Police check van parked outside Bulgaria’s main airport
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgarian police were checking bags found in a van parked outside the capital’s main airport on Tuesday, but officials there said they had not found any explosives so far, correcting an earlier statement.
Iraqi Kurdistan minister says no link between oil sales and Islamic State
LONDON (Reuters) – The Iraqi Kurdish minister for natural resources said on Tuesday reports that the regional government was helping smuggle oil from fields controlled by Islamic State militants were “wild imagination and unsubstantiated”.
Bosnia activists hope EU bid will help end anti-gay violence, discrimination
SARAJEVO (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Ivan has not told his parents, or many friends, that he’s gay.
UK bombing of Syria to cost ‘in the low tens of millions of pounds’: Osborne
LONDON (Reuters) – British finance minister George Osborne said on Tuesday that the cost of extending air strikes against Islamic State into Syria would run in the “low tens of millions of pounds”.
In Erdogan’s Turkey, dissent may be bad for business
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The head of one of Turkey’s biggest retailers, once consigned by Tayyip Erdogan to the ranks of “riff-raff”, might be forgiven for having sensed the hand of the president recently when Istanbul Stock exchange raised alarm with a te…
Small steps for women’s rights and democracy in Saudi poll
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabian women are running for election and voting for the first time on Dec. 12, but their enfranchisement marks only a pigeon step towards democracy and gender equality in the autocratic Islamic kingdom.
Boko Haram militants kill four, wound two in Niger attack
NIAMEY (Reuters) – Militants from the Islamist group Boko Haram killed eight people in an attack on a village in the southeast of Niger, a private local radio station, ANFANI, said on Tuesday.
Two Pakistani soldiers killed in rare targeted Karachi attack
KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) – Gunmen killed two Pakistani soldiers in the southern city of Karachi on Tuesday, the military said, a rare attack on the powerful army that could indicate the beginning of a push-back against a tightening crackdown on viol…
Number of migrants reaching Europe dips but 1 million in sight for year: U.N.
GENEVA (Reuters) – An estimated 140,000 refugees and migrants reached Europe by sea in November, a big drop from October, although the numbers crossing remain very high and could reach 1 million for the year, the U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday.
Colombia’s Santos says obstacles to FARC peace deal surmountable
PARIS (Reuters) – Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Tuesday he was confident that differences with leftist FARC rebels over reaching a peace deal can be overcome by a March deadline although talks remain tough.
