Critic of Azeri President Aliyev arrested before election
BAKU (Reuters) – A prominent critic of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has been jailed for two months, in a ruling his lawyer said was aimed at silencing him before next month’s presidential election.
Saudi women driving ban not part of sharia-morality police chief
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving is not mandated by any text in Sharia, the Islamic legal code which forms the basis for most Saudi law, the head of its morality police told Reuters on Thursday.
Analysis: Risk of Italian crisis recedes but respite may be brief
ROME (Reuters) – Silvio Berlusconi has pulled back from toppling the Italian government but the respite may be brief, and the fragile coalition remains too divided to pass reforms that the economy urgently needs.
Christian leaders urge churches to back Syria peace plan
PARIS (Reuters) – The World Council of Churches (WCC) urged its Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member churches on Thursday to lobby their congregations and national governments to support a political solution to the war in Syria.
Attacks on journalists threaten Yemeni freedoms-rights group
SANAA (Reuters) – Attacks on journalists in Yemen, including an unsolved murder, threaten to undermine gains in media freedoms as the U.S.-backed government enacts pro-democracy reforms, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.
French pension reform leaves big drain on finances
PARIS (Reuters) – A planned French retirement reform will do little to cut the deficit in public-sector workers’ pensions, leaving a big drain on state finances, a government document showed on Thursday.
Swiss banker in Cahuzac case released from jail-bank lawyer
ZURICH (Reuters) – A former Geneva-based private banker who was a witness in a tax fraud probe into a French government minister has been released on bail by a Swiss prison, his former employer’s lawyer was quoted saying in a newspaper interview on Thu…
Analysis: Poker ace Santos must play smart Colombia re-election cards
BOGOTA (Reuters) – As a young business student at the University of Kansas, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos spent many a late night playing low-stakes poker and then invested his early winnings in shares of a pizza company.
Russia says no plans yet to destroy Syrian chemical arms on own soil
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has no current plans to destroy Syrian chemical weapons on its own territory under a Russia-U.S. deal to eliminate President Bashar al-Assad’s stockpiles, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday.
Vote in Sri Lanka’s north stirs Tamil calls for army to get out
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Voters in northern Sri Lanka go to the polls on Saturday in a provincial election that threatens to stir up old animosity between the government and ethnic minority Tamils.
