WORLD HEADLINES
By Angus McDowall and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia and Iran announced they would attend international talks in Vienna on Friday on the war in Syria, in the first meeting between the regional adversaries aimed at ending the four-year-long war. Saudi Arabia said its participation in the talks aimed to gauge the willingness of Russia and Iran, the Syrian government’s main backers, for a peace deal, Foreign Minister
By Daren Butler DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Five months ago thousands took to the streets in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast, dancing and setting off fireworks after a pro-Kurdish opposition party entered parliament for the first time. This time fear rather than joy prevails in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir and its surrounding province. “Instead of enthusiasm for the ballot box there is the silence of the coffins,” said Idris
By Angus McDowall and Bozorgmehr Sharafedin RIYADH/DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia and Iran announced they would attend international talks in Vienna on Friday on the war in Syria, in the first meeting between the regional adversaries aimed at ending the four-year-long war. Saudi Arabia said its participation in the talks aimed to gauge the willingness of Russia and Iran, the Syrian government’s main backers, for a peace deal, Foreign Minister
By Maria Tsvetkova GRECHANAYA BALKA, Russia (Reuters) – The family of the first Russian soldier confirmed dead in Syria buried their son in a village graveyard on Wednesday, with his father saying there were no signs on the body to support the official account he had hanged himself. Russian defense officials say Vadim Kostenko, 19, hanged himself at a base on the Syrian coast on Saturday because of problems in
By Ari Rabinovitch JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian who tried to stab them in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday and an Israeli woman was wounded in a separate knife attack near a Jewish settlement, the military and police said. The latest assaults underscored what appeared to be a shift in weeks of bloodshed to the West Bank away from Jerusalem, where Israeli police have set
Warplanes from a Saudi-led alliance bombed the Iran-allied Houthi movement throughout Yemen on Wednesday and dropped weapons for its allies battling the group in the southwestern city of Taiz. The sorties show the coalition is determined to use its air power to push back the Houthis, Yemen’s dominant group, a day after medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said coalition bombing destroyed one of its hospitals late on Monday
By Maria Tsvetkova GRECHANAYA BALKA, Russia (Reuters) – The family of the first Russian soldier confirmed dead in Syria buried their son in a village graveyard on Wednesday, with his father saying there were no signs on the body to support the official account he had hanged himself. Russian defense officials say Vadim Kostenko, 19, hanged himself at a base on the Syrian coast on Saturday because of problems in
By Daren Butler DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Five months ago thousands took to the streets in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast, dancing and setting off fireworks after a pro-Kurdish opposition party entered parliament for the first time. This time fear rather than joy prevails in the main southeastern city of Diyarbakir and its surrounding province. “Instead of enthusiasm for the ballot box there is the silence of the coffins,” said Idris
Taliban insurgents overran a district in one of the northern Afghan provinces hit by a powerful earthquake this week, underlining the security problems that have hampered efforts to get emergency relief to remote mountainous regions. Officials said fighters seized control of the district capital of Darqand in Takhar province, on the border with Tajikistan in the early hours of Wednesday, continuing a campaign that has intensified across the country this
By Ari Rabinovitch JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian who tried to stab them in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday and an Israeli woman was wounded in a separate knife attack near a Jewish settlement, the military and police said. The latest assaults underscored what appeared to be a shift in weeks of bloodshed to the West Bank away from Jerusalem, where Israeli police have set
