At least 47 killed in attacks in and around Baghdad
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Bombings and a mortar strike in Shi’ite Muslim parts of Baghdad and in the rural belt south of the capital killed at least 47 people on Thursday and wounded 123, police and medical officials said.
With Syria at war, can Turkey and Ocalan still bring Kurds peace?
ISTANBUL/SURUC Turkey (Reuters) – As southeast Turkey’s Kurds rioted last week in fury at Ankara’s refusal to rescue the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani from advancing Islamists, it was to Abdullah Ocalan that Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu turned for he…
Al Qaeda and Houthis clash in central Yemen: residents
SANAA (Reuters) – At least 10 people were killed in fighting between Houthi tribesmen and militants linked to al Qaeda in central Yemen on Thursday, witnesses said, part of a growing struggle over territory and influence between the two enemy sides.
Shortages hinder Venezuela’s battle against fever outbreaks
CARACAS (Reuters) – Shortages have complicated Venezuela’s efforts to treat severe outbreaks of mosquito-borne fevers this year, creating long lines at pharmacies to buy medicines and leaving the ill without treatments for swollen joints and aching bon…
Hamas leader urges Muslims to defend Jerusalem shrine from ‘Israeli seizure’
DOHA (Reuters) – The leader of the Palestinian group Hamas on Thursday called on Muslims to defend the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, saying Israel was trying to seize the site, revered in Islam and Judaism and focus of a Palestinian uprising in…
UKIP cries foul as Latvian defection weakens hand in EU parliament
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The UK Independence Party accused the European Parliament of blackmail and bias on Thursday after it wound up a voting bloc forged by British and Italian Eurosceptics, depriving them of funding and influence.
Serbia salutes Putin but says future is with Europe
BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia feted Russia’s Vladimir Putin with troops, tanks and fighter-jets on Thursday to mark seven decades since the Red Army liberated Belgrade, balancing its ambitions of European integration with enduring reverence for a big-pow…
U.S. democracy watchdog quits Egypt as political noose tightens
CAIRO (Reuters) – U.S. democracy watchdog The Carter Center has closed its Egypt office and says it will no longer monitor the country’s parliamentary elections due to an increasingly restrictive political environment.
Pakistani Christian loses appeal against death sentence for blasphemy
LAHORE Pakistan (Reuters) – A Pakistani court upheld the death penalty on Thursday against a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, her lawyer said, in a case that drew global headlines after two prominent politicians who tried to help her were assassin…
Oil slide puts Venezuela’s Maduro under pressure for reforms
CARACAS (Reuters) – The slump in global oil prices has heightened pressure on President Nicolas Maduro to enact politically risky reforms to bolster Venezuela’s weak public finances and its ability to pay down debt.
