Exclusive: Syria on track to miss deadline to destroy chemical weapons
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Syria has relinquished only 11 percent of its chemical weapons in three shipments and is on track to miss a politically-loaded midyear deadline to completely destroy the toxic stockpile, sources told Reuters on Friday.
Italy’s Renzi readies for power but faces daunting task
ROME (Reuters) – Matteo Renzi is one step from becoming Italy’s youngest-ever prime minister after swiftly dispatching Enrico Letta in a party coup, but the manner of his political triumph could make it harder to carry out the bold reforms needed to re…
Anti-Maduro protests persist in Venezuela, dozens jailed
CARACAS (Reuters) – President Nicolas Maduro’s government kept dozens of student protesters behind bars on Friday as unrest still rumbled across Venezuela following this week’s violence at political rallies that killed three.
Cuba suspends consular services in the U.S. due to banking problem
MIAMI (Reuters) – Cuba suspended nearly all its consular services in the United States on Friday after it was unable to find a bank to handle the accounts of its diplomatic missions in Washington and New York, it said in a statement released to news or…
U.S. military not targeting released Afghan prisoners, Pentagon says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military said on Friday it was not actively targeting any of the 65 detainees released by Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government, but warned that if the freed prisoners returned to the fight, “they do it at their own…
German minister resigns in blow to new Merkel government
BERLIN (Reuters) – A senior German minister resigned on Friday amid accusations he leaked confidential information about a fellow lawmaker suspected of possessing child pornography, dealing a blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel and her two-month old gover…
Bulgarian police detain 120 after mosque attack
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgarian police detained more than 120 people on Friday after hundreds of nationalists and soccer fans attacked a mosque in the country’s second city Plovdiv, smashing its windows with stones.
France to send 400 more troops to Central African Republic
PARIS/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – France said on Friday it plans to send another 400 troops to help combat a crisis in the Central African Republic as U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon pleaded for more swift, robust international help to stop sectarian violence th…
Lebanon’s Hariri vows to confront Sunni radicals
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Leading Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri vowed on Friday to tackle sectarian radicalism in his Sunni sect but said Shi’ite Hezbollah must end its involvement in Syria if Lebanon is to avoid being drawn into a “sectarian holocaust”….
Thousands flee Syrian town as ‘major assault’ looms
GENEVA (Reuters) – Thousands of people have fled a rebel-held town in Syria after it was bombed and shelled in an operation that has prompted fears of a major assault by ground troops, the United Nations said on Friday.
