Pair of mosque attacks kill at least 50 in Afghanistan
KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least 30 people inside a Shi’ite mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday night, a security official said, and a separate bombing killed at least another 20 at a mosque in the middle of the country.
‘Unacceptably high’ number of Afghans flee military training in U.S.: report
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan soldiers and police brought to the United States for training go “absent without leave” at far higher rates than those of any other country, potentially imperilling efforts to assist Afghan security forces, a U.S. watchdog said…
Jamaica or bust: Merkel starts crunch coalition talks
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel pronounced herself optimistic as she opened the first full round of talks on piecing together the three-way “Jamaica” coalition she needs if she is to avoid an abrupt end to her 12 years in power.
Raqqa to be part of ‘federal Syria’, U.S.-backed militia says
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Raqqa will be part of a decentralized federal Syria now the city has been freed from Islamic State, the U.S.-backed militias that captured it said on Friday, tying its political future to Kurdish-led autonomy plans for northern Syria…
Lebanese court issues death sentence over 1982 Gemayel assassination
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s top court on Friday sentenced Habib Shartouni to death for the 1982 assassination of president-elect Bashir Gemayel, an event that was a turning point in Lebanon’s 15-year civil war.
Russian aerobatics team joins Serbian display of air power
BELGRADE (Reuters) – Russia’s elite aerobatic team zoomed over Serbia’s military airport on Friday as Belgrade exhibited its newest fighter jets in a display demonstrating close ties between the fellow Slavic, Orthodox Christian countries.
Having nuclear weapons ‘matter of life and death’ for North Korea: agency
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Pyongyang does not plan to hold any talks with Washington about its nuclear program, a senior North Korean diplomat said on Friday, declaring that possessing nuclear weapons was a matter of life and death for North Korea, the RIA new…
Suicide bomber kills at least 30 at mosque in Afghan capital Kabul
KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide bomber killed at least 30 people inside a Shi’ite mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday night, a security official said, the latest in a string of violent attacks on the country’s Shi’ite minority.
Irish student Ibrahim Halawa freed after four years in Egypt jail
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian authorities have released high-profile Irish detainee Ibrahim Halawa following his acquittal last month of charges including murder, in a four-year mass trial criticized by human rights groups.
Suicide bomber strikes mosque in Afghan capital Kabul: official
KABUL (Reuters) – A suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a Shi’ite mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday night, a security official said.
