By William Maclean DUBAI (Reuters) – Russia’s military intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad has dismayed Gulf Arab enemies of the Syrian leader who say it will prolong the war and keep Syria firmly in the orbit of their arch regional rival Iran. Russia says it is providing arms to the Syrian leader, a longtime ally, and has sent servicemen to advise on their use in the fight against
By Renee Maltezou and Michele Kambas ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will reappoint Euclid Tsakalotos as finance minister, a senior source in his leftist Syriza party said on Tuesday, to offer continuity in bailout talks with international lenders. Tsakalotos, a low-key Oxford-trained Marxist economist, helped steer bailout discussions with Greece’s creditors that produced an 86 billion euro loan accord with Athens in August. George Chouliarakis, who was
By Philip Pullella and Jaime Hamre SANTIAGO, Cuba (Reuters) – Pope Francis ended his Cuba trip on Tuesday and headed to the United States with a message of reconciliation for the former Cold War foes while avoiding controversy on the U.S. trade embargo or human rights on the Communist-run island. Cuba would have welcomed a papal condemnation of the embargo and Washington would have appreciated any reference to rights on
BRATISLAVA (Reuters) – Slovakia will refuse to implement a European Union plan to redistribute asylum seekers to all EU countries under a quota system approved by the bloc’s interior ministers on Tuesday, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said. “As long as I am prime minister, mandatory quotas will not be implemented on Slovak territory,” Fico told the parliament’s EU affairs committee. (Reporting by Tatiana Jancarikova; Writing by Jan Lopatka)
EVERETT, Washington (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Washington state to begin first official US visit.
By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa criticized on Tuesday the findings of a UN probe into war crimes and called on the government to reject the report, which called for suspects to be prosecuted by a hybrid court with international judges. Rajapaksa won the 26-year war against Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009, but his military was accused of killing thousands of
SANTIAGO, Cuba (AP) — Pope Francis left Cuba on Tuesday for his first trip to the U.S., wrapping up a four-day visit to the communist island with an appeal to the people to rediscover their Catholic heritage and live a “revolution of tenderness.”
John Wojnowski has protested outside the Vatican Embassy in Washington for 17 years.
BERLIN (AP) — Volkswagen AG’s emissions scandal crisis escalated Tuesday as the company issued a profit warning, set aside billions to cover the fallout and saw its shares take another battering. The CEO of the world’s top-selling carmaker declared he was “endlessly sorry” that the company had squandered worldwide trust in its brand.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus apologized to Congress on Tuesday for sharing classified information with his biographer and mistress, Paula Broadwell. It was his first public testimony before lawmakers since resigning as CIA director.
