Days before summit, Turkey, EU face big hurdles to migration deal
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Prospects for a grand bargain between Europe and Turkey to stem a flow of migrants into the continent are uncertain days before a summit on Sunday meant to seal a deal and put fraying relations back on a firm footing, EU and Turkis…
Brussels schools, metro reopen under tight security
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Schools and much of the Brussels metro system reopened on Wednesday as the Belgian capital started to return to normal after four days of lockdown, but troops on the street were a reminder it remains on the highest alert.
Turkey downs Russian warplane near Syria border, Putin warns of ‘serious consequences’
ANKARA/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday, saying the jet had violated its air space, in one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member country and Russia for half a cen…
U.N. accuses Houthis of blocking supply routes to Yemen’s Taiz city
DUBAI (Reuters) – A senior United Nations official has accused Yemen’s dominant Houthi group of obstructing the delivery of humanitarian supplies to civilians in Taiz and warned that up to 200,000 people are living under “virtual siege” in the city.
Defiant Merkel vows to stand by refugee policy despite security fears
BERLIN (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed on Wednesday to stick to her open-door refugee policy, defying criticism at home and abroad which has intensified due to growing fears about a potential security risk after the Islamist attacks in Paris…
Bangladesh detains two political activists for IS propaganda
DHAKA (Reuters) – Police have detained two members of Bangladesh’s biggest religion-based party on suspicion they were involved in Islamic State propaganda, including one who called himself “Jihadi John”, a police commissioner said on Wednesday.
Germany to send up to 650 soldiers to Mali for peacekeeping mission
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany is ready to send up to 650 soldiers to Mali to bolster the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the West African country and to help France in the region, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
Canada refugee plan revives concerns over porous U.S. border
HAVRE, Montana (Reuters) – Standing two feet from Canada on windswept Montana prairie land, U.S. Border Patrol agent Andrew Herdina looks out over a line of crooked old fence posts with no wire between them — the international border.
Putin says Turkey’s leaders back ‘Islamisation’ of Turkish society: agencies
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Turkey’s political leaders had been encouraging the Islamisation of Turkish society, something he said was a problem, Russian agencies quoted him as saying.
U.S. raises military aid to Philippines amid sea tension with China
MANILA (Reuters) – The United States has raised its military aid to the Philippines this year to $79 million, the U.S. ambassador said on Wednesday, as tension rises in the region over China’s new assertiveness in the South China Sea.
