Saudi’s top clerical body condemns Prophet Mohammad cartoons
DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s top clerical council, the only body in the kingdom authorized to issue Islamic legal opinions or fatwas, on Friday denounced the publication of “disrespectful drawings” of the Prophet Mohammad.
Venezuela’s ‘protest city’ on edge as economic crisis worsens
SAN CRISTOBAL (Reuters) – Masked youths are once again blocking streets and burning tires in the Venezuelan city of San Cristobal, the epicenter of last year’s massive anti-government protests.
Chinese peacekeepers start deployment in South Sudan
JUBA (Reuters) – An advanced party of Chinese peacekeepers is in South Sudan and the rest of the 700-strong contingent is due to arrive by early April, a U.N. official said on Friday, part of a surge in a U.N. mission to protect civilians in a nation m…
Turkey’s Erdogan warns of clash of civilizations following attacks
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday warned of a “clash of civilizations” following the wake of the Islamist militant attacks in Paris and he also appeared to criticize France for allowing the wife of one of the gunmen to trave…
Russia could soon run multiple Ukraine-sized operations: U.S. general
WIESBADEN, Germany (Reuters) – Russia is working to develop within a few years the capability to threaten several neighbors at once on the scale of its present operation in Ukraine, a senior American general said.
Lebanon absorbs bomb shock as talks ease tensions
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A double suicide bombing at a cafe in the Lebanese city of Tripoli was meant to ignite a new round of civil strife in a country whose stability has been repeatedly strained by the war in neighboring Syria.
Pentagon to deploy 400 troops to train Syrian rebels
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military is planning to send more than 400 soldiers to train Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State along with hundreds of U.S. support personnel, a Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday.
With flowers and fluent French, Kerry pays respects to France
PARIS (Reuters) – Bearing flowers and his fluent French, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry offered his condolences and “a hug” to France on Friday for the deaths from last week’s Islamist attacks.
French post office hostage-taking ends, no victims
PARIS (Reuters) – An armed man who earlier took several hostages at a post office northwest of Paris on Friday has surrendered with no one hurt, a French police official told Reuters.
Eleven more air strikes hit Islamic State in Syria, Iraq: U.S. military
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States led six more air strikes against Islamic State in Syria and five in Iraq since early Thursday, according to the U.S.-led military coalition.
