Canadian says child killed, U.S. wife raped during Afghan kidnapping
OTTAWA/TORONTO (Reuters) – A U.S.-Canadian couple freed in Pakistan this week, nearly five years after being abducted in Afghanistan, returned to Canada on Friday where the husband said one of his children had been murdered and his wife had been raped….
Islamic State faces imminent Raqqa defeat, Syrian YPG says
AIN ISSA, Syria/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Islamic State is on the verge of defeat in Syria’s Raqqa and the city may finally be cleared of the jihadists on Saturday or Sunday, the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia told Reuters on Saturday.
Southern Yemen leader sees independence referendum soon
ADEN (Reuters) – Yemen’s former Aden governor, who has declared a council that seeks secession for southern Yemen, said late on Friday a referendum on independence would be announced soon.
Turkey arrests four people over explosion at Tupras refinery: Anadolu
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish authorities arrested four people over Wednesday’s explosion in a storage tank at a Tupras refinery which killed four people, the state-run Anadolu news agency said on Saturday.
Activists say dozens of busses enter Syria’s Raqqa as battle with IS nears end
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Dozens of busses entered Syria’s Islamic State-held Raqqa city overnight, an activist group with sources in Raqqa said on Saturday.
Magnitude 5.4 quake rumbles southern Mexico, no reports of damage
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A 5.4 magnitude quake struck southern Mexico on Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
Iraq’s Kurds beef up, move back defense line around oil-rich Kirkuk
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Kurdish authorities said on Friday they had sent thousands more troops to Kirkuk to confront “threats” of Iraqi military attack, but also slightly pulled back defense lines around the disputed oil-producing area to ease tensions.
Brazil Supreme Court blocks extradition of Italian leftist ex-guerilla Battisti
BRASILIA (Reuters) – A Supreme Court injunction on Friday temporarily blocked the extradition of Cesare Battisti, an Italian left-wing former guerrilla convicted of murder in his country.
Despite deaths, German military eyes recruitment bump from new reality show
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German military, buoyed by 45 million views of its previous social media reality show “The Recruits”, is to launch a new show on Monday that shows the lives of eight soldiers serving in U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali.
WHO says attack on Syria vaccine store leaves children at risk
LONDON (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said on Friday it had received reports of an attack on medical facilities in eastern Syria that had destroyed a store containing more than 130,000 vaccine doses against measles and polio.
