Obama pledges $1 billion in loan guarantees for Jordan
RANCHO MIRAGE, California (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday pledged $1 billion in loan guarantees for Middle East ally Jordan and the renewal of a five-year aid package.
Venezuela frees some student protesters, unrest continues
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan authorities freed 25 student protesters on Friday pending trial and said that 74 others arrested after this week’s deadly political turmoil would be processed within hours.
Colombia army report says there was no spying on peace talks
BOGOTA (Reuters) – Peace talks between Colombia’s government and Marxist FARC rebels were not spied on by military intelligence, the army’s Inspector General said in a report on Friday that disputed such claims made by a weekly news magazine.
Niger extradites former Gaddafi intelligence official to Libya
NIAMEY (Reuters) – Niger’s government has extradited Abdallah Mansour, a former top Libyan intelligence official under toppled President Muammar Gaddafi, to Libya on suspicion of plotting against the government in Tripoli, military sources said.
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.
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…
