Kurdish forces attack Islamic State west of Kirkuk
ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Kurdish forces drove Islamic State militants back from the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq on Monday, in an advance backed by heavy air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition.
Canada church prays for pastor detained in North Korea
TORONTO (Reuters) – Hundreds of friends, parishioners and Korean-Canadian religious leaders gathered at a suburban Toronto church on Monday to pray for a Canadian pastor detained in February by North Korean authorities while on a humanitarian mission.
Dutch minister resign over having misled parliament
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The Dutch minister of justice and his state secretary resigned on Monday after evidence was found that they had misled parliament over a payment equivalent to 2 million euros made to a criminal in 2001.
Mali FM tells rebels ‘time running out’ for peace deal
PARIS (Reuters) – Mali’s foreign minister said on Monday Tuareg rebels were running out of time to seal a peace accord that would distance them from jihadi groups who are staging violent attacks in the West African country.
Ukraine’s Poroshenko says rebels have withdrawn significant amount of heavy weapons
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday pro-Russian rebels had withdrawn a significant amount of weaponry from the front-lines in eastern Ukraine in accordance with a three-week-old ceasefire deal.
Exclusive: IMF assumes Ukraine to get $15.4 billion from creditor talks
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund’s bailout program for Ukraine assumes Kiev will be able to get $15.4 billion from talks with its creditors, according to four sources familiar with the IMF’s documents.
France wants U.N. Security Council meeting on minorities in Middle East
RABAT (Reuters) – France is calling for a U.N. Security Council meeting on March 27 to discuss the situation of minorities in the Middle East, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Monday.
Venezuela calls in top diplomat in U.S. for consultations
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela has called in its top diplomat in the United States for consultations after Washington earlier on Monday declared the South American country a national security threat and ordered sanctions against seven officials.
Iran, IAEA officials meet ahead of March nuclear deadline: ISNA
ANKARA (Reuters) – Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog held talks in Tehran on Monday, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported, ahead of a March deadline for a framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program between Tehran and six major powers.
Putin says plan to take Crimea hatched before referendum
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he ordered officials to start work on taking control of Crimea weeks before a referendum which, the Kremlin has asserted until now, prompted the region’s annexation from Ukraine.
