Syrian government forces, allies capture extensive area near Damascus
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian government forces and allies including Lebanese Hezbollah fighters seized an extensive area southeast of Damascus from rebels on Thursday and fought other insurgents near a highway leading southwest, a monitoring group said.
Pope condemns ‘bloodsuckers’ who exploit poor workers
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis condemned “bloodsuckers” who grow rich by exploiting others on Thursday, saying making “slaves” out of workers and setting unfair contracts was a mortal sin.
Iraq says it retakes western town of Rutba from Islamic State
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s military said on Thursday it had retaken the remote western town of Rutba from Islamic State in an operation launched this week to cut off the militants’ supply route to neighboring Syria.
Netanyahu pulls off coalition surprise to upend Israeli politics
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – “He’s a magician, he’s a magician,” the partisan crowd chanted as a beaming Benjamin Netanyahu strode into his party headquarters a little over a year ago to declare a come-from-behind victory in Israel’s election.
Jihadists mobilize in Syria as peacemaking unravels
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) – Jihadi militants in Syria including al Qaeda are mobilizing again for all-out war against President Bashar al-Assad, taking advantage of the collapse of peace talks to eclipse nationalist rival insurgents that signed on to a fa…
Presidency within reach for Austria’s far-right Freedom Party
VIENNA (Reuters) – Austria is a short step from becoming the first European Union country to elect a far-right head of state, the result of mounting angst about living standards and Europe’s migrant crisis triggering more than 100,000 asylum requests.
Russia to deliver several S-300 missile divisions to Iran by year-end: agency
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will deliver several divisions of its S-300 air defense missile system to Iran by the end of this year, Interfax news agency quoted Russian presidential aide Vladimir Kozhin as saying on Thursday.
Hopes fade for 150 feared buried in Sri Lanka landslides
ARANAYAKA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Hopes faded on Thursday for the survival of about 150 people trapped under the mud and rubble of two landslides in Sri Lanka, as heavy rain hampered rescue operations and the death toll from the disaster rose to 41.
Seven die in Afghanistan crash of Azerbaijan’s Silk Way freight plane
BAKU (Reuters) – A freight plane of Azerbaijan’s Silk Way airline crashed on Wednesday in Afghanistan, killing seven of its nine crew, Azerbaijan’s civil aviation administration said.
Five U.N. Chadian peacekeepers killed by bomb, gunfire in northern Mali
DAKAR (Reuters) – Five United Nations peacekeepers from Chad were killed and three were wounded in northern Mali on Wednesday when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device and unknown gunmen opened fire, the United Nations said in a statement l…
