Assad says sure he will defeat Syrian rebels
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Thursday he was confident of victory against rebels in a devastating 28-month-old civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people and sent nearly two million fleeing abroad.
Russia says new Iran sanctions will not end nuclear dispute
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Thursday a vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to tighten sanctions against Iran would not help resolve the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program. Congress passed a bill on Wednesday that will cut Iran’s oil expo…
Insight: Street protests reveal both Bulgaria’s failure, success
SOFIA (Reuters) – Business executive Sasha Bezuhanova feels her life has come full circle.
Spain PM Rajoy says will toughen corruption laws
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told lawmakers on Thursday that his government would toughen up corruption laws and rules for the allocation of public contracts, in the wake of a corruption scandal.
Zimbabwe poll ‘seriously compromised’: ZESN monitors
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s leading domestic election monitoring agency cried foul on Thursday over this week’s poll, saying the credibility of the vote was “seriously compromised” by irregularities on polling day.
Rajoy says court will find no crime by him or his party
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told lawmakers on Thursday that the justice system would find that neither he nor his political party have committed any crime in an ongoing corruption scandal.
Dissident Kazakh oligarch Ablyazov held in France -sources
LONDON/CANNES, France (Reuters) – Mukhtar Ablyazov, a Kazakh businessman accused of embezzling $6 billion from his former bank, BTA, has been arrested on the French Riviera, two sources said on Wednesday.
Tsvangirai’s MDC says ‘monumental fraud’ in Zimbabwe vote
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party on Thursday said Zimbabwe’s elections had been a “monumental fraud” after a source in President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF earlier claimed a resounding victory.
Japanese minister Aso retracts Nazi comment amid criticism
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso retracted on Thursday a comment he had made that referred to Adolf Hitler’s rise to power and which was interpreted as praising the Nazi regime.
Mugabe beats Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe election: ZANU-PF source
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A senior source in Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s party claimed a resounding victory in Wednesday’s parliamentary and presidential election against Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
