Candidates register for Iran’s presidential vote as hardliners seek boost
LONDON (Reuters) – Candidates began registering on Tuesday for Iran’s May 19 presidential election with the clerical establishment hoping for a high turnout to shore up its legitimacy amidst widespread instability in the Middle East.
U.S.-backed forces push back Islamic State in Raqqa campaign – officials
BEIRUT (Reuters) – U.S.-backed forces fighting Islamic State in Syria advanced to within 2 km (1 mile) of a key stronghold near the jihadist group’s de facto capital of Raqqa on Tuesday, and a counter-attack by the militants was repulsed, officials sai…
U.S. asks G7 ministers why it should care about Ukraine conflict
LUCCA, Italy (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked his European counterparts on Tuesday why American voters should care about the conflict in Ukraine, France’s foreign minister said.
Putin says expects ‘fake’ gas attacks to discredit Syria’s Assad
MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia had information that the United States was planning to launch new missile strikes on Syria, and that there were plans to fake chemicals weapons attacks there.
In unusual omission, no Trump-Pope meeting planned during Italy G7
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump has not asked to meet Pope Francis during his visit to Italy next month for the Group of Seven summit, sources said on Tuesday, in what would be a highly unusual omission.
Uber offers free rides on Turkish referendum day
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Facing stiff competition from rivals in Istanbul, taxi hailing app Uber will offer free rides in the Turkish city on Sunday for voters taking part in the hotly contested referendum.
Islamic State has lost most territory it held in Iraq: Iraqi spokesman
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Islamic State has lost most of the territory it has held in Iraq since 2014, an Iraqi military spokesman said on Tuesday.
In Indonesia, pious ‘punks’ promote Islam
BANDUNG, Indonesia (Reuters) – “Prophet Mohammad forever,” chant the young Indonesian Muslim musicians. But instead of a mosque, the men are singing at an outdoor concert with a mosh pit full of followers of the country’s first Islamic punk movement.
Babies starve as war grinds on in Mosul
QAYYARA, Iraq (Reuters) – The babies cry with hunger but are so severely malnourished that doctors treating them at a hospital in Iraq would make their condition worse if they fed them enough to stop the pangs.
Macron, Le Pen hold French election lead but investors eye Melenchon surge
PARIS (Reuters) – French centrist Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen clung on as frontrunners in France’s tight presidential race on Tuesday, but the unpredictable outcome is pushing some pollsters to calculate the most extreme runoff s…
