Iraqi Shi’ite commander says Mosul battle ‘no picnic’ as troops advance
SOUTH OF MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraqi troops and security forces edged closer to Mosul on two southern fronts on Sunday but a leader of the Shi’ite militias newly participating in the offensive warned that the battle for Islamic State’s Iraq stronghol…
Pope heads to Sweden to commemorate Martin Luther
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis goes to Sweden on Monday to help start commemorations of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Reformation, a trip that has won him praise from Lutherans but criticism from Catholic conservatives.
Iraqi police battle suicide bombers, get glimpse of life under IS
SHURA, Iraq (Reuters) – Iraqi federal policemen stood over the corpse of an Islamic State suicide bomber covered by a curtain. The chain attached to his ankle was tied to a car that had dragged him through streets, they said, that were once part of a s…
As Brazil veers right, evangelical bishop elected Rio mayor
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – An evangelical bishop was elected mayor of Rio de Janeiro on Sunday in a second round of municipal voting that cemented a rout of the leftist party and allies who dominated Brazil’s presidency and major cities for over a deca…
Aleppo fighting spreads amid accusations of gas attack
AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian rebels opened a new front in Aleppo as fighting spread on the third day of a major insurgent counter-attack to break the government’s siege of the opposition-held part of the city, and each side accused the other of usin…
Turkey sacks 10,000 more civil servants, shuts media in latest crackdown
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey said it had dismissed a further 10,000 civil servants and closed 15 more media outlets over suspected links with terrorist organizations and U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating a failed coup…
Imran Khan says mass protest no danger to Pakistan democracy
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan on Sunday dismissed accusations his planned shutdown of the nation’s capital could lead to a military coup, saying Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif “can’t hide behind ‘democracy in danger'” to qua…
Young Calais migrants pray in ‘Jungle’ church before demolition
PARIS (Reuters) – Dozens of young Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants gathered on Sunday at a makeshift Orthodox church in the Calais “Jungle” camp, one of the only places still standing in the area, to attend a last service before the demolition is comple…
Protests erupt in Morocco after fishmonger crushed to death
RABAT (Reuters) – Thousands of outraged Moroccans held protests in several cities on Sunday after a fishmonger in the northern town of Al-Hoceima was crushed to death inside a garbage truck as he tried to retrieve fish confiscated by police.
Iran-trained militias join U.S-backed campaign on Mosul, flying Shi’ite flags
AIN NASIR, Iraq (Reuters) – Gun trucks and humvees streamed north on a highway heading to Mosul on Sunday flying the banners of Shi’ite militias along with Iraqi flags while blaring religious songs.
