Syria’s Kurds celebrate after winning Kobani, but self-rule far off
KOBANI, Syria (Reuters) – Kurds are celebrating after flushing Islamic State militants out of the town of Kobani, but victory is not yet certain in their campaign to cement hard-won autonomy in northern Syria.
Turkey pulls out of Munich conference to avoid Israeli delegation
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Friday pulled out of a security conference in Munich at the last minute, saying he did not wish to attend a joint session with an Israeli delegation.
New Tunisian PM promises growth, reform and new hope
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid promised quick reforms to stimulate growth as he took office on Friday at the head of a coalition government combining secular and Islamist parties.
Thousands rally in Jordan demanding revenge for pilot’s death
AMMAN (Reuters) – Thousands of Jordanians packed the streets of the capital Amman on Friday, urging their monarch to step up air strikes on Islamic State to avenge its killing of pilot Mouath al-Kasaesbeh.
South Africa’s ANC talks left on land as unrest flares
DIEPSLOOT, South Africa (Reuters) – South Africa’s government has built close to 4 million houses for low-income families since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Woman killed in Albanian floods as rain and snow batter Balkans
SKOPJE (Reuters) – Floods killed a woman in Albania on Friday and Macedonia sent more troops to a waterlogged central area after fresh rains, while snow closed roads and cut power in Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia.
British ‘severed heads’ jihadi jailed for 12 years
LONDON (Reuters) – A Briton who helped an Islamist group in Syria record videos of severed heads and then faked his own death in the hope of being able to return home undetected was sentenced to 12 years in jail on Friday.
Car bomber kills two, wounds around 20 in Libya’s Benghazi: medics
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – A jeep filled with explosives killed two people and wounded around 20 on Friday in Benghazi, Libya’s second biggest city that is a front line in the country’s bloody civil conflict, medics and military officials said.
Philippines Aquino faces growing political storm over deadly raid
MAMASAPANO, Philippines (Reuters) – Philippine leader Benigno Aquino is facing his biggest political crisis over a botched operation to capture a wanted militant, amid revelations that a suspended police general who is a close friend of the president p…
UK tribunal says intelligence-sharing with U.S. was unlawful
LONDON (Reuters) – A British tribunal ruled on Friday that some aspects of intelligence-sharing between security agencies in Britain and the United States were unlawful until December 2014, in a ground-breaking case brought by civil liberties groups.
