Afghan special forces in firing line as fighting spreads
PATKIA PROVINCE, Afghanistan/KABUL (Reuters) – As Afghan soldiers and police struggle to contain an escalating insurgency that has targeted several cities in recent weeks, the country’s special forces are being tested as never before.
After Netanyahu talks, Kerry says Israeli-Palestinian strife may ease
BERLIN (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday voiced cautious hope there may be a way to defuse Israeli-Palestinian violence that has killed nearly 60 people this month.
Manipulating accounts not enough to impeach Brazil president, speaker says
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The speaker of the lower house of Brazil’s Congress said on Thursday that manipulating government accounts, the main opposition case for ousting President Dilma Rousseff, was not sufficient grounds to impeach her.
Argentina’s Scioli pledges middle-class tax cut ahead of election
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s ruling party presidential candidate Daniel Scioli on Thursday promised to increase the threshold at which people start paying income tax, a move sure to be popular among middle class voters ahead of Sunday’s electio…
Ex-U.N. diplomat, others plead not guilty in U.S. bribery case
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former U.N. General Assembly president, a billionaire Macau real estate developer and three others accused by U.S. authorities of engaging in a wide-ranging bribery scheme pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
Raising a pint, Xi and Cameron toast ‘golden’ ties over fish and chips
CADSDEN, England (Reuters) – After three days of pomp, deal-making and geopolitics, British Prime Minister David Cameron raised a pint to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday over a traditional pub dinner of fish and chips.
Putin says Syria’s Assad is open to working with some rebels
SOCHI, Russia/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had told him he was ready to talk to armed opposition groups if they are genuinely committed to dialogue and to combating Islamic State.
OPEC nations plan to join U.N. climate drive
BONN, Germany (Reuters) – OPEC members Iran and Saudi Arabia, the top greenhouse gas emitters yet to submit national strategies for tackling climate change, say they will do so before a U.N. summit in December in a sign of widening participation even b…
U.S. House members push to return North Korea to terrorism list
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Members of the U.S. House of Representatives called on Thursday for the return of North Korea to Washington’s list of “state sponsors of terrorism,” subject to strict controls on trade and other restrictions.
Warplanes bomb Islamic State bastion Raqqa in eastern Syria: residents, monitors
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Warplanes bombed the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa, stronghold of Islamic State insurgents, on Thursday, hitting some of the group’s offices and killing at least four civilians in the vicinity, residents and a monitor group said.
