Somali warlord agrees to talks, boosts government peace efforts
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – A Somali clan leader who fought for years to retake a strategic southern port city he once controlled has laid down arms and joined talks, bolstering government efforts to show it can restore order to a chaotic nation.
U.S., foreign fighters in Syria pose ‘very serious threat’ to U.S.: lawmaker
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hundreds of U.S., British and Canadian citizens who have trained with Islamic State fighters trying to carve out their own state in Iraq and Syria pose a “very serious threat” to the United States, a top Republican lawmaker said …
Islamist rebels attack intelligence site in Somalia, 12 killed
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Islamist rebels blew up a car bomb and gunmen attacked a national intelligence site in Somalia’s capital where suspected militants are held, in an assault on Sunday that left at least 12 people dead.
Austrian conservatives pick Schelling as finance minister
VIENNA (Reuters) – Austria’s conservative People’s Party (OVP) on Sunday chose as finance minister Hans Joerg Schelling, a politically connected millionaire lauded by supporters for whipping the social security network into shape.
Lesotho’s deputy premier in charge after PM flees ‘coup’
MASERU (Reuters) – Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane accused Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing of helping to plan a coup by the army that forced the prime minister to flee the country.
Israel says shoots down drone over Golan Heights
GOLAN HEIGHTS (Reuters) – Israel’s military said it shot down a drone that flew from Syria into Israeli-controlled airspace over the Golan Heights on Sunday.
Iran says possible response to new U.S. sanctions could not be ‘pleasant’
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s possible response to new U.S. sanctions could “not be pleasant”, its foreign minister said on Sunday, raising the prospect of tit-for-tat retribution against the Islamic Republic’s old adversary weeks ahead of fresh nuclear tal…
Poll shows Britain’s UKIP to win parliamentary seat after lawmaker defection
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) will win its first directly elected parliamentary seat after the defection of a lawmaker from Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party last week, an opinion poll on Sunday showe…
EU wields Russia sanctions threat but timing vague
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union threatened Russia with new trade sanctions if Moscow fails to start reversing its action in Ukraine, but sharp divisions among leaders at a summit in Brussels left the timing of any measures uncertain.
U.S. planes strike militants near Iraq’s Amreli, airdrop aid
BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States carried out air strikes on Saturday against Islamic State fighters near the besieged Shi’ite town of Amerli in northern Iraq and airdropped humanitarian aid to civilians trapped there, the Pentagon said….
