U.S. defense chief voices fear of north-south NATO divide
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel expressed concern on Thursday about a possible north-south divide in NATO and urged the alliance to tackle multiple security issues at once rather than focusing on only one.
U.N. wants 1,030 more peacekeepers for Central African Republic
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the U.N. Security Council for 1,030 more peacekeepers for Central African Republic after the mission was left overstretched when infrastructure and senior officials neede…
Rocket attacks on Damascus kill 10 after Islam Army warning
DAMASCUS/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Rocket attacks killed 10 people in Damascus on Thursday and wounded at least 50, a monitoring group said, in the second heavy bombardment by Islam Army insurgents in less than two weeks.
France sends advisers to Nigeria border to coordinate Boko Haram fight
PARIS (Reuters) – France has sent military advisers to Niger’s southern border with Nigeria to help coordinate military action by regional powers fighting the Islamist group Boko Haram, a French army official said on Thursday.
Sri Lanka bans alleged Gandhi killer from traveling abroad
COLOMBO (Reuters) – A Sri Lankan court on Thursday barred former Tamil Tiger rebel leader Kumaran Pathmanathan, wanted by India in connection with the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, from traveling abroad, a lawyer said.
Gaza militants condemn Egypt’s branding of Hamas as terror group
GAZA (Reuters) – In a statement read by a masked gunman, 10 armed Palestinian factions jointly condemned on Thursday an Egyptian decision to list the military wing of the Islamist group Hamas as a terrorist organization.
U.N. plan for local ceasefires in Syria ‘frozen’: diplomats
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A United Nations plan for local ceasefires in Syria is deadlocked, with Damascus feeling it does not need to make concessions to disparate armed groups, Western diplomats familiar with the talks said.
British minister: I wouldn’t shed a tear if Britain left Europe
LONDON (Reuters) – A British government minister tipped as a potential successor to Prime Minister David Cameron as leader of the Conservative Party said on Thursday he wouldn’t shed a tear if Britain left the European Union.
Obama: Islamic State conducting ‘barbarism’ in name of religion
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday Islamic State was a “brutal, vicious death cult” that was carrying out “unspeakable acts of barbarism” in the name of religion.
Baghdad’s decade-old curfew to end on Saturday, Iraq’s PM says
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Baghdad’s decade-old curfew will end on Saturday and four neighborhoods will be “demilitarized”, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday, as he tries to normalize the capital.
