LONDON — Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch on Tuesday appeared to throw his weight behind Scotland’s independence bid, a move welcomed by Scottish First Minister and pro-independence campaigner Alex Salmond. The News Corporation chief, who is in London for the launch of The Sun on Sunday weekly newspaper, used micro-blogging site…
GENEVA — Victims of environmental disasters or other abuses inflicted by corporations in Nigeria are being denied justice as they are too poor or do not know how to seek legal recourse, jurists said Wednesday. “Poor rural victims of corporate human rights abuse are usually unaware of their legal rights…
WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney’s future hangs in the balance. In one week’s time he could either be restored as the frontrunner in the Republican presidential race or be left staring into a political abyss. Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, a Christian conservative who fiercely opposes gay marriage and abortion, has…
ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (Reuters) – A Maryland Senate committee approved a gay marriage bill on Tuesday, sending the issue to the full Senate and moving Maryland closer to becoming the eighth state to legalize same-sex nuptials. The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee voted 7 to 4 in favor of the bill –…
NAIROBI — The US special envoy for Somalia on Tuesday urged support for Somali regions seized from the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels controlling swathes of territory, but now under pressure from regional armies. James Swan said local authorities should be bolstered in the Mogadishu outskirts recently captured by African Union forces,…
WASHINGTON — US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta apologized Tuesday for the “inappropriate treatment” of copies of the Koran at an American base in Afghanistan and promised a swift investigation. Panetta’s statement came as protesters besieged the Bagram air base in Afghanistan shouting “Death to Americans” following reports that NATO troops…
FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI, Japan — Every two minutes on the bus ride through the ghost towns surrounding Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a company guide in a white protective suit holds up a display showing the radiation level. And it is rising. Passing through the disaster exclusion zone visitors catch sight…
WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama called German counterpart Angela Merkel on Tuesday to welcome “positive steps” taken by the European Union to ease its smoldering debt crisis, the White House said. Hours after the EU and the private sector inked a 237-billion-euro ($310 billion) bailout designed to keep Greece…
KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday invited the Taliban for direct talks with his government, while urging Pakistan to facilitate negotiation efforts towards ending Afghanistan’s decade-long war. “In order to realise the objectives of the peace process, I invite the leadership of the Taliban to engage in direct…
DAMASCUS — Syrian forces killed 58 civilians Tuesday as they blitzed the city of Homs and a village in Idlib province, monitors said, as the Red Cross sought a truce to deliver aid and the UN demanded access for humanitarian workers. The latest killings came as Russia, a key ally…