Iraq’s top cleric sends subtle message to Maliki: step aside
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s most influential Shi’ite cleric urged political leaders on Friday to refrain from clinging to their posts – an apparent reference to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has defied demands that he step aside. Speaking through a…
Ukraine faces bitter election in midst of conflict with Russia
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s prime minister has launched what promises to be a bitter election campaign that could divide pro-Western parties and complicate their efforts to fight pro-Russian rebels in the country’s east.
Obama calls Afghan candidates as vote recount drags on
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday called Afghanistan’s presidential candidates who are fighting over who won a June 14 election and urged them to maintain national unity during a vote recount and transition, the White House said.
Kenyan police kill two men suspected of planning ferry attack
MOMBASA Kenya (Reuters) – Kenyan police said on Friday they shot and killed two armed men suspected of planning an attack on a ferry in the port city of Mombasa after one of them tried to hurl a grenade at approaching police.
Syrian air strike kills 20 rebels on Lebanese border: sources
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A Syrian Air Force strike on the border with Lebanon killed around 20 Syrian rebel fighters on Friday, security sources said, in the latest spillover of violence into the area.
Al Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt to appeal: family
SYDNEY (Reuters) – (This story corrects headline to reflect single journalist; corrects paragraph one to show Peter Greste family said he will appeal; adds paragraphs 6 and 7 statement from Mohamed Fahmy’s brother that Fahmy has not yet decided to appe…
Turkey says suspends operations in Libya embassy due to security woes
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Operations at Turkey’s Tripoli embassy will be suspended due to worsening security situation in Libya, Turkey’s foreign ministry said on Friday, a day after Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the embassy in the capital could be …
Iran detains four journalists, three of them Iranian-American, says CPJ
ANKARA (Reuters) – (This story corrects name of UAE-based newspaper in para 2 to the National (not the Nation))
Georgia says seized heroin belongs to Taliban
TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia’s interior minister said on Friday that $400 million of heroin seized earlier this month, in the country’s biggest ever drugs haul, belonged to the Taliban and was headed for Europe.
Forensic team unable to say how South Korea ferry businessman died
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s forensic agency said on Friday it was impossible to determine the cause of death of a businessman linked to a ferry that sank killing 304 people in April because there was too much tissue damage to his badly decomposed b…
