Syria’s Assad shown hugging troops in embattled Damascus district
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited a district on the outskirts of Damascus and thanked soldiers fighting “in the face of terrorism”, his office said on Twitter late on Wednesday, posting pictures of the rare trip.
Libya sees more progress in extinguishing fire at eastern oil terminal
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya has made more progress in extinguishing a fire at oil storage tanks at the country’s biggest oil port, Es Sider, that has been raging for one week, a member of a firefighting crew said on Thursday.
Cuban police detain protesters outside prison, dissidents say
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuban police detained up to a dozen dissidents who had gone to a Havana prison to demand that fellow opponents of the government be released, dissidents said on Thursday.
Weather stalls search for AirAsia black boxes; first victim buried
PANGKALAN BUN/SURABAYA, Indonesia (Reuters) – Heavy seas stopped divers reaching the possible wreck of an AirAsia Indonesia jet off Borneo on Thursday and an aviation official said it could be a week before the black box flight recorders are found.
Three Kenyan soldiers wounded in gun attack near Somali border
MOMBASA (Reuters) – Gunmen attacked a truck carrying Kenyan soldiers near the border with Somalia on Thursday, seriously wounding three of them, police said, in an assault that bore the hallmarks of Somalia’s Islamist militant group al Shabaab.
Abbas trades stalemate for confrontation in ICC move
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has entered into his most serious confrontation yet with Israel by signing onto the International Criminal Court.
U.S. concerned over detention of Bahraini opposition leader
ABU DHABI (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department has expressed deep concern over the detention of Bahraini opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, warning that the arrest could lead to more tensions in the island kingdom.
Suicide bomber hits church in Nigeria’s Gombe, wounding eight
KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) – A suicide bomber blew himself up at the gates of a church in Nigeria’s northeastern city of Gombe during a New Year service, wounding eight people, an official for Nigeria’s Red Cross told Reuters on Thursday.
Man with automatic weapon detained near Istanbul palace: media
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A man carrying an automatic weapon was detained near the Turkish prime minister’s office in Istanbul on Thursday after he threw a homemade bomb at police, local media reported.
Egyptian court orders retrial of Al Jazeera journalists
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s highest court has ordered a retrial of three jailed journalists working for Al Jazeera television, citing procedural flaws in last year’s trial, defense lawyers said on Thursday.
