Imran Khan accuses U.S. of derailing peace talks with Pakistan Taliban
BANI GALA, Pakistan (Reuters) – Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan accused the United States on Friday of deliberately destroying any chance of meaningful peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban by killing the insurgency’s leader in a drone strike a…
Jordan looks set to take Saudi Security Council seat: Western diplomats
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Jordan appears set to take the traditional Arab seat on the U.N. Security Council after Saudi Arabia rejected the position in protest at the body’s failure to end the Syria war and act on other Middle East issues, Western dip…
U.S. presses Syrian opposition to agree to peace talks
AMMAN (Reuters) – The United States sought on Friday to persuade the Syrian opposition to agree to attend international peace talks in Geneva, a day before President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents gather to decide on the issue, opposition sources said.
In Libya’s west, Berber anger spills into gasfields
MELLITAH PORT, Libya (Reuters) – After seizing a Libyan port and halting oil exports, former army officer Adel al-Falu has set his sights on a more drastic protest to win rights for his ethnic Amazigh people – shutting off the gas tap which supplies It…
Turk PM faces ally’s public rebuke on mixed-sex student housing
ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan suffered a public rebuke from a senior minister and long-time ally on Friday over his criticism of mixed-sex student housing, signaling a growing rift in the ruling AK Party ahead of ele…
Cuba rolls out master plan for food production and distribution
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba rolled out a master plan this week to reform food production and sales that definitively ends the state’s monopoly on distribution and replaces many rules that hamper farmers and consumers.
Syrian army closes in on Aleppo after dawn attack
ALEPPO (Reuters) – Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, backed by a dawn barrage of artillery fire and air strikes, drove Syrian rebels from a strategic military base near the disputed northern city of Aleppo on Friday, a local photographer said….
Congo says to sign peace deal with M23 rebels on Monday
PARIS (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo will sign a peace deal on Monday with the M23 rebel group that laid down its arms this week after a string of military defeats, Congo’s Foreign Minister Raymond Tshibanda told Reuters on Friday.
South Africa gov’t delays report on Zuma private home
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s government took to the courts on Friday to delay the release of an investigation into a $19 million taxpayer-funded upgrade of President Jacob Zuma’s private residence at Nkandla in rural KwaZulu-Natal province.
U.S., Israel lose voting rights at UNESCO over Palestine row
PARIS (Reuters) – UNESCO has suspended the voting rights of the United States and Israel, two years after both countries stopped paying dues to the U.N.’s cultural arm in protest over its granting full membership to the Palestinians.
