Colombia’s FARC rebels to free kidnapped soldier in peace gesture
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s Marxist FARC rebels will soon free a soldier captured last week during an ambush of a military patrol in which they killed five of his colleagues, according to an online statement Thursday.
Asia remembers devastating 2004 tsunami with prayers, memorial services
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) – Survivors of Asia’s 2004 tsunami and relatives of its 226,000 victims gather along shorelines of the Indian Ocean on Friday for prayers and memorial services to mark the 10th anniversary of a disaster that still leaves…
Rocket hits storage tank at Libya’s biggest oil port
BENGHAZI/TUNIS, Libya (Reuters) – A rocket set a storage tank at the eastern Libyan oil of port Es Sider on fire as armed factions allied to competing governments fought for control of the country’s biggest export terminal, officials from both sides sa…
Islamist gunmen attack African Union base in Somalia
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Eight Islamist gunmen infiltrated the main African Union (AU) base in Mogadishu on Thursday and killed three peacekeepers and a civilian contractor, the AU mission in Somalia said.
Firebomb attack wounds Israeli father and daughter in West Bank
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A firebomb attack on a car in the occupied West Bank left an 11-year-old Israeli girl severely burned and her father injured on Thursday, the Israeli military said.
Mauritania condemns man to death for ‘insulting the prophet’
NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) – Mauritania on Thursday condemned a man to death for “insulting the prophet”, a human rights group said, a day after the country opened the trial of an anti-slavery activist.
UK’s Queen Elizabeth urges reconciliation in post-referendum Scotland
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth used her annual Christmas Day broadcast on Thursday to advocate reconciliation, especially in Scotland where an unsuccessful independence referendum earlier this year polarized public opinion.
Pope condemns Islamic State, decries suffering of children
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis on Thursday condemned the “brutal persecution” of minorities by Islamic State insurgents and said the joy of Christmas was marred by the suffering of children in the Middle East and around the world.
Father asks Islamic State to treat captured pilot son as ‘guest’
AMMAN (Reuters) – The father of a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State fighters after his plane crashed in Syria said he did not consider his son a hostage and called on his captors to treat him as a “guest”.
Sudan expels two senior U.N. officials: sources
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan has ordered two senior United Nations officials to leave, U.N. sources said on Thursday, in what appeared to be an escalation of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s move against U.N. activities in the country.
