Afghan President Hamid Karzai Wednesday broke off crucial security talks with the United States, angry over the name given to a new Taliban office in Qatar that is meant to facilitate peace negotiations. More »Karzai suspends US talks in row over Taliban office
By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he will not leave the sanctuary of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London even if Sweden stops pursuing sexual assault claims against ... More »WikiLeaks' Assange fears U.S., says will stay in embassy
MADRID (Reuters) - For three generations the Posada family has exported candied chestnuts around the globe, but plans for further expansion are being hampered by the worst bank lending crunch in the business's ... More »Spain's credit squeeze thwarts small companies' export plans
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss upper house lawmakers kept alive a draft law aimed at ending a long-running U.S. tax probe into hidden offshore accounts at Swiss banks on Wednesday, leaving the final say with the lower house, which has previously rejected it. Lawmakers are deeply divided on a bill aimed at allowing banks to sidestep strict Swiss secrecy laws by disclosing their U.S. dealings to prosecutors, helping them to strike deals that are nevertheless expected to include fines that could cost the industry as much as $10 billion. ... More »Swiss upper house keeps U.S. tax deal alive; set for lower house
By Oliver Holmes and Alexander Dziadosz SALQIN, Syria (Reuters) - The moment the young fighter walks in, it's clear he's different. He has a grey robe, a scraggly beard and a gun holster - hallmarks of the rebels who control this part of the northwest. But he wears Adidas trainers. And his accent and swagger are pure London. The young man sits at a small table, accepts the tea offered by his hosts, and asks to be called by his war name, Abu Khaled. ... More »A Briton fights with Al Qaeda's offshoot in Syria
Tobacco enriches and corrupts in the dry, sun-drenched northern Philippines, where family fortunes as well as political empires are built on the golden leaf. More »Tobacco enriches, corrupts northern Philippines
Riot police on Wednesday clashed briefly with groups of anti-government protesters in two Turkish cities, but there was no fresh unrest in Istanbul where demonstrators switched to silent protests after a heavy crackdown. More »Turkey's 'silent man' vigils go on as protests fizzle out
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court has assigned an investor lawsuit seeking about 2 billion euros ($2.7 billion) in damages from Porsche SE to a court specialising on cartel matters, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. The regional court in Braunschweig, Germany, will delegate the case, brought by U.S. investment funds, to a Hanover-based court specializing in cartel matters, the source said on Wednesday on condition of not being identified because the matter is confidential. The court declined to comment. ... More »German cartel court takes on Porsche lawsuit: source
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Much of Bangkok could flood within the next two decades if global warming stays on its current trajectory, as sea levels rise and cyclones intensify, the World Bank said in a new report on Wednesday. The flooding of 40 percent of the Thai capital was just one of dozens of negative effects the Washington-based World Bank warned would happen if the world grew warmer by just 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), which it said is likely to occur in the next 20 to 30 years under a "business-as-usual" scenario. ... More »Small global warming rise would have 'alarming' impact - World Bank
BEIJING (Reuters) - Authorities in central China executed a former Communist Party official for raping 11 underage girls, state media said on Wednesday, following an online uproar about the latest case of abuse of power. Li Xingong, who was the party's deputy head in Yongcheng city in Henan province, was found guilty of assaulting the girls during police interrogations starting from the second half of 2011, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Li appealed against the guilty verdict, but was rejected by the Supreme Court, Xinhua said. ... More »China executes official for child rapes after online uproar
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - US Airways Group and American Airlines are seeking EU antitrust approval for their planned $11 billion merger, which would create the world's largest carrier. The proposed tie-up, the fourth in the U.S. airline industry since 2008, could strengthen recovery in the sector and give carriers more power to raise prices. The European Commission, which assesses such deals in the 27-country European Union for their competition impact on consumers and rivals, said on its website on Wednesday that it would decide on the issue by July 23. ... More »American Airlines, US Airways seek EU approval for merger
By Marja Novak LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia's economy may contract in 2014 as well as 2013, a central bank official said on Wednesday, signalling the country's recession could last a year longer than the government expects. "Next year we can expect stagnation or maybe a small fall (of GDP)," Damjan Kozamernik, the head of the Bank of Slovenia's analytics and research centre, told Reuters on the sidelines of a business conference. The government currently forecasts the economy will return to growth of 0. ... More »Slovenia's recession may last through 2014: central bank official
The US government's sweeping surveillance programmes have foiled some 50 terrorist plots worldwide, the director of the National Security Agency has said. More »NSA Chief: Spying 'Foiled 50 Terror Plots'
A Vietnamese farmer burns rice straw on her family's harvested rice field to prepare land for the next crop, outside Hanoi on June 14, 2013. The World Bank on Wednesday warned that severe hardships from ... More »World Bank warns global warming woes closing in
PARIS (Reuters) - Boeing's upgraded and re-engined version of its 737 aircraft will come into service in the third quarter of 2017, around six months earlier than scheduled, a company executive said at ... More »Boeing says 737 MAX to enter service in Q3 2017
By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Years before he became Iran's president-elect, Hassan Rohani spoke approvingly about concealing his nation's nuclear program and said that when Pakistan got atomic bombs and Brazil began enriching uranium, "the world started to work with them. ... More »Rohani once approved of hiding Iran atomic work
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has decided to suspend talks on a security pact with the United States, accusing Washington of mixed messages regarding peace talks with the Taliban, his spokesman said on Wednesday. "In a special meeting chaired by President Hamid Karzai, the president has decided to suspend talks about a security pact with the U.S. because of their inconsistent statements and actions in regard to the peace process," spokesman Aimal Faizi told Reuters. ... More »Afghanistan suspends security pact talks with U.S.
(Removes extraneous 'not' from last par) By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he will not leave the sanctuary of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London even if Sweden stops ... More »WikiLeaks' Assange fears U.S., says will stay in London embassy
SANAA (Reuters) - Three people were killed and eight wounded in a town in northern Yemen on Wednesday when a suicide bomber riding a motorbike blew himself up in a busy market, a security official said. The attack occurred in Saada, a town near the border with Saudi Arabia and about 130 km (80 mile) north of the capital, Sanaa. Saada has been under the control of Shi'ite Houthi rebels for several years. The official said the dead included two civilians and the bomber, whose affiliation was not immediately known. ... More »Three people killed in northern Yemen bombing: official
By Sophie Knight and Sinead Carew TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank Corp cleared a major hurdle in its attempt to buy U.S. wireless provider Sprint Nextel Corp, as rival bidder Dish Network Corp declined to make a new offer after SoftBank sweetened its own bid last week. SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son is now a step closer to sealing the largest overseas acquisition by a Japanese company in history, after winning support from a key shareholder by raising SoftBank's offer to $21.6 billion from $20.1 billion last week. ... More »Softbank closer to acquiring Sprint after Dish abandons bid for now
The Taliban has said it was behind an attack that killed four US troops in Afghanistan, just hours after Washington announced planned talks with the insurgents. More »Afghanistan: Taliban 'Admit' US Troop Attack
A pedestrian walks by a Sprint Nextel store on April 15, 2013 in San Francisco, California. US satellite television provider Dish Network said it has dropped plans to submit a revised bid for Sprint Nextel, ... More »Dish abandons Sprint bid, clearing way for SoftBank
By Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton BERLIN (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will unveil plans for a sharp reduction in nuclear warheads in a landmark speech at the Brandenburg Gate on Wednesday that comes 50 years after John F. Kennedy declared "Ich bin ein Berliner" in a defiant Cold War address. A senior U.S. administration official said Obama, on his first visit to the German capital as president, would signal his desire to cut deployed atomic weapons by up to one third below the level achieved in the last "New START" treaty with Russia. "The U.S. ... More »Obama to set nuclear arms cut goal in Berlin speech
The Girl Guide Promise has been rewritten to remove mentions of God or country, in a move which is likely to outrage traditionalists. More »No God, no country: Girl Guides rewrite their Promise
By Alister Bull WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve policymakers will likely announce on Wednesday that they will keep buying bonds at a monthly pace of $85 billion, while keeping their options open to scale back the program later this year if the U.S. labor market continues to improve. Economic data since the 19 officials met in May has been mixed. Employment growth was steady and consumers kept spending despite the drag of tax hikes and government spending cuts. But inflation slowed further beneath the Fed's 2 percent target. ... More »Fed seen keeping options open on pace of bond buying