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…
Obama says he doesn’t take Duterte’s comments personally
VIENTIANE (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday he had indicated to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that their teams should meet and that he did not take earlier comments from Duterte personally.
Turkey approves German lawmakers’ trip to Incirlik air base: German MP
BERLIN (Reuters) – The Turkish government has agreed that German lawmakers can visit 250 German soldiers stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey in October, a senior German Social Democrat lawmaker said on Thursday, confirming a report on Spiegel Onli…
Iraq militia fighters join battle for Syria’s Aleppo
BEIRUT/BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraqi Shi’ite militia said on Wednesday it had dispatched more than 1,000 fighters to the frontline in neighboring Syria, escalating foreign involvement in the battle for Aleppo, the biggest prize in five years of relentle…
Much work needed to improve Ukraine ceasefire, German foreign minister says
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Thursday that there was still a lot of work to be done to get a ceasefire fully implemented in Ukraine, adding that progress was “urgently needed”.
South Africa’s finance minister says up to Zuma whether he remains in office
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who is facing an investigation by police that the opposition has called a “witch-hunt”, said on Thursday that whether he remained in office was up to President Jacob Zuma.
