Iran says Arak reactor not yet decommissioned, work ongoing
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran has not yet decommissioned the Arak heavy water reactor, one of its obligations under the nuclear deal with world powers to win a reprieve from sanctions, but expects to do so in the coming days, a senior Iranian official said.
Yemen peace talks postponed, U.N. says
GENEVA (Reuters) – A round of United Nations-brokered Yemen peace talks will not begin on Jan. 14 as planned but may take place a week or more later, U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.
U.S.-led coalition conducts 23 strikes against Islamic State: U.S. military
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Monday, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement.
Sanctions impact on Russia to be longer term, U.S. says
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Western sanctions on Moscow are intended to exert long-term pressure on Russia and not to push it “over the economic cliff,” a U.S. State Department official said on Tuesday.
Mobile clinics, medical teams needed in Madaya: WHO official tells Reuters
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization has asked the Syrian government for permission to send mobile clinics and medical teams to the besieged town of Madaya to assess the extent of malnutrition and evacuate the worst cases, its representativ…
China formally arrests secretly held rights lawyers for subversion
BEIJING (Reuters) – China formally arrested several Chinese human rights lawyers on suspicion of subverting state power after months of secret detention, one of their colleagues said on Tuesday, the latest move by authorities to crack down on dissent.
Mexico says Sean Penn meeting was ‘essential’ to finding kingpin Chapo
LOS MOCHIS, Mexico (Reuters) – A secret meeting Hollywood star Sean Penn held with the world’s most-wanted drug boss, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, to discuss a magazine article was essential to finding the fugitive, Mexico’s attorney general said on Mond…
ISIS video shows destruction from U.S. airstrike on Mosul bank
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Islamic State published a video on Monday purporting to show the destruction from an airstrike on a bank in its northern Iraqi stronghold which the U.S.-led coalition said had been aimed at disrupting the group’s financing activitie…
Philippines says southern rebels not linked to Islamic State
MANILA (Reuters) – Islamic State militants have no known links with Muslim rebel groups in the Philippines, security officials said on Tuesday, dismissing a video suggesting as much as propaganda.
With Mexico’s ‘Chapo’ back behind bars, Zambada the last capo standing
CULIACAN/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s public enemy No. 1, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was nabbed last week after a gunfight and high speed getaway bid. But his more discreet partner is flourishing, moving tonnes of drugs to the United States and lau…
