By Hamid Shalizi and Kay Johnson KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility on Thursday for an attack on a popular guesthouse in Kabul that killed at least 14 people, including foreigners attending a dinner and arriving for a concert. Four Indian nationals, a Briton, an American and a Kazakh national were confirmed among the dead in a five-hour assault at Park Palace guesthouse in an upscale neighborhood of
By Ross Adkin and Krista Mahr CHARIKOT, Nepal (Reuters) – Military helicopters flew over eastern Nepal and a team sent up a drone on Thursday to search for a missing U.S. Marines Huey chopper, as the death toll rose from the Himalayan country’s second big earthquake in less than three weeks. A Reuters correspondent flew on a Nepali military helicopter along the Tamakoshi river that runs by the town of
British Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon fighter jets were scrambled to intercept two Russian long-range bombers near UK airspace north of Scotland, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. Intercepts of Russian aircraft by NATO have increased over the last year amid heightened tensions between the West and Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. “The aircraft were identified as Russian Bear aircraft which were escorted by the RAF Typhoon fighters until
By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) – Relief agencies on Thursday used a five-day humanitarian truce in Yemen to expand aid distribution to some of the millions deprived of food, fuel and medicine by weeks of fighting and air strikes. Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of Arab states backed by the West, has pounded Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen’s former leader since March 26, aiming to restore President Abd-Rabbu
By Laila Bassam and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) – Islamic State militants were reported on Thursday to be advancing in a government held area near one of Syria’s world heritage sites, part of a major offensive in central regions by the jihadist group that has destroyed antiquities in Iraq. Islamic State fighters reached online said the group was shelling an air base near Tadmur, an oasis in the desert north-east
By Adrian Croft and Sabine Siebold ANTALYA, Turkey (Reuters) – NATO and the EU agreed on Thursday to work together more to counter “hybrid warfare”, the blend of unidentified troops, propaganda and economic pressure that the military alliance says Russia has used against Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also briefed NATO foreign ministers meeting in Turkey on her plans for an EU operation to destroy boats used to
Saudi-led forces accused Yemen’s Huthi rebels of violating a ceasefire on Thursday but said they will abide by a five-day humanitarian truce that has allowed aid agencies to deliver relief supplies. The humanitarian pause that began late Tuesday is the first break in the air war the Saudi-led coalition launched on March 26 in support of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and has strong backing from Washington. The coalition, in
The Bank of England’s inquiry into suspected rigging of foreign exchange markets is to face close scrutiny from the US Department of Justice, the Financial Times reported Thursday. The FT, which cited people familiar with the matter, reported that the DoJ was seeking to probe what the central bank knew about traders’ behaviour in the forex market. The economic daily added that the DoJ secretly requested an interview with the
Barack Obama was to whisk Gulf leaders away to his Camp David presidential retreat Thursday, hoping to salvage a fence-mending summit already bedeviled by disagreements and royal no-shows. The bucolic Catoctin Mountain getaway, synonymous with Middle East peacemaking during the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, will again be a venue for an attempted reconciliation. President Obama faces the tough task of convincing assorted emirs, princes and sheikhs that
CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) — President Barack Obama and leaders from six Gulf nations gathered at Camp David Thursday in an effort to work through tensions sparked by the U.S. bid for a nuclear deal with Iran, which has put regional partners on edge.
