French plan advances to strip passports from those convicted of terrorism
PARIS (Reuters) – President Francois Hollande’s plan to strip French citizenship from people convicted of terrorism passed a first hurdle on Tuesday when the lower house of parliament backed controversial proposals introduced after Islamic extremists k…
Iraq’s troubled finances slow efforts to rebuild Ramadi
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Strain on Iraq’s budget from falling oil prices is delaying the removal of Islamic State explosives in Ramadi and the restoration of basic services needed for displaced civilians to return to the western city.
Founding members say European Union is in bad shape
ROME (Reuters) – The European Union faces “critical times” and all its members should set aside selfish interests to tackle problems such as immigration and terrorism, the bloc’s six founding nations said on Tuesday.
U.S. looks to shore up allies’ support to battle Islamic State
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The United States said on Tuesday it hoped allies demonstrate a willingness to ramp up their contributions to the fight against Islamic State and to deterring Russia in eastern Europe during high-level defense talks in Brussels thi…
Islamic State unlikely to be ejected from Mosul in 2016: U.S. general
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An Iraqi-led operation to retake the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul is unlikely to take place this year, a top U.S. intelligence official told Congress on Tuesday.
U.N. fears for hundreds of thousands if Syria troops encircle Aleppo
GENEVA/DAMASCUS/ONCUPINAR, Turkey (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of civilians could be cut off from food if Syrian government forces encircle rebel-held parts of Aleppo, the United Nations said on Tuesday, warning of a new exodus of refugees fleeing…
Chad president says will reintroduce constitutional term limits
N’DJAMENA (Reuters) – Chad’s President Idriss Deby, in power for more than a quarter of a century, said on Tuesday he would reintroduce constitutional term limits if he won a fifth term in an election slated for April.
Turkey summons U.S. envoy over comments on Kurdish PYD in Syria
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey summoned the U.S. ambassador to express its displeasure on Tuesday after a State Department spokesman said Washington did not regard Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as a terrorist organisation, a Turkish foreign m…
Iraqi PM calls for major cabinet reshuffle
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday he would reshuffle his cabinet to replace ministers appointed on the basis of political affiliations with technocrats.
EU executive to push Greece, Italy more on migration
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The EU executive will push Greece and Italy on Wednesday to do more to control migrants arriving across the Mediterranean, as time runs out for Athens to fix frontier chaos or be suspended from Europe’s free travel zone.
