Rwanda says U.N. ultimatum threatened Congo peace talks
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Rwanda said on Wednesday the decision by a U.N. intervention brigade to forcibly disarm people in a strategic zone of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo had surprised African leaders and risked jeopardizing peace talks.
Phony rum kills seven in Cuba, dozens hospitalized
HAVANA (Reuters) – Seven Cubans have died and more than 40 have been hospitalized, eight in critical condition, after drinking wood alcohol, or industrial methanol, they thought was rum, the public health ministry said on Wednesday.
Uruguay Congress debates bill to regulate legal marijuana use
MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) – Legislators in Uruguay hotly debated on Wednesday a measure backed by leftist President Jose Mujica that would create a government body to control the cultivation and sale of marijuana and allow people to grow it at home or as pa…
U.N. says chemical weapons inspectors to visit three Syria sites
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Syria has agreed to allow U.N. investigators to visit three sites to investigate accusations of chemical weapons use during the country’s two year civil war, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
South Sudan’s Kiir to keep oil minister, change finance portfolio
JUBA (Reuters) – South Sudan’s oil minister Stephen Dhieu Dau will keep his post in the new government, while new appointments will be made to the key finance and defense portfolios, officials said on Wednesday.
In raging Middle East, Israel wins time with Palestinian peace talks
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Pressured by Washington, worried about its international standing and perturbed by Middle East turmoil, Israel had many reasons to return to peace talks with the Palestinians this week after a three year hiatus.
Suspected Islamists steal 125 kg of dynamite in north Nigeria
DAMATURU, Nigeria, July 31 – Gunmen suspected to be allied to Islamist sect Boko Haram have stormed a construction site in northeast Nigeria, carting off 125 kg (275 pounds) of dynamite and hundreds of detonators, two security sources said on Wednesday…
Mexican governmet likely to present energy reform bill next week: lawmaker
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s government is likely to present a far-reaching energy reform bill to Congress next week, a senior ruling party lawmaker said on Wednesday, a key plank of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s bid to boost economic growth.
Berlusconi lawyers ask supreme court to acquit him of tax fraud
ROME (Reuters) – Lawyers for Silvio Berlusconi asked the supreme court on Wednesday to throw out a tax fraud conviction against the former prime minister in a case that could decide not only his future but that of Italy’s fragile coalition government.
Britain says open to talks with Iran on a ‘step-by-step’ basis
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Wednesday he was willing to meet his Iranian counterpart to discuss the two countries’ frosty relationship, following the election of a new president in Iran.
