Taliban controls more territory, increasing influence in Afghanistan: watchdog
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Taliban has increased the amount of territory it has influence in or controls in Afghanistan in the past six months, a U.S. watchdog agency reported on Tuesday, a sign the security situation there remains precarious even as t…
Russia’s Sochi to host Syrian peoples congress on Nov. 18: RIA cites source
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The first congress of Syrian peoples will be held in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi on Nov. 18, the RIA news agency cited a source close to the Astana peace talks on Syria as saying on Tuesday.
Trump has ‘warm rapport’ with Phillipines’ Duterte: official
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has developed a friendly relationship with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte from the two leaders’ telephone conversations and exchanges of letters, a senior administration official said on Tuesday….
Czech election winner Babis to seek minority government
LANY, Czech Republic (Reuters) – Czech election winner Andrej Babis’s ANO party will attempt to form a minority government after being shunned by other parties in coalition talks, Babis said on Tuesday after meeting with the president.
Kremlin says Russia not accused in U.S. case against ex-Trump aides
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Tuesday that U.S. charges against President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and another aide showed Moscow had been unfairly maligned in accusations that it meddled in last year’s U.S. preside…
U.S. sees China in ‘retrenchment’ on move toward market economy: U.S. official
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States believes that progress with China on a range of trade issues has been increasingly difficult and Beijing appears on a “trajectory of retrenchment,” a senior Trump administration official said on Tuesday.
Iran seen as winner after Iraq’s Kurds lose referendum gamble
ERBIL (Reuters) – There are no winners among Iraq’s Kurds, just weeks after Kurdish president Masoud Barzani gambled away his people’s autonomy in a defiant independence referendum.
Ousted Catalan leader accepts new election, says ‘long road’ to independence
BRUSSELS/MADRID (Reuters) – Catalonia’s ousted leader Carles Puigdemont on Tuesday agreed to the snap election called by Spain’s central government when it took control of the region to stop it breaking away, but he said the fight for independence wou…
Shelling hits besieged Syrian Ghouta school gate after aid delivery
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Shelling killed around ten people, including five children at a school gate, in a besieged rebel enclave near Syria’s capital Damascus on Tuesday, a day after a U.N. aid delivery to the area, a war monitor said.
EU’s Barnier is ready to speed up Brexit negotiations
PRAGUE (Reuters) – The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Tuesday that he was ready to speed up negotiations with Great Britain.
