For Assad, U.S. plan will weaken one foe but bolster others
BEIRUT (Reuters) – By striking Islamic State in Syria, the United States would be weakening one of President Bashar al-Assad’s major enemies. But the new U.S. strategy may still unnerve Assad by helping other opponents determined to overthrow him.
Russia fears sanctions on refineries, expects gasoline shortages
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Any further Western sanctions which may aim at technology for Russia’s modernizing oil refineries could lead to gasoline shortages, an energy ministry official said.
U.S. wins Arab support for Syria/Iraq military campaign
JEDDAH (Reuters) – The United States signed up Arab allies on Thursday to a “coordinated military campaign” against Islamic State fighters, a major step in building regional support for President Barack Obama’s plan to strike both sides of the Syrian-I…
Landslides add to misery of Kashmir’s worst floods in decades
SRINAGAR India (Reuters) – Rescuers raced to help communities hit by landslides in Indian Kashmir on Friday while thousands were stranded, homeless and hungry in the city of Srinagar, most of which was submerged by the region’s worst flooding in 50 yea…
Colombia women’s rights group wins U.N. award as risks lives for victims
BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – They have received death threats, been forced from their homes, and live in the middle of drug turf wars, but nothing has stopped a Colombian women’s rights group that is this year’s recipient of a U.N. refugee agency award.
Special Report: Moscow stifles dissent as soldiers return in coffins
MOSCOW 2014 (Reuters) – Late last month Yelena Tumanova was handed the body of her son in a coffin at her home in Russia’s Western Volga region. Anton Tumanov was 20 and a soldier serving in the Russian army in the North Caucasus region of Chechnya.
Exhausted and frustrated, Pakistani protesters want to go home
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Arshad Shah, a Pakistani protester, feels trapped: worn out after weeks of street demonstrations against the government, he wants to go home but protest organizers will not let him.
Erdogan approves law tightening Turkey’s Internet controls
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan approved a law tightening government control of the Internet and expanding the powers of the telecoms authority late on Thursday, part of the first legislative package he has effected as head of sta…
Wiretaps against Palestinians are wrong, Israeli ex-spies tell Netanyahu
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Dozens of reserve soldiers from Israel’s top electronic surveillance unit say they will no longer spy on Palestinians living under occupation, an unprecedented rebuke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security policies.
Lawyers boycott trial of prominent Chinese activist
GUANGZHOU China (Reuters) – Lawyers representing a prominent Chinese activist boycotted the start of a long-delayed trial in protest over procedural irregularities on Friday which was then adjourned, in a closely watched case as China clamps down on ri…
