Canada confirms will give troops for eastern European NATO force
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada confirmed on Thursday that it would provide troops to help establish a new 4,000-strong NATO force on Russia’s border to act as a deterrent against a possible show of force by Moscow.
U.N. peacekeeping mission leaves Liberia after 13 years
MONROVIA (Reuters) – A U.N. peacekeeping mission that was sent to Liberia in 2003 to restore order after two brutal civil wars withdrew on Thursday, beginning a new phase of self-reliance for the impoverished West African country.
EU says talks with Turkey on visa liberalization ‘constructive’
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU and Turkish negotiators will meet again soon to work on outstanding issues after talks on Thursday in Brussels aimed at reaching an agreement on easing EU visa requirements for Turks, the EU’s deputy chief executive said.
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…
