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By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) – Bougainville must be able to fund at least half of its budget if the Pacific archipelago’s aspiration of political independence from Papua New Guinea is to be a success, PNG Prime Minister James Marape said on Wednesday. Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama is seeking international investors to re-open one of …

Pacific island Bougainville’s independence path relies on economy, says PNG’s Marape Read More »

By Erin Banco WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration has urged the rebel group that led the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad not to assume automatic leadership of the country but instead run an inclusive process to form a transitional government, according to two U.S. officials and a congressional aide briefed on the first …

In first contacts, US officials urge Syrian rebels to support inclusive government Read More »

By Simon Lewis and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has asked Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group to help locate and free missing American journalist Austin Tice as it liberates the country’s prisons in the aftermath of Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday. Washington is telling …

US asks Syrian rebels HTS to help in search for journalist Austin Tice Read More »

By Mohammad Azakir and Firaz Makdesi DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Using only the light on their mobile phones, wailing men and women examined disfigured bodies lying in a darkened hospital morgue in Syria’s capital for signs of their relatives who had disappeared into Bashar al-Assad’s notorious prison system. Dozens of corpses – blackened, decomposing and missing …

Syrians scour disfigured corpses for signs of detained loved ones Read More »