U.S.-led coalition aircraft re-routed to avoid Russians: Pentagon
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S.-led coalition aircraft bombing Islamist militants in Syria were re-routed at least once in the last six days to avoid a close encounter with Russian planes, a Pentagon spokesman said on Wednesday.
Ukraine says four soldiers wounded in rebel attack despite truce
KIEV (Reuters) – The Ukrainian military said on Wednesday pro-Russian separatists had violated a ceasefire in the east of the country by firing an anti-tank missile and wounding four soldiers, even as President Petro Poroshenko hailed a “real truce”.
Putin marks 63rd birthday with ice hockey match, Syria war briefing
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin marked his 63rd birthday on Wednesday in his favorite Black Sea resort of Sochi by taking part in an ice hockey match and holding a briefing on his country’s military campaign in Syria.
U.N. chief hails U.S. plan to release thousands of prisoners
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations secretary-general welcomed on Wednesday a U.S. decision to release some 6,000 federal prisoners to ease overcrowding and provide redress for people who had received disproportionately long sentences for non…
EU to step up deportations of economic migrants
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union states will step up efforts to repatriate thousands of migrants fleeing poverty rather than war by speeding up deportations and exerting pressure on their home countries to take them back, an EU document says.
Rights watchdog says second young Shi’ite faces beheading in Saudi
DUBAI (Reuters) – International rights group Reprieve said on Tuesday that a second young Shi’ite man who was 17-years-old and a minor when he was arrested in 2012 faces execution by beheading in Saudi Arabia.
Kurds say blood tests show Islamic State used mustard gas in Iraq
ERBIL (Reuters) – Islamic State fighters fired mortar rounds containing mustard agent at Kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq during clashes in August, the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, which oversees Kurdish armed forces there, said on Wednesd…
Germany’s Merkel warns EU against migrant crisis nationalism
STRASBOURG (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned fellow leaders of European Union countries on Wednesday against succumbing to nationalism in tackling the bloc’s migrant crisis.
Suicide bombers kill 17 in Damaturu city in northeastern Nigeria
DAMATURU, Nigeria (Reuters) – Unidentified suicide bombers killed 17 people in three blasts in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu on Wednesday, a spokesman for the governor of Yobe state said.
Furious but powerless, Turkey left smarting by Russian action in Syria
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey may be furious about Russian incursions into its air space but beyond words of protest there is little it can do, with its dependence on Russian energy and trade keeping its hands tied, and its own Syria policy in disarray.
