Armenia ratifies agreement on joint air-defense system with Russia
YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenia’s parliament on Thursday voted to ratify an Armenian-Russian agreement to create a joint air-defense system which opponents fear gives too much control to Moscow.
Violence, settlements, Gaza undermine hope for Mideast peace: U.N.
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Violence and incitement, settlement expansion and a lack of control of Gaza by the Palestinian Authority are undermining hope for Middle East peace, a senior U.N. official said on Thursday, citing a report by the Middle East …
West cooperating secretly with Damascus against militants: Assad
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in an interview to be broadcast on Friday that Western countries had sent security officials to help his government covertly in fighting Islamist militants involved in Syria’s war.
Italy, Colombia, U.S. seize 11 tonnes of cocaine, arrest 33 people
ROME (Reuters) – Italian, Colombian and U.S. police have seized 11 tonnes of cocaine and arrested 33 people from a mafia-linked ring which refined the drug in the jungles of Colombia and smuggled it out in containers of tropical fruits.
Islamic State kills Christian priest in Egypt’s North Sinai
CAIRO (Reuters) – Islamist militants gunned down a Christian priest in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula as he was fixing his car, the Interior Ministry and the Coptic Orthodox Church said on Thursday.
Croatia puts up barriers on border bridge with Serbia
ZAGREB (Reuters) – Croatia, which last year saw hundreds of thousands of migrants pass through on their way to Western Europe, has erected metal barriers on a bridge at the border with Serbia to prevent illegal entry.
In Jerusalem, a cracked soccer pitch reflects wider fissures
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – It is dry, gray and uneven, but to the boys of Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood clinging to a hill behind Jerusalem’s Old City, their pint-sized football pitch, with its cracked surface and simple goalposts, was a precious refug…
Belgium transfers Paris attacks suspect to France
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – One of two men who drove to collect a key suspect in the Paris attacks the night after it occurred has been transferred to France from Belgium, Belgian federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
Euro zone will not add new members in next three years: Dombrovskis
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission does not expect any new countries to join the euro zone for at least the next three years, one of the vice presidents of the EU executive said on Thursday.
Merkel says German parliament to have a say in EU-Canada trade deal
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German parliament will be asked to vote on an EU-Canada trade deal, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday, appearing to contradict European Commission plans for a simple approval procedure.
