US targets Islamic State with 18 air strikes in Iraq -US military
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and its allies staged 18 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq on Thursday, according to the U.S.-led coalition leading the military operations.
Pirates attack Polish ship off Nigerian coast, kidnap five
WARSAW (Reuters) – Pirates attacked a Polish-owned cargo vessel off the Nigerian coast and kidnapped its captain and four crew, Polish authorities said, in the first documented incident of its kind in almost year in some of the deadliest shipping lanes…
Tunisia bus bomber arrested, freed before attack
TUNIS (Reuters) – The suicide bomber in Tunisia who blew himself up in a bus packed with presidential guards on Tuesday had been arrested by police before on suspicion of jihadist ties but was released for lack of evidence, a security official said.
Tunisia puts suspected returning jihadists under house arrest
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian authorities arrested dozens of people raids and put scores more under house arrest on suspicion that they were militants returning from Syria and Iraq, the Interior Ministry said on Friday, three days after a bus attack which…
Iranian hard-liners said to intensify crackdown ahead of key votes
(Reuters) – Ahead of two key elections in Iran in February, the Supreme Leader’s hard-line allies have cracked down on activists, journalists and artists to try to tighten their grip on the country’s faction-ridden politics, officials and analysts say.
NATO split on message to send Georgia on membership hopes
BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) – NATO allies are split over what message to send Georgia over its long-delayed membership bid, diplomats said, with some European capitals arguing the alliance would be unable to defend the ex-Soviet state in the event of a c…
Turkish journalists’ arrests draws protests home and abroad
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Around 2,000 people protested on Friday over the arrest of two prominent journalists on charges of espionage and terrorist propaganda, a case that has revived long-standing criticism of Turkey’s record on press freedom under Presid…
Berlin police release men suspected of planning attack
BERLIN (Reuters) – Berlin police said they had released two men on Friday who were suspected of planning an attack and had been arrested on Thursday evening in connection with a search at an Islamic cultural center in the German capital.
UK child sex abuse inquiry to probe VIP, political allegations
LONDON (Reuters) – A major British inquiry into decades of child sex abuse will investigate allegations involving “people of prominence” and politicians as well as the Catholic and Anglican Churches, councils and schools, its head said on Friday.
Russia-Ukraine row over Crimea escalates as Moscow cuts coal to Kiev
KIEV (Reuters) – Russia has begun to restrict coal supplies to Ukraine, Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn told parliament on Friday, days after the Kremlin threatened to punish Kiev for a power blackout of Russian-annexed Crimea.
