Asia on Christmas alert as police foil two bomb plots
JAKARTA/BANGKOK (Reuters) – Security forces across Asia were on alert on Friday ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays, as police in Australia and Indonesia said they had foiled bomb plots and Malaysian security forces arrested suspected militant…
Turkey detains 31 in operation targeting Islamic State: NTV
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish authorities detained 31 people on Friday suspected of links to Islamic State, broadcaster NTV said, as clashes between Turkish soldiers and the jihadist group intensified in northern Syria.
Russia says Trump better partner for Syria deal than Obama: Ifax
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia is not in touch with the incoming U.S. administration over Syria, but Moscow sees Donald Trump as a better partner to negotiate with than Barack Obama, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Friday.
Syria war monitor says Turkish air strikes kill 88
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday that Turkish air strikes in northern Syria had killed 88 civilians since early on Thursday, including 24 children.
Chinese media alarmed at Trump trade adviser, warn of U.S. showdown
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese state media on Friday expressed alarm and warned of a “showdown with the U.S.” after President-elect Donald Trump named Peter Navarro, an economist who has urged a hard line against China, to head a new White House National …
Germany says Tunisian’s fingerprints found in Christmas market crash truck
BERLIN (Reuters) – Fingerprints from a Tunisian suspect have been found inside the truck that smashed through a Berlin Christmas market on Monday in an attack that killed 12 people, and investigators assume the migrant was at the wheel, officials said….
China auditor says 3,000 punished for 2015 budget irregularities
BEIJING (Reuters) – More than 3,000 people have been punished and 160 billion yuan ($23.02 billion) in problematic funds “rectified” during an audit of last year’s budget, China’s top auditor said on Friday.
U.S. intended to allow passage of U.N. draft critical of Israel: officials
UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States intended to allow the U.N. Security Council to approve a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, two Western officials said on Thursday, a major reversal of U.S. practice, whic…
Syrian army announces victory in Aleppo in boost for Assad
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army said it had retaken complete control of Aleppo on Thursday after the last rebel fighters were evacuated from the battered city, handing President Bashar al-Assad his biggest victory of the nearly six-year-old war.
Five good news stories you might have missed in 2016
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As 2016 draws to a close with news dominated by bloodshed, disasters and disease from the Middle East to Africa and Latin America, it may seem there wasn’t much to be happy about this year.
