Exclusive: Obama hopes for U.S. embassy in Cuba before April summit in Panama
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday that he hopes the United States will open an embassy in Cuba by the time of a Western Hemisphere summit in Panama in mid-April.
Cuba signals readiness to fast-track U.S. diplomatic ties
MIAMI/HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba is willing to restore diplomatic relations with the United States as soon as the Obama administration declares its intent to take the country off a list of state sponsors of terrorism, according to a senior Cuban official….
Bomb near top Cairo court house kills two; other blasts hit capital
CAIRO (Reuters) – Two people were killed when a bomb exploded near a top court building in central Cairo, the health ministry said, the deadliest attack in three blasts to hit the Egyptian capital on Monday.
Chadian troops seize Nigerian town of Dikwa from Boko Haram
DIKWA, Chad (Reuters) – Chadian troops drove out Boko Haram militants from the town of Dikwa in Nigeria, an army spokesman said on Monday, losing one soldier in the battle.
Mexico calls on U.S. to probe police killings of its nationals
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s government on Monday called on the United States to investigate a string of killings of its nationals by American police, voicing “profound consternation and irritation” at what it called a presumed excessive use of for…
U.S. spy chief says 40 Americans who went to Syria have returned
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – About 180 Americans have traveled to Syria to join Islamist militants and around 40 of them have returned to the United States, the U.S. National Intelligence director, James Clapper, said on Monday.
Fame for North Korean defectors brings money, suspicion
SEOUL (Reuters) – Kang Myung-do, then son-in-law of North Korea’s premier, made a spectacular claim about Pyongyang’s nuclear capability when he defected to the South over two decades ago, asserting the secretive country had built five atomic bombs.
Iraq launches attack to retake Tikrit from Islamic State
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s armed forces, backed by Shi’ite militia, attacked Islamic State strongholds north of Baghdad on Monday as they launched an offensive to retake the city of Tikrit and the surrounding Sunni Muslim province of Salahuddin.
Venezuela tells U.S. embassy in Caracas: Cut staff by 80 percent
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela on Monday ordered the U.S. embassy in Caracas to reduce staff from 100 to 17 amid the worst diplomatic flare-up between the two ideological foes since socialist President Nicolas Maduro was elected in 2013.
Kerry cautions Israel not to undercut Iran diplomacy as talks resume
MONTREUX, Switzerland (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry quietly cautioned Israel not to undercut nuclear negotiations with Iran that resumed on Monday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to make the case in Washington aga…
