Al Qaeda claim for French journalist killings ‘plausible’: minister
PARIS (Reuters) – Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s (AQIM) claim of responsibility for the killing of two French journalists in northern Mali last week is plausible, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Thursday.
Philippines braces for super typhoon, the strongest this year
MANILA (Reuters) – Authorities grounded ferry services and called in fishing boats on Thursday as an approaching super typhoon, the most powerful to hit the western Pacific this year, gained strength on a path set for the central Philippines.
Powers seek ‘first-step’ nuclear deal with Iran in Geneva talks
GENEVA (Reuters) – World powers will seek to hammer out a breakthrough deal with Iran to start resolving a decade-old dispute over its nuclear program in two-day talks that begin on Thursday, although both sides say an agreement is far from certain.
Colombia, FARC agree on rebels’ future if peace signed
BOGOTA/HAVANA (Reuters) – Colombia’s government and Marxist FARC rebels reached a “fundamental agreement” on the guerrillas’ future in politics, one of the thorniest issues addressed in peace talks in Cuba, according to a joint statement on Wednesday.
UK spy chiefs to be quizzed in public for first time, on Snowden
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s intelligence chiefs will give their first ever public testimony on Thursday when they are cross-examined together in parliament about the case of former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden.
NATO war games worry Moscow
ADAZI, Latvia (Reuters) – NATO is staging its biggest military exercise in seven years this week in the Baltic countries and Poland but its insistence that the drills are not aimed at sharpening defenses against a resurgent Russia have not convinced Mo…
China military hackers persist despite being outed by U.S.: report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The disclosure early this year of a secretive Chinese military unit believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks has failed to halt the cyber intrusions, a U.S. computer security company and congressional advisory panel said…
Bombings in Damascus, southern Syrian city kill 16
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A car bomb killed at least eight security personnel in a rare attack on a military intelligence headquarters in the southern Syrian city of Suweida on Wednesday, and a separate blast killed eight people in Damascus.
Powers seek ‘first step’ nuclear deal with Iran in Geneva talks
GENEVA (Reuters) – World powers will seek to hammer out a breakthrough deal with Iran to start resolving a decade-old dispute over its nuclear program in two-day talks that begin on Thursday, though both sides say an agreement is far from certain.
Congo’s FDLR rebels now in peacekeepers’ sights: U.N. Security Council
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – After the success of the Congolese army and U.N. peacekeepers in defeating M23 rebels, the U.N. Security Council agreed on Wednesday that attention should now turn to tackling other armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic…