Al Qaeda militants flee Iraq jail in violent mass break-out
BAGHDAD/MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – Hundreds of convicts, including senior members of al Qaeda, broke out of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib jail as comrades launched a military-style assault to free them, authorities said on Monday.
UAE pardons Norwegian woman jailed in Dubai after reporting rape
DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates has pardoned a Norwegian woman who was sentenced to jail for illicit sex after she reported being raped by a colleague while on a visit to Dubai, the Norwegian foreign minister said on Monday.
Pirates release oil tanker hijacked off West Africa
LONDON (Reuters) – Pirates have released an oil products tanker and its 24 Indian crew after it was hijacked off the Gabon coast last week, the vessel’s operator said on Monday, in the most southerly attack yet off the coast of West Africa.
Afghan parliament sacks interior minister over security issues
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s parliament voted on Monday to dismiss one of the country’s top security chiefs by impeaching the interior minister in a potential blow to stability as NATO-led international forces speed their withdrawal from the country…
Portugal PM confirms reshuffle request, Portas to be deputy PM
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s prime minister confirmed on Monday his intention to make junior coalition party leader Paulo Portas his deputy, coordinating talks with Lisbon’s EU and IMF lenders that has been a key condition to heal a rift within the go…
Radical Myanmar Buddhist monk unhurt in bomb blast
YANGON (Reuters) – A bomb exploded meters away from a radical Buddhist monk as he delivered a mass sermon in Myanmar, police said on Monday, the latest flare-up in tensions pitting Buddhists against minority Muslims.
Afghan parliament sacks interior minister over security issues
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s parliament voted on Monday to dismiss one of the country’s top security chiefs by impeaching the interior minister in a potential blow to stability as NATO-led international forces speed their withdrawal from the country…
President cools but not cures Portuguese crisis
LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s president has soothed investor concerns by keeping the government in place until 2015, but unresolved tensions over austerity mean the country’s political crisis has not been laid to rest.
Palestinians say no peace talks without ’67 borders agreement
RAMALLAH, West Bank/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Palestinians played down on Monday the significance of an imminent meeting in Washington of their top peace envoy with his Israeli counterpart, saying formal negotiation would not begin unless their opening…
Syria rebels seize government town in Aleppo province
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian rebels seized the northern town of Khan al-Assal on Monday, activists said, one of the last towns in the western part of Aleppo province that was held by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
