KRUEN, Germany (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack said on Monday he was confident Islamic State militants would be driven out of Iraq and defeated but there would be setbacks along the way. In a meeting with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi at the G7 summit in Germany, Obama said the militants’ success in Ramadi would be a short-term tactical one. Abadi urged the international community to help prevent the group, also
By Shadia Nasralla VIENNA (Reuters) – Any possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear past can be clarified if the details of a preliminary deal sealed in April between Tehran and six world powers are implemented, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Monday. Iran has been stalling an investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency into its nuclear program. The investigation is running in parallel with political talks
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s one-year tenure in office has witnessed human rights abuses and an escalation in violence by armed groups and the government, Human Rights Watch said on Monday. The New York-based rights group called on Western governments to stop overlooking government abuses that it said included mass detentions, military trials for civilians and mass death sentences. “The al-Sisi government is acting as though to restore stability Egypt
War-torn Syria has asked the UN atomic watchdog for help in converting a nuclear facility and shipping abroad potentially dangerous nuclear material, the head of the watchdog said Monday. “We have received a request from Syria early this year… We are studying the request,” International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano told reporters. The assistance would entail converting a small reactor near Damascus so that it can be fuelled with
A foul-mouthed rancher nicknamed “El Bronco” shook up Mexico’s midterm elections, riding a wave of discontent with political parties to become the first independent to win a governorship. The victory of Jaime Rodriguez Calderon in the industrial northern state of Nuevo Leon was the biggest surprise in Sunday’s elections for the lower chamber of Congress, hundreds of mayors and nine governors. “Nuevo Leon will be the beginning of a second
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday that Russian forces continue to operate in eastern Ukraine despite Moscow’s denials and the world’s major industrial democracies stood ready to impose significantly tougher sanctions if necessary. Obama told a news conference after a Group of Seven industrial nations’ summit in Germany that existing sanctions would remain in place until Moscow and Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine fully respected a ceasefire agreement negotiated
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s new list of parties that kill or injure children in armed conflict does not include Israel, as some U.N. officials had recommended.
By Lefteris Papadimas and Paul Taylor ATHENS/GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will resume talks with euro zone lenders in Brussels next week after telling parliament he rejected the creditors’ “absurd” terms for a cash-for-reform deal to keep his country from default. The unresolved Greek debt impasse, which is weighing on financial markets and could hit global economic recovery, will hang over a Group of Seven leaders’
By Megha Rajagopalan and Joseph Campbell JIANLI, China (Reuters) – The death toll from a Chinese cruise ship which capsized during a storm in the Yangtze River jumped to 396 on Saturday, leaving fewer than 50 still missing, as the boat operator apologized and said it would cooperate with investigations. State television showed pictures of workers clad in protective gear and wearing masks prizing open doors with crowbars and using
By J.R. Wu KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (Reuters) – Taiwan’s coast guard on Saturday commissioned its biggest ships for duty in the form of two 3,000-ton patrol vessels, as the island boosts defenses amid concerns about China’s growing footprint in the disputed South China Sea. The new vessels will be able to dock at a new port being constructed on Taiping Island, the largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the