Ablyazov as questions about its legality multiply.
Pakistan president’s close aide killed in suicide attack
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – One of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s most trusted aides was killed in a suspected suicide bombing in the volatile port city of Karachi on Wednesday as he stopped his armored vehicle to buy some fruit, police said.
Former South African leader named head of U.N. Women
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations named former South African deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to head the gender equality body U.N. Women on Wednesday, after former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet stepped down to pursue another p…
Libyan government takes back ministry from armed group
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – The Libyan government has taken back control of its interior ministry from an armed group that had besieged the building for a week, an official said on Wednesday.
Merkel defends NSA cooperation before minister flies to U.S.
BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended Germany’s cooperation with U.S. intelligence, dismissing comparisons of its techniques to those used in communist East Germany in an attempt to ease tensions a day before talks on the thorny issu…
German campaign plans would cost jobs, growth: institute
BERLIN (Reuters) – A pro-free market German economic institute criticized nearly all of the major parties in Germany on Wednesday for election pledges it said were likely to cost jobs and weaken growth in Europe’s largest economy.
Nigeria forces disperse rival youth factions in oil city
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) – Nigerian security forces fired tear gas on Wednesday to prevent hundreds of youths loyal to President Goodluck Jonathan and to his bitter rival, Rivers state governor Rotimi Amaechi, clashing in the main oil hub of Po…
Former South African leader to be named head of UN Women -diplomats
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Former South African deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has been tapped to head gender equality body U.N. Women, diplomats said on Wednesday, replacing former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, who stepped down to purs…
U.N. rights body poses tough questions to Vatican over child abuse
GENEVA (Reuters) – A United Nations human rights panel has posed a list of tough questions to the Vatican about child abuse by Catholic priests, a potential embarrassment for Pope Francis a few months into his papacy.
