Despite urgency, Taliban yet to decide to join talks: U.S. official
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Taliban in Afghanistan have yet to decide to join renewed peace efforts despite an urgent need to get talks going before the spring fighting season begins in April, a senior U.S. administration official said on Thursday.
Nigeria launches new investigation of 2014 kidnap of Chibok girls
ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a new investigation into the kidnapping of 219 schoolgirls by Islamist group Boko Haram in April 2014 from the town of Chibok, the presidency said on Thursday.
Macedonian PM to submit resignation Friday in preparation for election
SKOPJE (Reuters) – Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said he would submit his resignation on Friday under a European Union-brokered deal for an early parliamentary election to defuse months of political crisis.
Netanyahu says Israel and EU need to reset ties
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the European Union on Thursday of holding his country to a double standard, and reserved special criticism for Sweden, saying its call to investigate Israel was outrageous, immoral…
Congo opposition to run against Sassou Nguesso in March polls
BRAZZAVILLE (Reuters) – Congo Republic’s opposition has conditionally agreed to run against President Denis Sassou Nguesso in an election in March, even though it is widely seen as unlikely to secure what would be the first change in leadership in near…
Polish media controls an attack on independence: broadcasters
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The new Polish government’s decision to take control of public radio and television is a worrying attack on media independence, the head of the European Broadcasting Union said on Thursday, joining a chorus of condemnation of the m…
Anxious phone calls, tense moments before Iran’s Supreme Leader okayed U.S. sailors’ release
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Iran’s detention of 10 U.S. sailors on Tuesday set off a furious round of meetings in both Washington and Tehran. Anxious officials in both capitals had the same goal: to ensure the incident did not torpedo a historic nuclear acc…
Belgian-Moroccan was third person killed in post Paris attack police raid
PARIS (Reuters) – A man who died in a Nov. 18 police assault in Saint-Denis, near Paris, days after attacks in the French capital that killed 130 people, has been identified as a Belgian Moroccan national, the Paris prosecutor said on Thursday.
Nine bodies washed up on Turkish coast as migrants keep crossing
AYVACIK, Turkey (Reuters) – The bodies of nine people, some of whom may have drowned up to 10 days earlier, were found on Turkey’s western coast this week as the flow of Europe-bound migrants persisted despite rough winter weather and the efforts of th…
Lebanese ex-minister, jailed over Syria plot, is released on bail
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A former Lebanese minister who is close to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was freed on bail on Thursday after serving a jail term for smuggling explosives into Lebanon from Syria and planning attacks, the national news agency said….
