Exclusive: Sunni leaders open to joining Iraq government if conditions met
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Tribal leaders and clerics from Iraq’s Sunni Muslim heartland who rebelled against outgoing premier Nuri al-Maliki’s Shi’ite-led government are willing to join the new administration if certain conditions are met, a spokesman said o…
Modi says India is shamed by rape in Independence Day speech
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – India’s recently elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke out against rape in his first Independence Day speech on Friday, saying the country was shamed by increasing reports of sexual violence against women a…
Obama to visit Estonia, meet with Baltic leaders in September
EDGARTOWN Mass. (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Estonia in September and meet with leaders from three Baltic states on his way to a NATO summit in Wales, the White House said on Friday.
Italy says two boat migrants die, 1,500 saved as total passes 100,000
ROME (Reuters) – Two boat migrants died among almost 1,500 rescued by Italy in the last 24 hours, authorities said on Friday as the total number reaching Italian shores this year passed 100,000.
China opens $2-billion extension of controversial Tibet railway
BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Friday officially opened a $2-billion extension of its controversial railway into Tibet, state media reported, linking the Tibetan capital of Lhasa with a key Buddhist site.
Afghan special forces say in talks on deal with Taliban in Helmand
LASHKAR GAH Afghanistan (Reuters) – After months of intense fighting in southern Afghanistan where hundreds of Taliban fighters have battered Afghan troops in daily attacks, the special forces commander in Helmand province is seeking a deal with the in…
Fourteen dead as peacekeepers battle militants in Somali capital
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – African peacekeepers and Somali troops battled militants in a suburb of Mogadishu on Friday, launching a joint offensive that killed at least 14 people, police said.
Russian aid convoy checked; military vehicles mass near Ukraine
KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY Russia (Reuters) – Dozens of heavy Russian military vehicles massed on Friday near the border with Ukraine, while Ukrainian border guards crossed the frontier to inspect a huge Russian aid convoy.
Iraq’s Maliki finally steps aside, paving way for new government
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Nuri al-Maliki finally bowed to pressure within Iraq and beyond on Thursday and stepped down as prime minister, paving the way for a new coalition that world and regional powers hope can quash a Sunni Islamist insurgency that threat…
Doctors tackle damaged minds amid Gaza’s post-war destruction
GAZA (Reuters) – In a ward at Shifa, Gaza’s largest hospital, child therapist Rabeea Hamouda is trying to elicit a response from two small brothers, Omar and Mohammed, aged three and 18 months, hoping for some words or perhaps a smile.
