EU launches joint border guard at Bulgaria-Turkish border
KAPITAN ANDREEVO, Bulgaria (Reuters) – The European Union launched its common border guard on Thursday, hoping it will help keep people away from a bloc that is still struggling with political aftershocks from an uncontrolled influx of refugees and mig…
Juppe ahead, Hollande recovers slightly as French election looms: polls
PARIS (Reuters) – Alain Juppe remains the favorite to win next year’s French presidential election but voter confidence in incumbent Francois Hollande has also rebounded slightly compared with the lows of a month ago, the latest opinion polls show.
Poland’s parliament rejects plans for near-total abortion ban
WARSAW (Reuters) – Polish lawmakers on Thursday rejected plans for a near-total ban on abortion, in a hastily arranged vote that marks the first major domestic setback for the ruling conservatives and follows street protests by tens of thousands of wom…
Turkey holds 20 alleged members of coup ‘sleeper cell’: agency
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Twenty suspects including Turkish soldiers and a deputy governor were jailed pending trial on Thursday, accused of belonging to a “sleeper cell” to be activated if a July military coup attempt had been successful, state-run Anadolu…
Russia despatches one more missile corvette to Mediterranean: agencies
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian missile corvette left its Black Sea Fleet base of Sevastopol on Thursday and is heading to join a group of Russian warships in the Mediterranean, Russian news agencies cited a fleet spokesman as saying.
Greek islanders tipped for Peace Nobel stoic about nomination
LESBOS, Greece (Reuters) – For months Greek fisherman Stratis Valamios would steer his boat out to sea, only instead of fish, he pulled out people.
Bomb kills 25, mostly foreign-backed rebels in north Syria: witnesses
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) – A bomb claimed by Islamic State at a Syria-Turkey border crossing killed at least 25 people, most of them foreign-backed Syrian rebels, and wounded dozens more on Thursday, witnesses said.
South Africa’s Zuma appoints new anti-graft chief as probe looms
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African President Jacob Zuma approved a new anti-graft watchdog on Thursday, hours before the outgoing investigator will question him about allegations his wealthy business friends influenced political appointments.
Four quit Myanmar rights panel amid outcry over handling of child abuse case
Yangon (Reuters) – Four members of Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission have stepped down after a public outcry over the panel’s handling of a child abuse case, the office of President Htin Kyaw said on Thursday.
Somali Islamist militants kill six in Kenya attack
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Islamist militants from the Somali group al Shabaab killed six people in an attack in northeast Kenya on Thursday, the latest in a series of raids by the group in the region.
