Karzai suspends talks with US over Taliban move
By DAVID RISING and AMIR SHAH | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan president on Wednesday suspended talks with the United States on a new security deal to protest the way his government was being left out of initial peace negotiations with the Taliban meant to find ways to end the nearly 12-year war.
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Blast hits Syrian port city of Latakia
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A loud explosion was heard near a military site in the Syrian port city of Latakia on Wednesday, opposition groups and state media said, but the cause of the blast was unclear.
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China executes official for child rapes after online uproar
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.
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Vietnam hunger strike tests official intimidation
By MIKE IVES | Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Cu Huy Ha Vu’s books come with pages torn out by prison guards. Only some of his letters reach home. He is not allowed to access evidence from his trial or to see his wife alone.
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Protesters out again in Brazil’s biggest city
By BRADLEY BROOKS | Associated Press
SAO PAULO (AP) — Tens of thousands of Brazilians again flooded the streets of the country’s biggest city to raise a collective cry against a longstanding lament — people are weighed down by high taxes and high prices but get low-quality public services and a system of government infected with corruption.
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Rohani once spoke approvingly of hiding Iran atomic work | Reuters
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.”
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Afghan Taliban say they killed 4 US troops
By AMIR SHAH | Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban claimed responsibility Wednesday for an attack in Afghanistan that killed four American troops just hours after the insurgent group announced it would hold talks with the U.S. on finding a political solution to ending the nearly 12-year war in the country.
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Dozens held in Turkey, silent protester goes viral
By Daren Butler and Parisa Hafezi
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.
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Japan finds highly toxic strontium in Fukushima groundwater
By Osamu Tsukimori and Yuka Obayashi
TOKYO (Reuters) – High levels of a toxic substance called strontium-90 have been found in groundwater at the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, the utility that operates the facility said on Wednesday.
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Australian jailed for life for rape, murder
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A serial sex offender was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for raping and murdering an Irish woman while he was free on parole after previous convictions for raping five women.
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