U.S., Turkey see key role for local Syrian forces in Raqqa offensive: Pentagon
LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and his Turkish counterpart Fikri Isik on Thursday discussed the importance of local forces being at the center of any effort to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa from Islamic State, the Pentagon said….
Palestinian leader Abbas was KGB spy in 1980s: Israeli researchers
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Soviet-era documents show that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas worked in the 1980s for the KGB, the now-defunct intelligence agency where Russian leader Vladimir Putin once served, Israeli researchers said on Thursday.
Afghan forces repel Taliban offensive in provincial capital: officials
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Taliban forces fought their way deep into the capital of Afghanistan’s central province of Uruzgan on Thursday, threatening government offices and capturing a prison before being pushed back, officials said.
EU grants 348 million euros in aid for Syrian refugees in Turkey
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union on Thursday announced it was contracting 348 million euros ($393 mln) to the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) for humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees in Turkey, part of the bloc’s migration cooperation with Ankar…
Duterte tells regional leaders, U.S. not to lecture Philippines on rights
VIENTIANE (Reuters) – Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday defended his country’s human rights record at a regional summit in Laos, urging East Asian leaders and the United States to help Manila eradicate the scourge of illicit drugs.
France’s Hollande gives clearest hint at quest for second term
PARIS (Reuters) – President Francois Hollande said on Thursday he would not let France’s image deteriorate “over the coming months or coming years”, his clearest indication yet that he intends to run for a second term in office next year.
Britain to deploy up to 100 more troops to South Sudan: minister
LONDON (Reuters) – Up to 100 additional British troops will join U.N. peacekeeping work in South Sudan, the defense minister said on Thursday, taking the total to around 400.
West Bank court rules against holding local Palestinian elections
RAMALLAH, West Bank/GAZA (Reuters) – The Palestinian high court in Ramallah has ruled that municipal elections scheduled for Oct. 8 cannot go ahead after a dispute over party lists and the inability to hold the vote in East Jerusalem, which is annexed …
As Obama caps years of Asia ‘pivot’, regional tensions smolder
VIENTIANE (Reuters) – Barack Obama defended his efforts to ‘rebalance’ U.S. foreign policy toward Asia on Thursday even as he wound up the final visit of his presidency to the region with the South China Sea dispute still smoldering.
German minister, in Lithuania, backs European ‘defense union’
VILNIUS (Reuters) – Germany’s defense minister called for a European “defense union” on Thursday during a visit to the Baltic state of Lithuania, where Berlin is preparing to lead a battle group of about 1,000 troops as a deterrence against neighboring…
