Polarised Albania votes for president without casting ballots
TIRANA (Reuters) – Albania’s parliament voted for a new president without casting a single ballot on Wednesday, convening and then closing the first of five election rounds in less than 10 minutes because no candidate came forward to run.
U.S. trying to identify chemical agent used in Mosul attack: general
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Islamic State militants used a chemical in an attack on Iraqi forces in Mosul over the weekend, and the agent has been sent for testing to try to identify it, the U.S. general commanding coalition ground forces in Iraq said on We…
U.S. must keep military options open on North Korea: House speaker Ryan
LONDON (Reuters) – The United States must keep military options on the table when dealing with North Korea, but it does not want to use them unless it has to, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said during a visit to Britain on Wednesday.
U.S. troops still battling Islamic State near site of Afghan bomb strike
KABUL/ABDUL KHIL, Afghanistan (Reuters) – U.S. troops are still battling suspected Islamic State fighters near the site where a massive bomb was dropped in eastern Afghanistan last week, a U.S. military official said on Wednesday.
Egypt police kill gunman linked to attack near St. Catherine’s Monastery
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian security forces have tracked down and killed a gunman suspected of involvement in an attack near St Catherine’s Monastery in southern Sinai that left one police officer dead and three wounded, the Interior Ministry said on We…
U.S. approves $295.6 million military equipment sale to Iraq: Pentagon
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department has approved the sale of $295.6 million worth of military equipment to Iraq for artillery and infantry Kurdish peshmerga units, a Pentagon agency said on Wednesday.
Revolutionary Guard general takes over as new Iranian ambassador in Iraq
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A general from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards assumed the post of ambassador to Iraq on Wednesday, in a sign of the key role the military force is currently playing in its neighboring country.
‘We want to be happy’: Iraqi violinist plays in Mosul as troops battle IS
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – Amid the bombed-out ruins of an ancient site revered by both Muslims and Christians in Mosul, Iraqi violinist Ameen Mukdad on Wednesday held a small concert in the city he was forced to flee by Islamic State militants.
U.N. says 82 aid workers killed in South Sudan’s three-year war
NAIROBI (Reuters) – A United Nations official said on Wednesday 82 aid workers had been killed in South Sudan’s civil war and the number of its citizens displaced by the fighting now stands at 3.5 million.
Israeli troops kill Palestinian who rammed West Bank bus stop: army
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian driver who rammed his car into a bus stop in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday injuring a pedestrian, the army and a hospital spokesman said.
