Catalonia government sworn in, ending Madrid direct rule
MADRID (Reuters) – Nationalists regained control of Catalonia’s regional government on Saturday as a new cabinet was sworn in, automatically ending just over seven months of direct rule from Madrid by Spain’s central government.
Syrian minister says U.S. forces must leave Tanf base
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria’s foreign minister said on Saturday that U.S. forces must withdraw from the Tanf base in the south, and that Damascus had not engaged in talks over the country’s southern region.
Iran says it supports Russian efforts to bring south Syria under army control
LONDON (Reuters) – Iran supports a Russian-led effort to impose Syrian government control over the south of Syria, a senior Iranian security official was quoted as saying on Saturday, amid reports that Damascus is preparing a major military offensive i…
Myanmar says willing to take back all Rohingya refugees
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Myanmar is willing to take back all 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled to Bangladesh if they volunteer to return, the country’s National Security Adviser Thaung Tun said on Saturday.
Pedro Sanchez sworn in as new Spanish prime minister
MADRID (Reuters) – Socialist Pedro Sanchez was sworn in on Saturday as Spain’s seventh head of government since its return to democracy in the late 1970s, taking over from veteran conservative Mariano Rajoy who was ousted on Friday over a corruption sc…
Sisi sworn in for second Egyptian presidential term
CAIRO (Reuters) – Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in for a second term as president before the Egyptian parliament on Saturday, after a landslide victory in a March election in which all serious opponents had withdrawn.
Ireland gives Britain two weeks to produce Brexit border proposals
DUBLIN (Reuters) – Britain must submit written proposals on how it plans to keep a frictionless border on the island of Ireland after Brexit in the next two weeks or face an uncertain summer of talks, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney was quoted as …
Israel says troops in West Bank kill Palestinian trying to ram them with car
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian who tried to ram his car into them in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Israeli military said.
Turkish air strikes ‘neutralize’ 15 Kurdish militants: military
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Air strikes by Turkish warplanes “neutralized” at least 15 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq as well as in Turkey’s eastern provinces of Tunceli and Siirt, the military said on Saturday.
China arrests 15 for making bogus bottles for not-so-fine tipples
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese police have arrested 15 people suspected of producing more than 55,000 counterfeit bottles of brands of fine alcohol, which enabled them to sell off poor quality booze at top-drawer prices, the Xinhua news agency reported o…
