Protest against new airport for west of France turns violent
NANTES (Reuters) – Violence erupted when about 20,000 people demonstrated against an airport project near the city of Nantes on Saturday, leaving six riot police officers injured.
Police fire tear gas at Istanbul anti-government protest
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish riot police fired tear gas on Saturday to disperse thousands of demonstrators in central Istanbul protesting against what they see as authoritarian new laws from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
Central African Republic militia says will only disarm after Muslim rebels do
BANGUI (Reuters) – A powerful militia in Central African Republic said on Saturday it will only disarm once its main rivals, the mainly Muslim Seleka fighters, lay down their weapons, a deadlock that risks prolonging the crisis in the war-torn country….
Algeria’s Bouteflika to seek fourth term in April
ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the aging independence veteran and Washington ally who suffered a stroke last year, will run for re-election on April 17, his premier said on Saturday, a vote likely to hand him a fourth term…
Ukraine’s Tymoshenko out of jail, still divisive
KIEV (Reuters) – Yulia Tymoshenko, sprung from jail on Saturday as President Viktor Yanukovich’s grip on power crumbled, is a former gas magnate whose ringing rhetoric electrified thousands during Ukraine’s 2004-5 Orange Revolution and propelled her to…
Syrian Kurds take town from Islamists: watchdog
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A Kurdish group captured a town in Syria from Islamists on Saturday in a battle in which at least 28 fighters were killed, most of them Islamists, a monitoring group reported
Pakistani Taliban say government must embrace Islamic law
UNDISCLOSED LOCATION IN WAZIRISTAN, Pakistan, Feb 22 (Reuters) – T he Pakistani Taliban told the government there was no chance of peace in the country unless Pakistan changed its political and legal system and officially embraced Islamic law.
Somalia’s al Shabaab say attack meant to get president ‘dead or alive’
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Islamist militants said on Saturday their attack on the Somali president’s compound, in which at least 11 people died, was an attempt to kill or abduct him.
Germany’s Merkel to back Kerry peace efforts during Israel visit
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will lobby on behalf of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry when she visits Israel on Monday.
Libya arrests six Qataris at Benghazi airport with false papers, cash
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) – Libyan police arrested six Qataris at Benghazi airport on Saturday as they tried to board a plane to Turkey using forged Libyan passports and carrying almost $146,000, airport security sources said.
