Saudi Arabia jails 17 people for militant Islamist offences
DUBAI (Reuters) – A Saudi court has jailed 17 men for up to 33 years on a range of militant Islamist charges, including fighting in foreign conflicts and joining terrorist cells inside the kingdom, state news agency SPA reported on Monday.
New PM Cerar hints Slovenia might scale back privatization drive
LJUBLJANA (Reuters) – Slovenia’s new prime minister hinted on Monday he might scale back the country’s privatization program once he forms a coalition with two parties opposed to large-scale sell-offs of state assets.
Diffuse Hamas structure complicates Gaza peace efforts
JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) – Founded by just seven people in Gaza, Hamas now has political and military leaders spread across the Arab world, complicating its ability to send a unified message for negotiating an end to a seven-week war with Israel.
Iran says ‘completing’ nuclear steps agreed with IAEA
VIENNA/DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran is “in the process” of completing measures on transparency in its nuclear research that were agreed with the U.N. atomic agency, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying, suggesting Tehran had at least partly met a M…
Iran deputy foreign minister to visit Saudi Arabia
DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) – Iran’s deputy foreign minister will visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the first bilateral talks between the Middle East’s most intractable Muslim rivals since Iran’s political landscape shifted in 2013, media in both countries …
Brazil’s drought-hit coffee belt turns to machines to lower costs
COMUNIDADE DOS MARTINS Brazil (Reuters) – Years of low coffee prices followed by the worst drought in decades in Brazil have pushed even the smallest family farmers to buy modern machinery rather than rely on increasingly scarce and expensive labor.
Boko Haram leader says ruling Nigerian town by Islamic law
ABUJA (Reuters) – The leader of Nigeria’s Islamist group Boko Haram said his fighters were now ruling the captured northeastern town of Gwoza “by Islamic law”, in the first video to state a territorial claim in more than five years of violent insurrect…
Vietnam envoy to visit China to seek thaw in testy ties
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam will send a special envoy to China this week to try to rebuild battered diplomatic ties with its communist neighbor after they sank to their lowest in three decades, amid a flare-up over sovereignty in the South China Sea.
Hundreds dead as Islamic State seizes Syrian air base: monitor
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Islamic State militants stormed an air base in northeast Syria on Sunday, capturing it from government forces after days of fighting that cost more than 500 lives, a monitoring group said.
Afghan presidential inauguration delayed with candidates deep in conflict
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s next president was due to take over on Monday but an inauguration deadline has been pushed to September as rival candidates fail to agree on who won an election meant to mark the country’s first democratic transfer of po…
