Islamic State blows up tower tombs in Syria’s Palmyra: antiquities chief
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – Islamic State has blown up three ancient funeral towers in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria’s antiquities chief said on Friday, continuing the destruction of a World Heritage site that UNESCO has condemned as a war crime.
Broker says he’s innocent in missing Iran oil rig case
DUBAI (Reuters) – Four years after Iran spent $87 million to buy an oil drilling rig that was never delivered, the broker in the deal has given his side of a story he describes as a cautionary tale for Western investors impatient for an end to sanction…
Father of drowned Syrian toddlers prepares to take bodies home
MUGLA, Turkey (Reuters) – The distraught father of two Syrian toddlers who drowned with their mother and several other migrants as they tried to reach Greece identified their bodies on Thursday and prepared to take them back to their home town of Koban…
Iraqi army raids militia headquarters suspecting link to Turkish abductees
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi security forces raided the Baghdad headquarters of a powerful Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia overnight, security sources and officials said on Friday, following suspicions that Turkish hostages were being held in the area.
Greek leftists put on brave face as poll shows conservatives pulling ahead
ATHENS (Reuters) – Former Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras’s leftist Syriza party said on Thursday it remained confident of winning an outright victory in a Sept. 20 election despite an opinion poll that showed its main conservative rival edging ahe…
Saudi security forces kill ‘terrorist’ in Abqaiq: state TV
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabian security forces killed what they called “a terrorist” who attempted to attack a security facility in the country’s oil-producing Eastern Province, state television reported on Friday.
Turkish calls for Syria safe zone went unheard, Davutoglu says
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey attempted to convince the world to set up a safe zone inside Syria to stem the flow of refugees from the war-torn country, but nobody heard its voice, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday.
G20 reforms important in light of low growth: Canada
ANKARA (Reuters) – Structural reforms being planned by the world’s major economies have taken on increased importance because global growth has fallen behind forecasts, Canadian Finance Minister Joe Oliver told Reuters on Friday.
China’s Xi lauds Czechs, only Western leader at war parade
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday lauded the contribution of the Czech people during World War Two in a meeting with the country’s head of state, the only Western leader to attend a massive military parade in Beijing this week….
Russia says Syria’s Assad ready to share power with opposition
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is ready to hold snap parliamentary elections and could share power with “healthy” opposition.
