Al Qaeda chief tells jihadist fighters in Syria: Unite or die
AMMAN (Reuters) – Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged rival jihadist fighters in Syria to unite or risk death but again decried fellow Sunni Muslim militants Islamic State as “extremists” in an audio recording posted online on Sunday.
Yemen peace talks struggle as air strikes shake truce
CAIRO (Reuters) – Yemen’s Houthi movement accused a Saudi-led coalition of launching air strikes that killed seven people on Sunday, shaking a truce that has largely held through more than two weeks of U.N.-backed peace talks in Kuwait.
Taiwan’s new government accuses China of interference in its WHO status
TAIPEI (Reuters) – The incoming Taiwanese government on Sunday accused China of “political interference” after a senior Chinese official cast doubt over the island keeping its observer status at the World Health Organisation if bilateral relations dete…
Taliban attacks end lull in combat in Afghan province of Helmand
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents attacked police checkpoints on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the main city of the southern Afghan province of Helmand early on Sunday, ending weeks of relative calm during the annual opium harvest…
Syrian warplanes counter-attack rebels near Aleppo
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian warplanes attacked Islamist militants near the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, both sides said, as the government tried to push back a insurgent advance in the area.
Journalists held in Syria for 10 months return to Spain
MADRID (Reuters) – Three Spanish freelance journalists who were kidnapped in Syria last year arrived in Madrid on Sunday in apparent good health after nearly 10 months in captivity.
Managing Saudi’s new energy mega-ministry may bring challenges
RIYADH (Reuters) – Managing Saudi Arabia’s new energy mega-ministry, set to oversee over half the economy and designed to cut through a tangled bureaucracy to make government more coherent and efficient, will be a formidable challenge.
Death toll in Kenya building collapse rises to 49: police
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenyan authorities said on Sunday the number of people killed when a multi-storey residential building collapsed in the capital Nairobi more than a week ago had risen to 49 after more bodies were pulled out of the rubble.
Netanyahu rebukes Israeli general over Holocaust speech
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, contradicting his defense minister, scolded Israel’s deputy military chief on Sunday for suggesting that Israeli society was showing signs of Nazi-like behavior.
Britain’s Labour must broaden appeal if it wants power: new mayor
LONDON (Reuters) – Sadiq Khan, the newly elected mayor of London, called on Labour on Sunday to “stop talking about ourselves” and broaden its appeal in the latest criticism of the opposition party’s hard-left national leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
