Chile’s Bachelet takes on conservatives with plan to ease abortion ban
SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chile’s president, Michelle Bachelet, unveiled plans on Saturday to ease a complete ban on abortions in the socially conservative South American country.
Iraq’s PM pledges hard line against alleged militia abuses
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s prime minister blamed “criminals” on Saturday for alleged mass executions, following reports that dozens of civilians were killed by Shi’ite militias in Diyala province.
U.S. general says Syrian town of Kobani taken from Islamic State
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Kurdish ground forces, helped by U.S. and allied air support, have retaken the Syrian town of Kobani from Islamic State militants, U.S. Lieutenant-General James Terry said on Saturday.
Plastics factory fire kills 13 people in Bangladesh capital
DHAKA (Reuters) – At least 13 people including two women were killed when a fire swept through a plastics factory in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka on Saturday, police said.
Italy elects senior judge Sergio Mattarella as president
ROME (Reuters) – Italian lawmakers elected Sergio Mattarella, a constitutional court judge and veteran center-left politician, as president on Saturday, handing a welcome political victory to Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
Kurds retake oil facility in north Iraq, 15 workers still missing
KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) – Kurdish peshmerga forces retook a small crude oil station near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk which Islamic State insurgents seized earlier on Saturday, but the fate of 15 employees remained unclear.
Palestinians in Syria cut off from aid once more: U.N.
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of longtime Palestinian refugees in a camp on the outskirts of the Syrian capital have been cut off from United Nations emergency aid for nearly two months by armed groups that are preventing access, a U.N. official…
Egyptian court bans Hamas’ armed wing, lists as terrorist organization
CAIRO (Reuters) – An Egyptian court on Saturday banned the armed wing of Palestinian group Hamas and listed it as a terrorist organization, a ruling in keeping with a systematic crackdown on Islamists by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Panama kicks out ex-Colombian spy chief to face charges at home
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – Panama on Saturday expelled a former Colombian intelligence chief, Maria del Pilar Hurtado, to face charges at home of illegally intercepting phone calls from opposition Colombian lawmakers.
Rouhani accuses Iranian hardliners of ‘cheering on’ other side in atom talks
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, growing frustrated with hardline resistance to a nuclear deal with the West, accused opponents on Saturday of effectively “cheering on” the other side in Tehran’s grueling negotiations with world powe…
