U.S.-backed Syrian forces close in on Raqqa from south
BEIRUT (Reuters) – U.S.-backed Syrian militias closed in on Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa on Wednesday, taking territory on the south bank of the Euphrates River with the aim of encircling the city, a militia spokesman told Reuters.
Romanian lawmakers oust PM Grindeanu in no-confidence vote
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s ruling leftists overwhelmingly voted to oust Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu’s six-month-old government on Wednesday, opening the way for a new cabinet with a comfortable parliament majority over the next few weeks.
Britain’s Prince Philip hospitalized with infection but is in ‘good spirits’
LONDON (Reuters) – Prince Philip, the 96-year-old husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, has been admitted to hospital with an infection and will miss the formal opening of parliament, but he remains in good spirits, Buckingham Palace said.
Syrians fear new Raqqa turmoil once Islamic State is defeated
RAQQA, Syria (Reuters) – U.S.-backed forces are closing in on Islamic State in Raqqa, but local Syrians who have escaped the battlefield are worried about what comes after the fight.
A daily conundrum in convulsed Venezuela: will my kids make it to school?
CARACAS (Reuters) – With anti-government protesters blocking avenues and highways across Venezuela several times a week, many parents spend their evenings asking the same question – will my kids make it to school tomorrow?
Egypt’s constitutional court temporarily halts all verdicts on islands transfer deal: state media
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s top constitutional court has ruled to halt all verdicts on an islands transfer deal until it makes a decision on the constitutionality of the agreement, state media said on Wednesday.
Russia considering retaliatory sanctions against U.S.: Kremlin
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Moscow is considering a range of retaliatory measures in response to a planned new round of U.S. sanctions to be imposed on Moscow over its role in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
Kremlin calls U.S. statement on eastern Ukraine inappropriate
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Moscow regards a U.S. statement linking the lifting of sanctions on Russia to its withdrawal from eastern Ukraine as inappropriate and incorrect, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Israel would go ‘all-out’ if war breaks out again with Lebanon: air force chief
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel would use all its strength from the start in any new war with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, the chief of the Israeli air force said on Wednesday, sending a firm warning a decade after their last conflict.
Four face murder charges in Hungary migrant death truck trial
KECSKEMET, Hungary (Reuters) – Four men went on trial in Hungary on Wednesday charged with murdering 71 refugees found suffocated to death in the back of a lorry at the height of Europe’s migrant crisis in 2015.
