WORLD HEADLINES
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State forces have launched 29 air strikes against the group since early on Wednesday, the Combined Joint Task Force leading the operations said in a statement on Thursday. The 16 air strikes in Syria and 13 in Iraq hit various Islamic State fighting positions, fighting units, vehicles, buildings and other targets, the task force said in the statement. For a Reuters map
The militant group Islamic State said on Thursday it had blown up two warplanes at an air base it seized near the central Libyan city of Sirte. The Islamist rebel fighters seized Sirte’s military and civilian airport two weeks ago, expanding the area it controls by exploiting a security vacuum in oil-producer Libya, where two governments are vying for power. Forces loyal to a self-declared government that controls the capital
By Angus McDowall NAJRAN, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – After 11 weeks of air strikes that have failed to change the balance of power in Yemen, Saudi Arabia is running out of options to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s exiled government to Sanaa. Despite the destruction of much of their heavy weaponry, the Houthi militia and army forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh control most of the country’s populated
Iran’s envoy to the U.N. nuclear agency said on Thursday a final deal with six world powers to curb its atomic program in exchange for sanctions relief is possible before an end-June deadline. “If … our interlocutors … commit to the agreed parameters, reaching an agreement by the end of June is achievable,” Reza Najafi told reporters after a board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. When
An Egyptian criminal court sentenced a policeman to 15 years in jail on Thursday over the killing of a woman activist, a judicial source and the state news agency said. The policeman had been charged in March with action that “led to the death” of Shaimaa Sabbagh, a lesser charge than murder, but still a rare action against a member of the security forces. Sabbagh was shot in January at
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State forces have launched 29 air strikes against the group since early on Wednesday, the Combined Joint Task Force leading the operations said in a statement on Thursday. The 16 air strikes in Syria and 13 in Iraq hit various Islamic State fighting positions, fighting units, vehicles, buildings and other targets, the task force said in the statement. For a Reuters map
Three civilians and two Ukrainian soldiers were killed in eastern Ukraine within 24 hours up to midday on Thursday, Kiev’s military said, further eroding a four-month-old ceasefire in the separatist conflict. The truce brokered by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France has stemmed large-scale fighting but regular skirmishes near Donetsk claim lives almost daily on both sides, and international monitors said they feared a bigger flare-up. The two
BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) — A group of 17 political parties have agreed to boycott elections in Burundi because they don’t believe they will be free and fair, an opposition leader said Thursday.
Syrian rebels seized most of a military airport in regime-controlled Sweida province Thursday and shot down a warplane nearby, a spokesman told AFP. “The Southern Front has liberated Al-Thaala military airport and is carrying out mopping-up operations against remaining forces,” the alliance’s spokesman, Major Essam al-Rayes, told AFP. The Syrian Observatory for Human rights also reported the rebel advance into the airport in the Druze-majority southern province.
Tropical storm Carlos formed off the southern Pacific coast of Mexico on Thursday and was expected to gain some strength in the coming days, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. Carlos was about 230 miles (370 km) south of the beach resort of Acapulco and had maximum winds of 40 miles per hour (65 km/h), the Miami-based NHC said. The center said the storm was expected to move in a
