Global Talk

Top Stories

• Russian Poll: Brezhnev Best Leader of Last Century, Gorbachev Worst
  Leonid Brezhnev was voted the best head of Russia in the 20th century and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev among the worst, according to a survey of Russian citizens.
• Authorities Look for Link Between Attack on French Soldier and Jihadists
  A French soldier was stabbed in the throat in a busy commercial district outside Paris on Saturday, and France's president said authorities are investigating any possible links with the recent slaying of a British soldier.
• Russian Pro-, Anti-Gay Activists Arrested After Defying Ban
  Russian police detained around 30 pro- and anti-gay activists in central Moscow on Saturday, imposing the city's ban on gay rights demonstrations.
• France Rules out Iran Taking Part in Syrian Peace Talks
  France's foreign minister on Saturday ruled out Iran taking part in a proposed Syria peace conference, saying Tehran was involved in the conflict and had no desire for peace.
• Officials Impose 2-Child Limit for Muslims in Myanmar State
  Authorities in Myanmar's western Rakhine state have imposed a two-child limit for Muslim Rohingya families, a policy that does not apply to Buddhists in the area and comes amid accusations of ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of sectarian violence.
• Kerry Urges Human Rights Protection in First Sub-Saharan Africa Visit
  Syria's opposition resumed talks on Saturday aimed at creating a coherent front crucial to a proposed international peace conference, struggling under Western and Arab pressure to close their fractious ranks and elect a viable leadership.
• Syrian Opposition Resumes Unity Talks Key to Peace Conference
  Syria's opposition resumed talks on Saturday aimed at creating a coherent front crucial to a proposed international peace conference, struggling under Western and Arab pressure to close their fractious ranks and elect a viable leadership.
• British Police Arrest Three More Suspects in Soldier Slaying
  British counterterrorism police on Saturday arrested three people suspected of involvement in the killing of a soldier hacked to death in a London street by two men shouting Islamist slogans.
• 'Black Widow' Suicide Bomber Injures 12 in Russian Region
  A female suicide bomber identified as a two-time widow of slain Islamists blew herself up in the southern Russian region of Dagestan on Saturday injuring at least 12, including two children and five police officers, police said.
• 16 Children, Teacher Dead in Pakistan Bus Fire
  Sixteen children and a teacher burned to death in eastern Pakistan when a minibus taking the students to school suddenly caught fire, police said.
• Sixth Night of Violence in Sweden, but Police Say Capital Calmer
  Community patrols and a beefed-up police presence helped to calm violence around Stockholm overnight on Saturday but 20 to 30 cars were still torched in poor immigrant suburbs and serious incidents were reported outside the capital for the first time.
• UN Compound Siege, Bombers Follow Surge of Attacks in Afghanistan
  A would-be suicide bomber died when his explosives-rigged vest went off prematurely in Afghanistan's capital on Saturday morning, police said. The apparent failed attack came a day after a major Taliban assault on an international compound in Kabul left 10 people dead including the six attackers.
• Toronto Mayor Says he Doesn't Smoke Crack Cocaine
  Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied Friday that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict after a video purported to show him using the drug.
• UK Fighter Jets Escort Pakistan Plane to Airport; 2 Arrests
  British fighter jets escorted a Pakistan International Airlines passenger plane to Stansted Airport near London on Friday, where police went on board and arrested two men on suspicion of endangering an aircraft.
• German Intel: Assad Has Commanding Upper Hand in Syrian War
  Germany’s foreign intelligence agency has fundamentally changed its view of the ongoing civil war in Syria, now saying the forces of President Bashar al-Assad have the upper hand, the German website Spiegel Online reports.
• Kerry's Focus Is on Middle East Peace Talks, Not Israel Settlements
  Secretary of State John Kerry urged Israel's government on Friday to prevent further settlement construction where possible to help revitalize Middle East peace hopes, but stressed that the larger goal was restarting direct negotiations.
• British Security Services in Spotlight After Soldier Murder
  Britain's security services faced questions on Friday over whether they could have done more to prevent the murder of a soldier hacked to death in a busy London street after it emerged that his suspected killers were known to intelligence officers.
• IRA Denounces Charges for 1982 London Murder
  Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams Thursday denounced the British government for charging an Irish Republican Army (IRA) activist with murdering four soldiers in a 1982 bombing.
• China: Hopes NKorea Envoy Visit Can Help Rid Peninsula of Nukes
  China hopes that this week's visit by a senior North Korean envoy can ease tension in the region and help spur efforts to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday.
• Israel to Discuss Divisive Military Plan To Draft More Ultra-Orthodox
  An Israeli committee has handed the government its proposal for ending a system granting Jewish ultra-Orthodox seminary students automatic exemptions from military service.
• Sweden Police Seek Backup After Fifth Night of Racial Riots
  Stockholm police are asking for reinforcements to help end riots that have spread through the Swedish capital’s most ethnically mixed areas.
• Pope, Salvador President, Discuss Beatification of Slain Archbishop
  The president of El Salvador met Pope Francis on Thursday to urge his fellow Latin American to put Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was murdered by a right-wing death squad in 1980, on the road to Roman Catholic sainthood.
• Britain Ponders Wider Conspiracy After Terror Attack; Fears Copycats
  Police investigating the murder of a soldier hacked to death on a busy London street were looking on Friday into whether the two suspected killers, British men of Nigerian descent, were part of a wider conspiracy.
• LIGNET: One Year Later, Blind Chinese Activist Stands Alone
  It s been more than a year since blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng made his daring escape from house arrest in China to safety in the American Embassy in Beijing, but Chen is no closer in his quest to improve the human rights situation in China than he was....
• NKorea Says It's Willing to Take China Advice to Start Talks
  North Korea is willing to take China's advice and enter into talks, Chinese state television cited an envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as saying, following weeks of tension on the Korean peninsula after the North's latest nuclear test.

More Global Talk Stories