British spymaster John Sawers, head of MI6, to step down
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s foreign spymaster, who at times quoted Machiavelli and fought off demands to ease secrecy around his MI6 intelligence agency, will step down in November after five years, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.
Turkey submits bill to boost Kurdish peace process
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s government sent a bill to parliament on Thursday setting out a legal framework for peace talks with Kurdish militants, a step that may boost support for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan before an August presidential election.
Uighur scholar kept in chains in China, lawyer says
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese authorities held a prominent Uighur academic in leg irons for 20 days and forced him to go without food, his lawyer said on Thursday, after seeing his client for the first time since he was arrested more than five months ago…
Erdogan’s presidential rival says keep religion out of politics
ANKARA (Reuters) – The main Turkish opposition candidate for president stressed the need to keep religion out of politics on Thursday and called for national unity, a clear challenge to the divisive but popular Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan who looks s…
Islamists attack Yemeni airport as bomber hits army base: sources
ADEN (Reuters) – Six suspected al Qaeda fighters, six soldiers and a civilian woman were killed in a series of militant attacks in the eastern Yemeni city of Seiyun on Thursday, local officials said.
Cameroon army says kills at least 10 suspected Boko Haram militants
YAOUNDE (Reuters) – Cameroon security forces have killed at least 10 suspected Boko Haram militants in three clashes in the north of the country near its border with Nigeria, a senior military official said on Thursday.
Kerry tells Russia to disarm Ukraine separatists ‘in hours’
PARIS (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Russia on Thursday to disarm separatists in Ukraine within “the next hours” as the European Union prepared to discuss deeper sanctions against Moscow.
U.N. appeals to Iran not to execute woman for crime as a teenager
GENEVA (Reuters) – The U.N. human rights chief appealed to Iran on Thursday not to execute a woman convicted of murdering her husband at age 17.
Divergent visions could split Iraq’s Sunni revolt
BAGHDAD/DUBAI (Reuters) – The militants dismantling Iraq’s borders and threatening regional war are far from united — theirs is a marriage of convenience between ultra-hardline religious zealots and more pragmatic Sunni armed groups.
Jordanian court acquits radical cleric Abu Qatada of conspiracy
AMMAN (Reuters) – A Jordanian court on Thursday acquitted radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada, who was extradited from Britain last year, of charges of conspiring to commit acts of terrorism.
