Britain needs ‘rethink’ on flood defense after swathes of England hit
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain needs a ‘complete rethink’ of its flood defenses after towns, cities and countryside across northern England were inundated when rivers broke their banks in recent days, a government agency said on Monday.
Saudi security spending rises $5.3 billion in 2015: minister
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia increased its military and security spending in 2015 by about 20 billion riyals ($5.3 billion), Economy and Planning Minister Adel Fakieh told reporters on Monday.
Around 20 soldiers arrested in Burkina over jail break plot
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Authorities in Burkina Faso have arrested around 20 soldiers for plotting to free from prison a prominent general who has been charged with staging a coup, Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida told a news conference.
Burundi peace talks start amid divisions, protests
ENTEBBE (Reuters) – Burundi’s government and opposition kicked off peace talks on Monday, though one senior member of the state delegation almost immediately threatened to pull out if he saw participants in a failed coup on the other side of the table….
Turkey PM says would not look positively on ‘hostile forces’ west of Euphrates
BELGRADE (Reuters) – Turkey would not look positively on Syrian forces hostile to Ankara moving to the west of the Euphrates, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday, after a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurds and Arab rebels took a dam on the river f…
Russian warplanes hit 556 targets in Syria in past three days
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s air forces carried out 164 sorties in Syria in the past three days, hitting 556 targets, Lt.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, a department chief at Russia’s Defense Ministry, told a news briefing on Monday.
Geneva lowers threat level after 18 days on alert
GENEVA (Reuters) – The Swiss city of Geneva lowered its alert level, police said on Monday, 18 days after it began a search for a number of people who officials said had possible links to terrorism.
Political feuding imperils Ukraine’s future, Obama’s record
KIEV (Reuters) – On his most recent visit to Kiev, U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden said he spends more time speaking to Ukrainian officials than to his own wife.
Belgian strike set to disrupt international rail services in January
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A strike of Belgian rail workers on January 6 and 7 will disrupt international high-speed trains between Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands, rail operators said.
U.S. sees bearable costs, key goals met for Russia in Syria so far
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Three months into his military intervention in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved his central goal of stabilizing the Assad government and, with the costs relatively low, could sustain military operations at thi…
