French troops kill deputy to feared Islamist Belmokhtar
BAMAKO (Reuters) – French special forces have killed the second-in-command of the feared Islamist commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar in an operation in the region of Tessalit in northern Mali, security sources said on Thursday.
Ukraine parliament rejects proposed laws to release Tymoshenko
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s parliament on Thursday rejected draft laws that would allow jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to go to Germany for medical treatment, clouding prospects for a landmark trade agreement with the European Union.
Kenya to demand change to ICC rules over president’s case
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Kenya will demand change at the International Criminal Court on Thursday to try to ensure its president does not face charges of crimes against humanity in the aftermath of an election in 2007 when 1,200 were killed.
Insight: Assad’s sarin and how an Albanian ‘Yes’ became ‘No’
TIRANA/THE HAGUE (Reuters) – On the evening of Monday, November 11, the U.S. ambassador to Tirana, Alexander Arvizu, met Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and his foreign minister at a government villa in the capital.
In start of long operation, Fukushima removes first fuel rods
TOKYO (Reuters) – The operator of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant completed on Thursday the removal of the first fuel rods from a cooling pool high up in a badly damaged reactor building, a rare success in the often fraught battle to control th…
Iraqi forces not involved in Saudi mortar incident: official
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi security forces have not fired anything towards the border with Saudi Arabia, an Iraqi official said on Thursday, after the kingdom said six mortar shells landed near a remote Saudi border post.
Indonesians burn Australian flags over spying reports
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesians burned Australian flags on Thursday over reports Australia’s spies tried to tap the phones of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife, plunging relations between the neighbors to their lowest point since the late…
U.S. Korean War veteran detained in North Korea: son
PALO ALTO, California (Reuters) – North Korea has detained an 85-year-old Korean War veteran from California visiting the country as a tourist, pulling him off a plane as he was about to leave the reclusive nation last month, his son said.
In Qatar desert, Syrian opposition mourns fallen commander
UMM AL-AMAD, Qatar (Reuters) – On a patch of desert far from Syria, dozens of men gathered under a white tent to commemorate Abdelqader Saleh, a renowned Syrian rebel commander who died this week from wounds after an air strike in Aleppo.
Saudi Arabia says six shells fall near border post close to Iraq, Kuwait
RIYADH (Reuters) – Six mortar shells landed near a remote Saudi border post close to neighboring fellow oil producers Iraq and Kuwait on Wednesday, but caused no damage, the kingdom said on Thursday.