Bulgarian environment minister charged over water crisis
Bulgarian Environment Minister Neno Dimov was charged with deliberate mismanagement of the water supplies for the western city of Pernik, prosecutors said on Friday.
Russia says no grounds to blame Iran for Ukrainian plane crash: TASS
A Russian deputy foreign minister said on Friday that Moscow currently sees no grounds to blame Iran for the crash of a Ukrainian airliner near Tehran, contradicting statements by Canada and others, the TASS news agency reported.
Iraq asks U.S. for mechanism on troop withdrawal: report
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi asked U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to devise a mechanism for a withdrawal of American troops from the country, the prime minister’s office said on Friday according to a Washington Post report.
Dutch minister says Iran likely shot down Ukraine airliner
It was very likely that an Iranian missile shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, the Dutch foreign minister said on Friday, adding that the European Union’s next steps would depend on how Tehran reacts to the results of an investigation.
UK police treat assault on five prison staff as terrorist attack
British police said on Friday that an assault on five prison staff at a maximum security jail in England is being treated as a terrorist attack.
I’m a scapegoat: Angola’s Isabel dos Santos decries corruption ‘witch hunt’
Angolan billionaire and former first daughter Isabel Dos Santos decried a New Year’s Eve court order to freeze her vast assets as a “witch hunt” engineered to weaken her father’s influence and distract from economic failures.
Congo ethnic killings may amount to crimes against humanity: U.N.
Killings, rapes and other barbaric violence committed by an ethnic armed group in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo against a rival group may amount to crimes against humanity and possibly even genocide, the United Nations said on Friday.
Cleric fears worse bloodshed in Iraq as U.S.-Iran conflict persists
Iraq’s top Shi’ite Muslim cleric on Friday condemned the U.S.-Iranian confrontation taking place on Iraqi soil, saying it risked plunging the war-ravaged country and the wider Middle East into deeper conflict.
Iraqi cleric condemns U.S. and Iran as fears of wider conflict persist
Iraq’s top Shi’ite Muslim cleric on Friday condemned the U.S.-Iranian military confrontation taking place on Iraqi soil, saying it risked plunging the war-ravaged country and the wider Middle East into deeper conflict.
Macron defies French unions over retirement age in pension reform
France’s government defied trade unions on Friday by including a contested clause on raising the retirement age by two years in its draft legislation, amid signs that weeks of street protests and strikes may be losing momentum.
