Citing ‘very fragile’ security in Afghanistan, Obama slows pace of U.S. troop withdrawal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Reversing policy on Afghanistan, President Barack Obama announced on Thursday he will prolong the 14-year-old U.S. military engagement there, effectively handing off the task of pulling out troops to his successor.
Venezuela jails ex-presidential hopeful Rosales on return from exile
CARACAS (Reuters) – Former Venezuelan presidential candidate Manuel Rosales was arrested on Thursday upon his return to Venezuela from exile in Peru, six years after the government of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez accused him of illicit enrichment….
After Kunduz falls and violence spreads, more Afghans eye Europe
KABUL (Reuters) – The young man from the northern Afghan city of Kunduz used to make a decent living doing a dangerous job.
South Korea president hopes for better Japan ties from three-way summit
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – South Korean President Park Geun-hye said on Thursday she hoped a three-way summit to be held between her country, China and Japan would be an opportunity to improve regional stability and South Korea’s relations with Japan.
Small Turkish town haunted by lost sons, hand of Islamic State
ADIYAMAN, Turkey (Reuters) – In a small teahouse in the conservative southeastern Turkish town of Adiyaman, two brothers would hold court with young followers, praying, reading the Koran and painting a picture of a better life across the border in Syri…
Sudan, accused of blocking peacekeeper rations, gets U.N. food post
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Sudan’s ambassador to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was elected to a key United Nations food security post on Thursday, amid accusations that Khartoum is withholding food rations from international peacekee…
Turkish poll shows AK Party falling short of majority on November 1
ANKARA (Reuters) – Support for Turkey’s ruling AK Party has risen to 42.5 percent ahead of Nov. 1 elections, from the 40.9 it had in June’s vote, but is still not enough to form a single-party government, a Metropoll survey showed.
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi campaigns in Rakhine, but to avoid trouble spots
THANDWE, Myanmar (Reuters) – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in Rakhine State on Friday for three days of campaigning, but she will skip the state’s most restive areas where her opposition movement faces stiff competition from a powe…
Former Canada envoy to Iran who hid Americans in hostage crisis dies
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Former Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor, whose role in rescuing U.S. diplomats in a covert operation in 1979 during the Iran hostage crisis was featured in the movie “Argo”, died on Thursday, his son told CBC television. He was 81.
Syrian army and Russian jets target rebel towns north of Homs
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian troops and their allies, backed by Russian jets, attacked rebel-held towns north of the city of Homs on Thursday, targeting a long-held and strategic enclave of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.
