An 80-year-old Japanese man who underwent heart surgery in January reached the summit of Mount Everest on Thursday, becoming the oldest person to scale the world's highest mountain. More »Japan man, 80, scales Everest, sets record
By Marcus George and Yeganeh Torbati DUBAI (Reuters) - Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has accused Iran's leadership of incompetence and ignorance just days after he was barred from standing in an election next month, the opposition Kaleme website reported on Thursday. Rafsanjani's comments appeared to add to the political conflict between those loyal to the leadership and opposition groups who have been marginalised since post-election unrest in 2009. ... More »Barred from poll, Rafsanjani calls Iranian leaders ignorant
NIAMEY (Reuters) - Several soldiers were killed in a gunbattle with suspected Islamist militants after a suicide bomb attack on a barracks in the northern Niger town of Agadez, military sources said. "The situation is now under control. The suicide bomber was not alone. There were other terrorists who followed in cars and there were clashes," said one of the sources, who could not give an exact number of people killed. A western diplomat, who asked not to be identified, said about 10 people had been killed in the attack. ... More »Soldiers killed in gunbattle with Islamists in Niger - military sources
Nissan Motor Co Ltd is recalling about 841,000 vehicles worldwide as a result of a steering wheel glitch. More »Nissan Recalls 841,000 Vehicles Worldwide
By Siva Sithraputhran KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police arrested several opposition politicians and activists on Thursday, launching a crackdown on dissent three weeks after an election exposed deep divisions in the country and sparked a series of opposition protest rallies. Police also raided the offices of opposition newspapers and seized thousands of copies of their publications, according to online media reports. ... More »Malaysia police arrest opposition figures in crackdown
A man has been shot dead after a team of FBI agents stormed an apartment complex near Universal Studios in Orlando. More »FBI Shoots Man 'Linked To Boston Bomb Suspects'
BEIJING (Reuters) - China warned blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng on Thursday to mind his language ahead of his trip next month to political rival Taiwan, on a visit which could infuriate Beijing if, as expected, Chen uses it to criticise Chinese rights abuses. China has been largely silent on the issue of Chen since he fled from house arrest and took refuge in the U.S. embassy in Beijing last year, straining Sino-U.S. relations, before he was allowed to leave for New York for study. Since then, Chen has taken his campaign to improve human rights in China to senior U.S. ... More »China warns blind dissident ahead of Taiwan trip
PARIS (Reuters) - Areva said on Thursday that 13 staff had been injured in an attack at its Somair mine near Arlit in northern Niger. The French nuclear reactor maker condemned what it called a "despicable attack" and said it was working closely with the Niger and French forces. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by John Irish) More »Areva says 13 staff injured in Niger attack
By Nick Macfie ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang praised the Sino-Pakistan relationship to the hilt on Thursday, urging the "all-weather friends" to boost cooperation in business, trade, energy and infrastructure and build a long-vaunted economic corridor. But not everyone is convinced China has Pakistan interests totally at heart. Li arrived in the Pakistani capital on Wednesday on the second leg of his first official trip since taking office in March and after a visit to Pakistan and China's arch rival, India. He leaves for Switzerland and Germany later on Thursday. ... More »China's Li effusive in praise of Pakistan, but not everyone buys it
By Marina Lopes MAPUTO (Reuters) - Human Rights Watch accused Mozambique's government and foreign mining companies on Thursday of "serious shortcomings" in resettling communities to make way for coal mines, leaving thousands without proper homes, food or sources of income. In a report on the social impact of a mining boom in the war-scarred southern African country, the New York-based group noted the plight of more than 2,000 families displaced to make way for multi-billion dollar coal mines run by Vale and Rio Tinto. ... More »Miners Vale, Rio Tinto accused of neglecting displaced Mozambicans
By Andrei Khalip LISBON (Reuters) - President Anibal Cavaco Silva thanked Portugal's patron saint for a long-delayed approval of Lisbon's bailout review last week, but the head of state could claim a share of the credit for himself. The conservative president's role has grown far beyond his figurehead status in the past few weeks. With the president on his side, Prime Minister Passos Coelho appears immune to opposition calls for an early election, despite a teetering coalition, record-low popularity in opinion polls and protests and strikes promised for late May and June. ... More »Portuguese leaders build faith in bailout exit
By Jonny Hogg GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Rebels in eastern Congo announced a ceasefire on Thursday in fighting with government troops hours before a visit to the conflict-plagued zone by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. "We've decided to announce this ceasefire to allow His Excellency Ban Ki-moon to visit Goma as he promised," Amani Kabasha, political spokesman for the M23 rebel group, told Reuters following several days of clashes in the east near Goma on the Democratic Republic of Congo's border with Rwanda. ... More »M23 rebels announce ceasefire for U.N. chief's Congo visit
TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - Five people were killed and more than 50 wounded in overnight clashes in Tripoli between Lebanese gunmen backing rival factions in Syria's civil war, doctors and security sources said on Thursday. Tripoli has suffered sporadic sectarian violence since the Sunni Muslim-led uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad broke out in March 2011, but after a night of mortar, grenade and machinegun fire, residents said this was the fiercest so far. ... More »Five killed, 50 wounded in Lebanon's Tripoli
PARIS (Reuters) - France is ready to support a British initiative to put the armed wing of Hezbollah on the European Union's list of terrorist organisations, an official said on Thursday, confirming comments by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. Paris has traditionally been cautious about backing steps to sanction Hezbollah, fearing it could destabilise Lebanon and potentially put U.N. peacekeepers at risk, but in recent weeks it has said it would consider all options. ... More »France backs call to put Hezbollah armed wing on EU terror list
A friend of Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev implicated himself and Tsarnaev in an unsolved triple homicide before FBI agents killed him in a violent altercation, local media reported. More »Man killed by FBI links Boston bomber to triple murder
A bomb planted in a rickshaw tore through a vehicle used by security forces in southwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 12 people, police said. More »Bomb kills 12 in southwest Pakistan
By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - A Canadian businessman who has confessed to bribing Cuban officials was scheduled to go on trial in Havana on Thursday, almost two years after his arrest in a sweeping government crackdown on corruption. The closed trial of 53-year-old Sarkis Yacoubian, originally from Armenia and the owner of import firm Tri-Star Caribbean, was expected to last two days. An associate of Yacoubian, Lebanese citizen Krikor Bayassalian, is a co-defendant. ... More »Canadian businessman goes on trial in Cuban corruption crackdown
By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - For the first time since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, relations between mainstream Islamists in government and radical Salafist Muslim activists have reached breaking point, sparking deadly clashes in two Tunisian cities. The rupture between the Ennahda party, the Tunisian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood which governs in coalition with secular parties, and the Ansar al-Sharia movement could have ramifications across north Africa, potentially fuelling armed insurrection in Tunisia and neighbouring Algeria. ... More »Analysis - Crackdown on radical Islamists tests Tunisia's stability
Two men wielding knives butchered and beheaded a man believed to be a British soldier in a busy London street, before delivering an Islamist tirade to passers-by. More »'British soldier' butchered in suspected Islamist attack
The frustration had started to boil over. More »Oklahoma Tornado: Frustration Amid The Rubble
Survivors of the killer tornado that ripped through an Oklahoma City suburb rolled up their sleeves under a blazing sun and got down to the long, hard task of rebuilding their lives. More »US tornado survivors begin rebuilding their lives
Barack Obama will renew his failed vow to close Guantanamo Bay and argue his drone war is legal and just Thursday, in a speech reframing US anti-terror policy that will shape his presidential legacy. More »Obama to reset US terror war in key speech
By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will seek to draw attention away from a series of domestic scandals with a speech on Thursday that defends the U.S. use of drones abroad and lays out a vision for closing the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. ... More »Switching from scandals, Obama to address drones and Guantanamo
If you live in this part of Oklahoma you are playing tornado roulette. More »Oklahoma Tornado 'Roulette' Is Part Of Life
By Linda Sieg and Ruairidh Villar SAGAMIHARA, Japan (Reuters) - When Masayoshi Matsumoto joined the Japanese army in 1943 and was sent to occupied China as a medic, he thought he was taking part in a righteous war to free Asia from the yoke of Western imperialism. Seven decades later, the 91-year-old retired Christian pastor says it's his mission to speak out about the injustice of the war and the sufferings of women, mostly Asian and many Korean, forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels. "I feel like a war criminal. ... More »Japan's wartime brothels were wrong, says 91-year-old veteran