Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition struck a residential district of the Yemeni capital Sanaa overnight, killing eight to 10 civilians, residents said on Friday. The Saba state news agency, controlled by the Houthi movement in charge of Sanaa, put the death toll in the Sawan district at 20 and said more than 50 people had been wounded. Saudi Arabia believes the Houthi group is a proxy its regional rival Iran,
AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Islamist rebels and the Syrian army fought fierce battles in Latakia province overnight close to President Bashar al-Assad’s ancestral home, the army and rebels said, after weeks of insurgent gains in the country’s northwest. Rebels seeking to topple Assad have in the past sought to bring their four-year-long insurgency close to coastal areas in government-held Latakia, heartland of Assad’s minority Alawite community. An army source told state
By Andreas Rinke LJUBLJANA (Reuters) – The German government needs to quickly clear up accusations that its BND foreign intelligence agency helped the United States spy on government officials and firms in Europe such as Airbus Group, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Friday. The reports in Der Spiegel magazine that the BND helped the U.S. National Security Agency over 10 years embarrassed Germany and upset many in a country
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S.-led military coalition launched 18 air strikes in Syria and Iraq against Islamic State since early Thursday, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement. The seven strikes targeting the militants in Iraq struck five units of Islamic State fighters and destroyed several fighting positions and other targets near the cities of Bayji, Falluja, Mosul, Ramadi and Tal Afar, the task force said on Friday.
Munich (Germany) (AFP) – Andy Murray’s match against Lukas Rosol and the rest of the Munich Open quarter-finals will take place on Saturday after wet weather washed out Friday’s schedule.
Togo’s opposition said Friday it would not go to court to challenge incumbent Faure Gnassingbe’s victory in a weekend presidential vote it claimed was rigged. “We have not taken legal action, as we believe the Constitutional Court serves” the Togolese government, opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre’s spokesman told AFP. “If the Constitutional Court did its work, it would have automatically taken action,” Eric Dupuy said. The results, which Fabre branded “fraudulent”
By Rafiq Sharzad KABUL (Reuters) – An Afghan delegation is heading to Qatar for “open discussions” with representatives of Taliban insurgents over the next few days aimed at ending Afghanistan’s long war, an official said on Friday. The meeting is intended as a step toward opening formal talks to ending the war, but it was not clear on Friday whether it had been approved by the Taliban’s supreme leader, who
Italian police clashed with protesters at the Milan Expo on Friday, firing tear gas at the masked demonstrators who had pelted officers with stones. The protesters also set several vehicles and rubbish bins on fire and set off firecrackers and smoke bombs on the opening day of the six-month food-themed Expo. The violence had cut the “No Expo” march in two. Critics of the Expo say the event is a
By Mohammed Mukhashaf and Amena Bakr ADEN/DOHA (Reuters) – Saudi-led air strikes hit five Yemeni provinces as fighting raged in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday, and sources in the region said the kingdom was training armed tribesmen to fight the Iran-allied Houthi group. Houthi rebels’ tanks and snipers killed at least 12 civilians overnight in Yemen’s Aden as they advanced toward the centre of the city, residents said,
By Mohammed Mukhashaf and Amena Bakr ADEN/DOHA (Reuters) – Saudi-led air strikes hit five Yemeni provinces as fighting raged in the southern city of Aden on Wednesday, and sources in the region said the kingdom was training armed tribesmen to fight the Iran-allied Houthi group. Houthi rebels’ tanks and snipers killed at least 12 civilians overnight in Yemen’s Aden as they advanced toward the centre of the city, residents said,