Iran’s answer to pop stars: religious singers serenade Syria war
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Bearded and boisterous, the man wearing a chequered keffiya scarf sings a religious song as several Iranians in fatigues beat their chests feverishly.
Pakistan plans new paramilitary crackdown; Easter bombing kills 70
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan has decided to launch a paramilitary crackdown on Islamist militants in Punjab, the country’s richest and most populous province, after an Easter Day bombing killed 70 people in the provincial capital Lahore, offic…
Fighting between militant groups in Syria border region spills into Lebanon
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Fighting between Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front spread from Syria into Lebanon’s northern Bekaa Valley region on Monday, a security source and the state news agency said.
Seventeen activists sentenced for rebelling against Angolan government
LUANDA (Reuters) – An Angolan court sentenced 17 young activists to between two and 8-1/2 years in jail on Monday for rebellion against the government of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
Afghan gunmen free kidnapped Tajiks
SHURO-OBOD, Tajikistan (Reuters) – Gunmen from Afghanistan have released two Tajik road workers kidnapped in a cross-border raid last week, Tajikistan’s border guard service said on Monday.
Philippines’ Abu Sayyaf abducts 10 Indonesian sailors
MANILA (Reuters) – Ten Indonesian crew members on board a tugboat were kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf militants in the Philippines at the weekend, officials in Manila said late on Monday.
At least 19 killed in Guatemala as bus plunges into ravine
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) – At least 19 people were killed in Guatemala after the bus they were traveling in plunged down a 200-meter (660 feet) ravine in the west of the country on Monday, emergency services said.
Syria says ready to cooperate with U.S. against terrorism
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syria is willing to take part in an international coalition against terrorism but only if the United States will work with Damascus in a way it has not done so far, the Syrian envoy to Geneva peace talks said on Monday.
Rhetoric heats up as old rivals Bolivia and Chile clash over water access
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – South American neighbors Chile and Bolivia, which have long had thorny relations, are at loggerheads again – this time over access to a river that crosses their shared border.
India looks to bury Italy feud to achieve bigger ambition
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi heads to a European Union summit this week, seeking to patch up a four-year diplomatic feud with Italy that has grown toxic enough to threaten New Delhi’s ambitions to become a bigger global pla…
