Striking Greeks take to tension-filled streets in austerity protest
ATHENS (Reuters) – Striking Greeks took to the streets on Thursday to protest austerity measures, setting Alexis Tsipras’ government its biggest domestic challenge since he was re-elected in September promising to cushion the impact of economic hardshi…
Undercover Israeli troops raid hospital, kill Palestinian
HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli undercover forces raided a hospital in the West Bank on Thursday, shooting dead a Palestinian during an attempt to detain another man suspected of carrying out a stabbing, the Palestinian health ministry and doctor…
Three decades in, Sinai’s peacekeepers are under pressure
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – They half-joke that they are “smoke detectors,” installed in Sinai after Egypt’s 1979 peace deal with Israel as insurance against any future flare-ups. More than three war-free decades on, the U.S.-led peacekeepers are feeling the…
Kenyan forces accused of smuggling racket in Somalia, army denies
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenyan forces fighting militants in Somalia are taking cuts from charcoal and sugar smuggling, earning themselves about $50 million a year and boosting an illegal trade that helps fund the Islamists, a rights group said on Thursday….
Confusion over reports dissident Taliban commander killed
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan police said on Thursday a top leader of a breakaway Taliban faction fighting for control of the Islamist movement had been killed by rival militants but the report was denied by a spokesman for his group.
Echoes of ‘Francafrique’ haunt central African democracy
DAKAR (Reuters) – On the day of a vote to allow Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso to extend his 31 years in power, opposition leader Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas was under house arrest and eating canned food smuggled in by the French ambassado…
Investment in refugees will make Europe stronger: Draghi
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe’s economy will strengthen if countries invest in efforts to cope with the refugee crisis, the president of the European Central Bank told EU lawmakers on Thursday.
Russia says convicts former Moscow policeman of spying for CIA
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A former Moscow policeman was convicted of spying for the CIA and of passing state secrets to a foreign intelligence agency on Thursday and sentenced to 13 years in prison, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement….
At least 100 fighters killed in Syria during storming of besieged airbase: monitor
BEIRUT (Reuters) – At least 100 soldiers and fighters were killed in northern Syria in just over 24 hours of fierce fighting earlier this week as pro-government forces reached an airbase that had long been besieged by Islamic State, a monitoring group …
Russia’s Putin has decided to miss APEC summit in Manila: spokesman
MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin has decided not to attend a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation nations in Manila and Russia will be represented there instead by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a Kremlin spokesman said on Thursday.
