NATO agrees plan to strengthen Iraq’s army
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO will help Iraq reform and strengthen its security forces which are reeling from a near collapse a year ago in the face of an offensive by Islamic State fighters, NATO said on Friday.
Chile’s Pinochet covered up report on death of U.S. student, documents say
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet stifled a police report that accused military officers of burning and killing a U.S. student in 1986, according to declassified U.S. government documents published by a research group on Fri…
Four Indians held near Islamic State stronghold in Libya, two freed
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India said on Friday that four of its nationals had been detained near the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, an area that is under the control of Islamic State militants, but that it had secured the release of two of them.
Minister intervenes to give Chinese artist Ai Weiwei full UK visa
LONDON (Reuters) – British Home Secretary Theresa May has intervened to reverse a decision by her officials and grant dissident Chinese artist and free speech advocate Ai Weiwei a full six-month visa to enter Britain, her government department said on …
Vaccine success holds hope for end to deadly scourge of Ebola
LONDON/GENEVA (Reuters) – The world is on the verge of being able to protect humans against Ebola, the World Health Organization said on Friday, as a trial in Guinea found a vaccine to have been 100 percent effective.
Spain’s Rajoy loosens purse strings, recovery boosts election-year budget
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain’s Mariano Rajoy sought to persuade Spaniards on Friday that earlier austerity would be reverted if he won re-election later this year, unveiling a 2016 budget featuring the first spending hikes since he took office.
Malaysia says charge sheet against Najib is false, an attempt to topple PM
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s newly-appointed attorney general said on Friday a purported draft of a charge sheet against Prime Minister Najib Razak published on the Sarawak Report website was false, and part of a plot to topple the country’s lea…
Greek PM defends controversial ‘Plan B’ for euro zone exit
ATHENS (Reuters) – Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras acknowledged on Friday that his government had made covert contingency plans in case Greece was forced out of the euro, but rejected accusations that he had plotted a return to the drachma.
Yemen’s Houthis suffer more setbacks near Aden-southern sources
ADEN/SANAA (Reuters) – Southern Yemeni fighters backed by a Saudi-led air coalition took more territory from Houthi militiamen on Friday, expanding their control around the port city of Aden, sources in the southern force said.
IAEA chief ‘positively’ mulling U.S. Senate invite to speak on Iran
VIENNA (Reuters) – The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief is “positively considering” a U.S. Senate invitation to speak about his agency’s monitoring role in Iran following the country’s deal with world powers on curbing its atomic activity, a diplomatic sour…
