Iraqi Kurds, battling Islamist threat, press Washington for arms
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq is pressing the Obama administration for sophisticated weapons it says Kurdish fighters need to push back Islamist militants threatening their region, Kurdish and U.S. officials…
Heavy shelling, clashes spread in Libya’s Tripoli
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Clashes with artillery and rockets spread on Thursday into two Tripoli districts, where rival militia brigades were battling over the airport in Libya’s worst fighting since the 2011 revolt that ousted Muammar Gaddafi.
EU adopts toughest Russian sanctions yet, targets five Russian banks
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union has published a law that will curb arms sales to Russia and to cut off financing for five major Russian banks over Moscow’s support for rebels in Ukraine.
Ukraine premier stays on, envoys agree on crash site route
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s parliament rejected Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk’s resignation on Thursday and finally passed legislation he said was needed to finance an army offensive against a separatist rebellion in the east and avert a national defa…
Ukraine says suspends attacks to let experts reach crash site, rebels deny
KIEV/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukraine said on Thursday it had suspended offensive operations in its military campaign in east Ukraine to help international experts reach the downed Malaysian airliner’s crash site but separatists were continuing to a…
Town vs. town, faction vs. faction as Libya descends into ‘hurricane’
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Booms of outgoing artillery shaking the ground, militia fighters from the remote Libyan mountain town of Zintan hunker down in the passenger terminal to defend Tripoli airport, the biggest prize in the capital.
Russia’s top general says Moscow committed to nuclear missile treaty
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, told the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday that Moscow was committed to adhering to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Treaty after Washington accused Russia of violating the a…
Norway calls off terror alert, no longer sees imminent Islamist attack
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s government called off a week-long terror alert on Thursday, saying an attack by a militant Islamist group with combat training in Syria was no longer seen as imminent.
Kurdish oil cargo unloaded at sea, destination a mystery
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Part of a Kurdish oil cargo has been offloaded from a Greek-managed tanker into another tanker in the South China Sea, but mystery surrounds the identity of the buyer and where the two tankers are headed.
Thai junta gives security forces majority in interim legislature
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s junta on Thursday named a majority of active and retired members of the security forces to an interim legislature of 200 people, as it seeks to keep tight control over the body it will task with enacting sweeping reforms….
