Britain's gay marriage bill was set to pass a crucial parliamentary hurdle on Tuesday, after Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to strike a last-minute deal with the opposition to stop members of his own Conservative party wrecking the plans. More »MPs set to back gay marriage
Dozens of people, mostly combatants, have been killed in ongoing battles for the Syrian town of Qusayr, a watchdog said Tuesday, as Hezbollah sent new elite fighters to the rebel stronghold. More »Hezbollah sends new fighters to bloody Syria battle
Iran said Tuesday it is willing to attend an upcoming peace conference on Syria, arguing all influential parties must be included in the process for it to be a success. More »Iran wants in on Syria peace conference
Syria's army destroyed an Israeli military vehicle which it said had crossed the sensitive ceasefire line in the Golan Heights on Tuesday, the military said in a televised statement. More »Syria says it destroyed Israel vehicle in Golan
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot at a target across the Syrian frontier on Tuesday in response to gunfire that struck its forces in the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said. A statement said a military vehicle was damaged by shots fired from Syria but that there were no injuries. It said that soldiers "returned precise fire". Gunfire incidents across the frontier from Syria have recurred in past months during an escalating a civil war there in which rebels have sought to topple President Bashar al-Assad. ... More »Israel fires back at Syria after gunshots at its troops
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli military denied on Tuesday a claim by Syria that its armed forces destroyed an Israeli vehicle on the Golan Heights. An army spokeswoman said a vehicle had been damaged by gunfire from Syria but no Israeli soldiers were hurt. Israeli troops returned fire after the incident, which the military had announced earlier in the day. (Reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Editing by Jeffrey Heller) More »Israel denies Syrian claim Israeli vehicle destroyed
The legalisation of gay marriage is set to be approved by MPs later after surviving a Tory backbench attempt to derail it. More »Gay Marriage Bill Saved By Deal With Labour
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold their first meeting since Xi became president in March when they sit down for a June 7-8 summit in Rancho Mirage, California, the White House announced on Monday. The two leaders are likely to discuss ways to apply pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program after a period of bellicose rhetoric and threats from Pyongyang. The United States also has concerns about cyber attacks it says are emanating from China. ... More »Obama to meet with China's Xi in California June 7-8
Ministers and judges will never succeed in taming the "immensely powerful" internet, the chair of the Commons' culture, media and sport committee has told Politics.co.uk. More »Government 'will never tame the internet'
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Tuesday expanded the distance it permits Gaza fishermen to head out to sea, restoring a limit it cut in half two months ago in response to rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave. The Defence Ministry announced the decision two days before a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is trying to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks stalled since 2010. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the expansion of the zone from three to six nautical miles (5.5 to 11 km), a statement said. ... More »Israel extends Palestinians' Gaza fishing zone
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European antitrust regulators will decide by June 24 whether to clear an $8.2 billion (5.4 billion pounds) takeover bid by IntercontinentalExchange Inc for New York Stock Exchange operator NYSE Euronext . ICE, a derivatives exchange and clearinghouse operator, is making its second bid to buy NYSE in a deal that will give it control of Liffe, Europe's second-largest derivatives market, and boost its presence in the interest-rate futures business. It would also strengthen the Atlanta-based company against U.S. ... More »EU antitrust regulators to rule on ICE, NYSE deal by June 24
Five bombings and clashes between soldiers and gunmen killed eight people in Iraq on Tuesday, officials said, the latest in a spate of violence that has cost more than 370 lives so far this month. More »Iraq violence kills eight
BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea released a Chinese fishing boat on Tuesday more than two weeks after it was detained in waters between the countries, as China demanded an explanation for the incident that has been a new irritant in ties between the often uneasy allies. Chinese counsellor to North Korea Jiang Yaxian had told state media earlier that North Korea had "grabbed" the private vessel from off the northern Chinese city of Dalian in waters between China and the Korean peninsula. ... More »North Korea releases detained Chinese fishing boat
A powerful tornado swept through an Oklahoma City suburb on Monday, tearing down blocks of homes, two schools and leaving up to 91 people dead, including 20 children, local officials said. More »Dozens dead as massive tornado strikes US city
Jose Mourinho is free to rejoin Chelsea after agreeing to leave Real Madrid at the end of the season following a turbulent three-year spell in charge of the Spanish giants. More »Mourinho free to rejoin Chelsea after quitting Madrid
OSLO (Reuters) - Marine Harvest , the world's biggest fish farmer, may raise its $1.7 billion bid for rival Cermaq if the target company's shareholders drop plans to take over Peruvian fish feed maker Copeinca , it said on Tuesday. Marine Harvest has tentatively offered 105 crowns in cash and shares for each Cermaq share and has said it would only go ahead with a formal bid if Cermaq drops the Copeinca deal. "We could be prepared to improve both the price and composition of our offer in order to find an amicable solution acceptable to all parties," Marine Harvest said. ... More »Marine Harvest may raise $1.7 billion Cermaq bid
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian security forces killed two suspected militants in the North Caucasus during a night-time sweep in the region plagued by an Islamist insurgency, investigators said on Tuesday. A spokesman for local investigators said the men were killed in a gunbattle with officers after refusing to surrender during a raid on a house in a suburb of the capital of Ingushetia, a region to the west of Chechnya. The wife and child of one of them left the house before the firefight, he told Reuters by telephone. ... More »Russia says two rebels killed in North Caucasus
The heated debate over gay marriage was overshadowed by news of a catastrophic tornado in Oklahoma today, which killed at least 91 people. More »Oklahoma disaster brings sombre mood to Westminster
(Reuters) - Thailand's sports authority has threatened to intervene if the country's football association fails to hold its presidential elections by the middle of July, local media reported on Tuesday. Last week, the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) postponed its June 15 polls to align itself with a new FIFA charter which will be ratified at a general meeting of the world governing body on May 31 in Mauritius. The sports authority, however, said it would not allow the elections to be delayed beyond July 16. ... More »Thai sports authority sets mid-July deadline for FA polls
By Olzhas Auyezov KIEV (Reuters) - As the snow and ice began to melt in Ukraine this spring, exposing fresh cracks and potholes in the roads, hundreds of motorists gathered outside a government building carrying unusual burdens. They laid them down like funeral wreaths -- torn-off bumpers, crushed shock absorbers and ruptured tyres -- demanding those inside the building, the state roads agency, carry out urgent road repairs and threatening to sue them for damages. ... More »In Ukraine, no way to avoid a bumpy ride
(Reuters) - Storage company Big Yellow Group Plc reported an 8 percent rise in profit despite the introduction of new taxes, as demand grew for self-storage in London and southeast England. The UK government introduced value added tax, or VAT, on storage rents in October 2012, prompting the company's prices to rise 10 to 12.5 percent. Adjusted pretax profit rose to 25.5 million pounds in the year ended March 31 from 23.6 million pounds a year earlier. Revenue rose 6 percent to 69.7 million pounds. ... More »Big Yellow profit rises as demand for self-storage grows
By Masayuki Kitano and Vidya Ranganathan SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar inched up against major currencies but stayed well off highs on Tuesday as investors cautiously traded expectations of whether Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will hint at a sooner than expected reduction in bond-buying stimulus. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, edged up 0.1 percent to 83. ... More »Dollar firms as suspense builds, Asia shares dip
The gay marriage bill will receive its third and final reading in the Commons today as it passes its final test before returning to the Lords. More »Gay marriage: Round three
By Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Kwasi Kpodo ACCRA (Reuters) - Oil brought riches to Nigeria but also ravaged its economy and fuelled corruption and conflict. Now nearby Ghana has begun production and wants to take the wealth but dodge the oil curse. Ghana is used to resource riches: it is already the world's number two cocoa producer and Africa's second-largest gold miner. But there are signs it is struggling to manage the new oil money and some people are disappointed. ... More »Ghana hopes to shield economy from African oil curse
Dracula will be the next big-budget Hollywood movie to be filmed in Northern Ireland. More »Dracula Film To Be Made In Northern Ireland