Iraq refuses talks with Kurds unless they commit to unity
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The Iraqi government said on Thursday it would not hold talks with the Kurdish autonomous region on reopening its airports and providing dollars for its banks, unless the Kurds commit to “Iraq’s unity”.
Trump’s Iran plans driving EU toward Russia and China: Germany
BERLIN (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s expected move to “de-certify” the international nuclear deal with Iran is driving a wedge between Europe and the United States and bringing Europeans closer to Russia and China, Germany said on Thursday….
Russia’s Lavrov to Tillerson: Moscow readies lawsuits over seized property
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday that Russia was preparing lawsuits to reclaim what Moscow says was illegally seized property in the United States, Russia’s foreign ministr…
Iraqi govt says Kurds must back country’s ‘unity’ before talks
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – The Iraqi government has a series of conditions that the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) must meet before agreeing to hold talks on the crisis triggered by last month’s independence referendum, a government spokesman said on Thurs…
Somalia’s top military chiefs resign, no reason given
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Two of Somalia’s highest-ranking military officials have resigned, state outlets said on Thursday, in moves that could deal a blow to the war-torn Horn of Africa country’s efforts to fight Islamist militants.
Kidnapped U.S.-Canadian couple, three children freed in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A kidnapped U.S.-Canadian couple and their three children born in captivity have been freed in Pakistan, nearly five years after the couple was abducted in neighboring Afghanistan, Pakistani and U.S. officials said on T…
U.S., Israel quit U.N. heritage agency citing bias
PARIS (Reuters) – The United States and Israel announced on Thursday they were quitting the U.N.’s cultural agency UNESCO, after Washington accused it of anti-Israeli bias.
In schools and hospitals, Turkey carves north Syria role
AL-BAB, Syria/BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) – Children returning to school in the northern Syrian city of al-Bab were handed a new textbook this term: “Türkçe Öğreniyorum” – “I am learning Turkish”.
A rare look inside the ‘heart of society’ for Iraq’s Shi’ites
NAJAF, Iraq (Reuters) – For more than 1,000 years, the al-Hawza al-Ilmiyya south of Baghdad has been one of the hearts of Shi’ite Islamic scholarship, training the clerics who lead Shi’ite communities across the Muslim world.
Palestinian rivals Fatah, Hamas sign reconciliation accord
GAZA/CAIRO (Reuters) – Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal on Thursday after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of Gaza, including the key Rafah border crossing, a decade after seizing the enclave in a …
