Better Palestinian living standards vital for peace, Blair says
GAZA (Reuters) – Any Israeli-Palestinian peace deal must lead to improved living conditions for Palestinians to prevent violence between the two from erupting again, Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair said on Sunday.
Hundreds of Jewish tombs damaged in northern France
PARIS (Reuters) – Several hundred Jewish tombs have been damaged in a cemetery near the northeastern French city of Strasbourg, the French interior minister said on Sunday.
Italy closes Libyan embassy, urges U.N. mission amid migrant surge
ROME (Reuters) – Italy closed its embassy in Libya on Sunday and stepped up its call for a U.N. mission to calm the worsening conflict there as thousands of migrants approached Italy by boat from North Africa.
Facing cover-up allegations, Argentina’s Fernandez says she’s ‘tough’
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine President Cristina Fernandez struck a defiant note on Sunday in her first national address since a prosecutor announced he would continue to investigate allegations she tried to cover up a 1994 bombing, saying harsh P…
Italy’s Renzi defies opposition over Senate reform
ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has moved a step closer to pushing through constitutional reforms he says will create a more stable government, after a raucous debate that saw opposition parties walk out of parliament.
Kurds, Syrian rebels edge into Islamic State stronghold: monitor
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Kurdish forces backed by Syrian insurgent groups took control of a hill inside the provincial stronghold of the militant Islamic State group on Sunday after deadly clashes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Merkel’s conservatives suffer blow in state vote, eurosceptics gain
BERLIN (Reuters) – The anti-euro Alternative for Germany (AfD) party looked set to win its first seats in a regional assembly in the west of the country on Sunday after an election in Hamburg which also saw Angela Merkel’s conservatives suffer their wo…
Rail cars on fire after crude train derails in Ontario, CN says
TORONTO (Reuters) – Seven rail cars were on fire in northern Ontario after a train carrying crude oil derailed late on Saturday night, Canadian National Railway said on Sunday.
Romania sends ambulances to Moldova in tug-of-war with Russia
BALTI, Moldova (Reuters) – A stone’s throw from the mounted T-34 Soviet tank in the center of this Moldovan city is an emergency ambulance service set up by Romania, one of several soft power moves to steer its eastern neighbor away from Moscow’s orbit…
Westerners join Iraqi Christian militia to fight Islamic State
DUHOK, Iraq (Reuters) – Saint Michael, the archangel of battle, is tattooed across the back of a U.S. army veteran who recently returned to Iraq and joined a Christian militia fighting Islamic State in what he sees as a biblical war between good and ev…
