U.S. suspends trade benefits for Bangladesh over safety
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama cut off long-time U.S. trade benefits for Bangladesh on Thursday in a mostly symbolic response to conditions in the country’s garment industry that have cost more than 1,200 lives in the past year.
Australian PM Rudd urges China action on trade deal
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australia’s Sinophile Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday urged China – the country’s largest trading partner – to conclude a stalled free trade deal, using his first news conference since regaining power to praise the current bila…
Former Chinese Communist Party official gets 13 years for bribery: Xinhua
BEIJING (Reuters) – A former regional Communist Party official implicated in a sex scandal that has transfixed China was sentenced on Friday to 13 years in jail for bribery, government news agency Xinhua reported on Friday.
Analysis: Syria peace conference: Don’t hold your breath
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – How deep is the divide separating Russia and the United States on Syria? A photo from the recent G8 summit in Northern Ireland says it all – two grim-faced leaders slouched in their chairs, Barack Obama biting his lip and Vla…
Leader of leftist party in Mexico’s Oaxaca state found dead
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The dead body of a top leader of Mexico’s Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) for southern Oaxaca state was found on Thursday and police are investigating his death as a homicide, the state attorney general’s office said.
Europe clinches deals on banks, budget, youth jobless
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European leaders agreed on new steps to fight youth unemployment and promote lending to credit-starved small business on Thursday after deals on banking resolution and the long-term EU budget gave their summit a much needed lift.
At least 22 killed as bombs tear through coffee shops in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Bombs exploded in busy coffee shops and at other targets across Iraq late on Thursday, killing at least 22 people, police and medics said.
Costa Rica probes soapy money-laundering link to Venezuela
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) – Costa Rica said on Thursday it was investigating two men suspected of laundering money for Venezuelan government firms after detecting a shady scheme to buy millions of bars of soap.
One dead as Egypt simmers ahead of rallies
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s ruling Muslim Brotherhood said one man was shot dead and four wounded in an attack on a provincial party office, stoking factional rivalries ahead of mass rallies starting on Friday.
Obama jabs Russia, China on failure to extradite Snowden
DAKAR (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday he would not start “wheeling and dealing” with China and Russia over a U.S. request to extradite former American spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.
