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Mali says reaches deal with Tuareg rebels
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Mali is ready to sign a deal with Tuareg separatist rebels on Tuesday, paving the way for Malian government troops to return to the rebel-held northern town of Kidal ahead of an election next month, Mali's chief negotiator said. Bamako has made clear that it wants its civilian
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"Drunk" claims upset Ukraine parliament budget hearing
KIEV (Reuters) - A parliamentary hearing on Ukraine's budget was suspended for several hours on Tuesday after opposition deputies alleged that a deputy finance minister presenting the budget report was drunk. Anatoly Myarkovsky, first deputy finance minister, spoke for 10 minutes on the government's budget performance in 2012.But when questions were
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Lebanese minister accuses Syria of "ethnic cleansing"
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces have begun ethnically cleansing Sunni Muslims and deliberately pushing refugees across the border into Lebanon, the Lebanese caretaker minister for social affairs said on Tuesday. Assad is battling a Sunni-led revolt in Syria, which he and his father before him have ruled for
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Analysis: Hezbollah takes Syrian centre-stage, yet remains in shadows
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The voice crackling over the Hezbollah radios was clear and authoritative, and the guerrillas poised to attack the Syrian border town of Qusair recognised it immediately. "As I promised you victory before, I pledge you victory now," Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said, launching a battle in which
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Russia’s Putin torpedoes G8 efforts to push out Assad
ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin derailed Western efforts to remove Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad from power at the G8 summit on Tuesday and, hours after meeting U.S. President Barack Obama, said the Kremlin might sell more arms to Syria. In a final communique after two days of
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Dozens held in Turkey, silent protester goes viral
ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - A lone, silent vigil by a man in Istanbul inspired copycat protests on Tuesday, as police detained dozens of people across Turkey in an operation linked to three weeks of often violent demonstrations against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. Overnight in Ankara, riot police used teargas and water cannon
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Analysis: Saudi role in Syria driven by fear of Shi’ite "full moon"
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief, Prince Muqrin, once told American diplomats the Middle East's so-called Shi'ite Crescent where the Muslim sect holds sway was "becoming a full moon" as Iranian influence spread. For the kingdom's Sunni ruling princes, that fear, revealed in a 2009 U.S. embassy cable released
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North Korea nuclear test still shrouded in mystery
VIENNA (Reuters) - The outside world may never find out what type of fissile material North Korea used in its nuclear test four months ago, leaving a key question about the explosion unanswered, officials and experts said on Tuesday. The isolated northeast Asian state is believed to have tested plutonium bombs
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United States to meet Taliban to seek Afghan peace
WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) - The United States will meet the Taliban in Doha in the coming days for talks aimed at achieving peace in Afghanistan, where the United States has battled the insurgents for 12 years, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The Taliban said it wanted a political solution that would bring
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Taliban held secret talks in Norway to broker Doha deal
OSLO (Reuters) - The Taliban held secret negotiations in Norway over the past few months, helping yield a deal that allowed the radical Afghan rebels to open an office in Qatar, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Tuesday. "We have played a key role in this process," Barth Eide told
