Car bombs kill 20 at Syrian Kurdish new year celebration
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Two car bombs killed at least 20 people celebrating Nowruz, the Iranian new year, in the mainly Kurdish city of Hassaka in northeastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Friday.
Ukrainian oligarch under fire after night raid on state oil firm
KIEV (Reuters) – A raid by a group of armed men in combat fatigues on a state-owned oil company in the Ukrainian capital Kiev caused uproar in parliament on Friday and thrust banking billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky into the spotlight.
U.S. moving additional artillery battalion to South Korea: Pentagon
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Army is sending a field artillery battalion of about 400 soldiers and multiple-launch rocket systems to South Korea, a move the Pentagon said on Friday was part of a reorganization of the service and unrelated to any ten…
Ethiopian pilot who hijacked plane sentenced to 20 years in jail
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – An Ethiopian court sentenced an Ethiopian Airlines pilot to 19 years and six months in prison on Friday for hijacking his own plane and flying it to Geneva, more than a year after he surrendered to Swiss police and sought asylum…
South African students demand Rhodes statue removal
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – Hundreds of University of Cape Town students staged a protest march on Friday demanding the removal from the campus of a statue of Cecil John Rhodes, the British imperialist regarded as one of the main proponents of white colonial…
EU leaders pledge security cooperation, aid for Tunisia
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders pledged to step up help for Tunisia on Friday, worried that an attack that killed 20 foreign tourists shows Islamic State militants spreading their influence from Libya and posing a growing threat to Europe.
Obama calls on Iran to immediately release detained Americans
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday called on Iran’s government to immediately release three detained Americans – Saeed Abedini, Amir Hekmati and Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian – and to help find Robert Levinson, an Ame…
Afghan cleric and others defend lynching of woman in Kabul
KABUL (Reuters) – An Afghan cleric and a police official on Friday defended the lynching of a woman in central Kabul after a mob was filmed stamping on the woman and smashing a brick on her head after she was accused of burning a Koran, Islam’s holy bo…
Romanian PM to nominate himself as interim finance minister: party sources
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s prime minister will nominate himself to take over the finance minister’s portfolio temporarily, three party sources said on Friday, after the previous minister became the most senior sitting politician to be investigated…
Britain’s Cameron sees hope for his EU ‘Mission: Impossible’
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday he was ready to discuss the “mission impossible” of changing the European Union’s treaty to accommodate the British prime minister’s calls for radical reform of the 28-country b…
