Afghan leader seeks to sideline powerful bloc in break with past
KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan cabinet, finalised this week after months of haggling, leaves a powerful faction that helped oust the Taliban in 2001 significantly weakened, in a bold but risky break from the past by President Ashraf Ghani.
Kerry says may meet Iran’s Zarif again this week
SOFIA (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he may meet Iran’s foreign minister again this week to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program following their roughly six hours of talks on Wednesday.
Hezbollah says arrested operative confessed to spying for Israel
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah has detained one of its own operatives who has confessed to spying for Israel, its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged for the first time on Thursday, in a case that has shattered the group’s …
Belgian police kill two in raid on suspected Islamists
VERVIERS, Belgium (Reuters) – Belgian police killed two men who opened fire on them during one of about a dozen raids on Thursday against an Islamist group that federal prosecutors said was about to launch “terrorist attacks on a grand scale”.
Hollande reassures Muslims, Islamists hack French websites
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Francois Hollande reassured Muslims on Thursday that his country respected them and their religion but said France would not compromise on its commitment to freedom and democracy.
North Korea calls U.S.-South Korea exercises ‘open challenge’
GENEVA (Reuters) – Joint military exercises by South Korea and the United States this week are “an open challenge” to North Korea’s demand to ease tension on the divided peninsula, a Pyongyang envoy said on Thursday.
Fighting intensifies at Ukraine airport, two soldiers killed
KIEV (Reuters) – Fighting intensified around the international airport in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Thursday as pro-Russian separatists stepped up efforts to dislodge government forces and Ukraine’s military said two of its soldiers had been kil…
U.S. welcomes reports of Pakistani plan to ban Haqqanis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States said on Thursday it welcomed reports that Pakistan was planning to outlaw the Haqqani network and other militant groups linked to violent extremism.
Germany arrests suspected Islamic State fighter after return from Syria
BERLIN (Reuters) – German police arrested a suspected supporter of the insurgent group Islamic State (IS) who was recently in Syria and raided his apartment in the state of Lower Saxony, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
French attacks inquiry centers on prison ‘sorcerer’ Beghal
PARIS (Reuters) – The French investigation into last week’s Paris shootings is exploring the possible role of Djamel Beghal, an Islamist suspected of first bringing the gunmen together and putting them on the path from impressionable youths to cold-blo…
