U.S.-backed rebel group vows new attacks against IS after border raid
AMMAN (Reuters) – A U.S.-backed Syrian Arab rebel force vowed on Thursday to continue attacks against Islamic State militants after being forced to retreat from the outskirts of a town near the Iraqi border when the jihadists counter-attacked.
Istanbul airport bombers were Russian, Uzbek, Kyrgyz: Turkish official
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Three suspected Islamic State suicide bombers who killed 44 people in a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul’s main airport this week were Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals, a Turkish government official said on Thursday.
U.S. says some 200 Islamic State vehicles destroyed in strikes
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S.-led coalition strikes targeting Islamic State convoys near the Iraqi city of Falluja destroyed more than 200 vehicles in an effort to help Iraqi forces cement their hold on the area, the White House said on Thursday.
U.S. sailors divulged sensitive information while held by Iran: Navy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. sailors who blundered into Iranian waters in January divulged sensitive information to their captors while held at gunpoint by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S. Navy report said on Thursday.
Saudi Arabia ‘alarmed and outraged’ by rights groups’ criticism
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia on Thursday said it was “alarmed and outraged” by a call from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for the kingdom to be suspended from the U.N. Human Rights Council until a Saudi-led military coalition s…
Nigeria’s Buhari urges Delta leaders to calm region after attacks
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday urged community leaders from the Niger Delta to pacify people in the restive southern region, which has been hit by a series of attacks on oil and gas facilities in the last few months.
Palestinian kills teen in Israeli settlement, then shot dead
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A Palestinian fatally stabbed a 13-year-old Israeli girl in her bedroom in a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the military said, as international sponsors of frozen peace talks prepared to issue a report on the im…
Turkish court frees two press-freedom campaigners, third still in jail
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey released two prominent press-freedom activists from prison on Thursday following international condemnation of their detention, but their prosecution on terrorism-related charges will proceed, a lawyer said.
French cardinal suspends four paedophile priests
PARIS (Reuters) – The Roman Catholic cardinal-archbishop of Lyon said on Thursday he had suspended four priests accused of paedophile activities and said their cases were known to French judicial authorities.
In Egypt, Sisi’s star fades as problems pile up
CAIRO (Reuters) – It is a hot afternoon in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the New Cairo club house is empty. Hisham Genena, Egypt’s erstwhile corruption tsar, settles in a corner. “It’s quiet here,” he says. “We can speak freely.”
