Exclusive: Former Syria defense minister defects in break with Assad
AMMAN/DOHA (Reuters) – Former Syrian Defence Minister General Ali Habib, a prominent member of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect, has defected and is now in Turkey, a senior member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition told Reuters on Wedn…
Mali’s new president promises to bring peace, fight graft
BAMAKO (Reuters) – Mali’s new president, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, pledged to stamp out corruption and bring peace to the turbulent north as he was sworn in on Wednesday, 18 months after a coup and rebel uprising plunged the gold exporter into chaos.
Libya PM warns time running out for oil protests
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s patience with protesters who have halted its onshore oil output is running out and action against them nearer, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Wednesday.
German spy agency sees Assad behind gas attack, cites phone call
BERLIN (Reuters) – A Hezbollah official has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ordered a poison gas attack last month and that it considered the move a mistake which showed he was losing his grip, according to German intelligence.
French PM: not acting in Syria would send wrong message to Iran
PARIS (Reuters) – A lack of international action to the chemical attack in Syria would risk sending Iran the wrong message over its nuclear program, France’s Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault warned on Wednesday.
Syrian exodus to go on if chemical attack ignored: Turkey
GENEVA (Reuters) – The Syrian refugee crisis may worsen if there is no international reaction in response to last month’s alleged chemical weapons attack, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday.
Syria denies former defense minister defects: state TV
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian state television said on Wednesday former defense minister Ali Habib had not left the country, denying reports of his defection.
Analysis: U.S. strike on Syria could derail Iran president’s master plan
DUBAI (Reuters) – If one thing could scuttle Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s big plan – to fix Iran’s economy by winning some relief from Western sanctions – a U.S. strike on Tehran’s ally Syria is it.
Italian rightists target black minister with bloody mannequins
ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s far-right Forza Nuova party left three mannequins covered in fake blood at the front door of a city administrative office in Rome on Wednesday in the latest attack on Italy’s first black minister, Cecile Kyenge.
Gunmen kill 16 members of Shi’ite family in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Gunmen shot dead at least 16 members of a Shi’ite Muslim family before blowing up their two neighboring homes south of the Iraqi capital overnight, police and medics said.
