Syrian rebels push into Assad’s Alawite mountain stronghold
AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian rebel fighters armed with anti-tank missiles pushed toward President Bashar al-Assad’s hometown of Qardaha on Monday, the second day of a surprise offensive in the heartland of his minority Alawite sect, opposition activists sa…
Spanish pedophile pardoned in Morocco arrested in Spain
MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish police have arrested a convicted pedophile who was pardoned by Morocco’s King Mohamed VI last week, a source at Spain’s Interior Ministry said on Monday.
Egypt’s Brotherhood rejects appeal to ‘swallow reality’
CAIRO (Reuters) – The Muslim Brotherhood on Monday rejected pleas from international envoys to “swallow the reality” that Mohamed Mursi will not return as Egypt’s president.
Iraqi forces kill 11 militants in security crackdown
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi security forces killed 11 suspected militants and arrested dozens in a large military-led operation north of Baghdad on Monday in response to a deadly attack on a checkpoint last month, military sources said.
Gibraltar accuses Spain of ‘saber-rattling’ in diplomatic row
LONDON (Reuters) – Gibraltar’s top politician accused Spain on Monday of “saber-rattling” and behaving like North Korea by saying it could impose border fees and airspace controls on the British territory whose sovereignty it disputes.
Sierra Leone deports former Taylor associate days before trial
FREETOWN (Reuters) – Sierra Leone deported an associate of former Liberian president Charles Taylor last week, sparing him a trial for crimes committed during the 1991-2002 civil war due to begin on Monday, to the dismay of human rights campaigners.
Former Turkish army head jailed for life over conspiracy
SILIVRI, Turkey (Reuters) – A Turkish court on Monday jailed a former military chief for life and imprisoned scores of other senior figures, in a coup plot trial that helped bring the once all-powerful military to heel while alienating a secularist old…
Audit of Syria refugees finds organized crime and child soldiers
GENEVA (Reuters) – Many Syrians who have escaped their country are now desperate to escape from U.N.-run refugee camps, where women are not safe and teenage boys are recruited as soldiers to fight in the conflict, according to an internal U.N. report.
Somalia’s Puntland breaks off relations with central government
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region said on Monday it had cut all ties with the central government in a likely setback to efforts to pacify the Horn of Africa Country as it emerges from two decades of conflict.
Threat of Italy government crisis recedes, for now
ROME (Reuters) – The threat of an Italian government crisis following former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s tax fraud conviction receded on Monday, but the situation remains volatile and could erupt again after the summer break.
