Iraqi forces push Islamic State from western town of Hit: state TV
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led coalition air strikes reached the center of the western town of Hit, dislodging Islamic State militants and evacuating thousands of civilians, state television said on Friday.
Slapping row pushes Portuguese minister to resign
LISBON (Reuters) – Portuguese Culture Minister Joao Soares resigned on Friday, a day after threatening to slap critics who had called him incompetent and rude.
Amnesty International demands Chad release activists ahead of polls
DAKAR (Reuters) – Amnesty International called on Chad on Friday to release four political activists ahead of elections in which President Idriss Deby, a key ally of the West in the fight against Islamist militants, is tipped to extend his 26-year rule…
Lebanese ex-minister sentenced to 10 years for plotting attacks
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A Lebanese military court on Friday increased to nearly 10 years the jail term for a former minister convicted last year of smuggling explosives and planning attacks, in a case that has underscored the country’s sharp political divis…
South African government to appeal Bashir ruling at highest court
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s government will appeal at the constitutional court a ruling that the state made an error in letting Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir leave the country, the justice ministry said on Friday.
China jails four supporters of Hong Kong pro-democracy protests
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A court in southern China on Friday jailed four activists who had publicly supported Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Occupy Central movement and who had criticized the Chinese Communist Party on social media, a lawyer said.
Nagorno-Karabakh combatants strike deal to safely recover their dead
BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan and Armenian-backed separatists said on Friday they had struck a temporary deal to allow each side to safely search for the bodies of their soldiers killed in clashes over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
U.S., allies stage 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, Syria: U.S. military
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and its allies conducted 26 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Thursday, the coalition leading the operations said.
France rules out Libya air strikes, says could help secure new govt
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s foreign minister on Friday ruled out launching air strikes or sending troops on the ground to tackle Islamic State in Libya, but said it could help secure the U.N.-brokered national unity government in Tripoli.
Tear gas disrupts new Kosovo leader’s call for reconciliation
PRISTINA (Reuters) – Protesters firing tear gas disrupted the inauguration ceremony on Friday for Kosovo President Hashim Thaci in the midst of a political crisis over an EU-brokered agreement with old adversary Serbia.
