WORLD HEADLINES
Pomp, pageantry and a vast array of elaborate hats make Royal Ascot a truly English affair –- but Britain’s most prestigious horse race meeting is attracting a growing international contingent. More than 300,000 people are expected during the course of the five-day extravaganza in Berkshire, southeast England, attended yearly by Queen Elizabeth II — with Ladies Day on Thursday a sartorial highlight of the upper class social calendar. Taiwanese couple
Geneva (AFP) – The number of people forced to flee war, violence and persecution has soared to a record 60 million, half of them children, the United Nations said Thursday, warning that the situation was raging out of control.
A 21-year-old white gunman accused of killing nine people at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, was arrested on Thursday, said U.S. officials, who are investigating the attack as a hate crime. Law enforcement officials caught alleged gunman Dylann Roof, whose rampage on Wednesday came in a year that has seen months of racially charged protests across the United States over killings of black men. U.S. Attorney General
The UN’s refugee chief on Thursday urged the world including Western states to open up their borders and follow Turkey’s example in hosting Syrian refugees. Turkey, which has taken in some 1.8 million Syrian refugees since the conflict started in 2011, has repeatedly said that it has been left to shoulder a disproportionate burden as Western states stand by. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told reporters in Istanbul
By Mohammed Ghobari and Lara Sukhtian SANAA/GENEVA, (Reuters) – Houthi fighters in central Yemen blew up the home of a senior politician on Wednesday while he was in Switzerland as a member of the exiled government’s delegation to peace talks, residents said. In Geneva, the U.N.-sponsored talks between the warring factions went into a second day. Yemeni websites published picture of its collapsed ceiling on top of a pile of
By Mohammed Mukhashaf ADEN (Reuters) – Al Qaeda militants in Yemen killed two alleged Saudi spies on Wednesday, residents said, accusing them of planting tracking devices which enabled the assassination of the group’s leader in a suspected U.S. drone strike last week. Residents said al Qaeda charged the men with planting chips which pinpointed the location of several al Qaeda commanders slain in recent months, including its boss Nasser al-Wuhayshi,
By James Pomfret and Yimou Lee HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers appeared to be standing firm on Wednesday in their pledge to veto Beijing-backed electoral reforms, as the Asian financial center’s legislature debated the package that will define its democratic future. The former British colony has reinforced security after mass protests crippled parts of the city late last year, presenting China’s ruling Communist Party with one of
By Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia accused NATO on Wednesday of reviving the ghost of the Cold War by encroaching close to its borders and seeking to change the strategic balance of power, as Germany denounced Moscow’s nuclear weapons build-up as a Soviet-style reflex. Ties between Russia and the West have hit new lows over Ukraine and the latest accusations come after Moscow said it would enhance its nuclear
By Luke Baker and Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) – With a deal on Iran’s nuclear program drawing near, Israel is beginning to look at what comes afterwards and how best to position itself for the longer term. Publicly, Israeli officials have not given up trying to influence what appear to be the closing stages of negotiations, although gaps could persist beyond an end-June deadline. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, Prime Minister
The United States called for a “greater commitment” from Iraq’s government on Wednesday in the fight against Islamic State as it lamented Baghdad’s failure to deliver enough soldiers for training and underscored the need to empower Sunni tribesmen. “As I’ve told Iraqi leaders, while the United States is open to supporting Iraq more than we already are, we must see a greater commitment from all parts of the Iraqi government,”
