Sarkozy urges French center-right to re-invent itself
PARIS (Reuters) – Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, back in politics after a two-year retirement, announced plans on Friday to revamp his center-right UMP party if named this month as its chairman.
Peshmergas blunt, don’t break, Islamic State siege of Syria’s Kobani
MURSITPINAR Turkey/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iraqi Kurdish forces have blunted but not broken the siege of the Syrian border town of Kobani, a week after arriving to great fanfare with heavy weapons and fighters in a bid to save it from Islamic State.
Yemeni president brings Houthis into new government
SANAA (Reuters) – Yemen’s president has announced a new cabinet including members of the Shi’ite Muslim Houthi group that captured the capital Sanaa in September, state media said on Friday, in a move that could help end a crippling standoff in the Ara…
Exclusive: U.S. weighs sanctions on Libyan factions to halt proxy war
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is considering imposing sanctions on Libya’s combative factions to prevent a proxy conflict fueled by regional powers from erupting into full-blown civil war and to force militant leaders to negotiate, U.S. offi…
Libyan rebels threaten to declare independence over rival parliament
BENGHAZI Libya (Reuters) – Libyan rebels who have seized oil ports in the past to press their demand for regional autonomy said on Friday they would declare independence in the east if the world recognized a rival parliament, heightening tensions in th…
Supporters of slain Myanmarese journalist demand investigation
YANGON (Reuters) – A funeral was held Friday for a Myanmar journalist, two days after his body was exhumed from a shallow grave where soldiers buried him when he died in military custody a month earlier.
Four killed in clashes and attacks across Egypt: sources
CAIRO (Reuters) – At least four Egyptians were killed and eight wounded on Friday in separate incidents involving Islamist protesters and militants across the country, security and medical sources said.
U.N. says Gambia blocks investigators probing torture and killings
GENEVA (Reuters) – Gambia has blocked United Nations human rights investigators from completing an investigation into torture and killings during the first ever visit to the West African country by U.N. experts, the world body said on Friday.
U.N. women’s rights panel accuses China of harassing activists
GENEVA (Reuters) – A United Nations women’s rights watchdog has accused China of trying to silence activists and said some who had come to Geneva to testify about the country’s record “fear reprisals” upon return.
No U.S.-Iran military coordination against Islamic State: Rice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice said on Friday the United States is not engaged in military coordination with Iran in countering Islamic State forces in the Middle East.
