By James Mackenzie and Robin Emmott CATANIA, Italy/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – EU foreign ministers met on Monday under pressure to produce more than words to save migrants drowning in the Mediterranean, as the first bodies were brought on shore of hundreds feared killed in a shipwreck while trying to reach Europe. Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said as many as 900 people may have died off the coast of Libya when
An air strike on a Scud missile base in the Yemeni capital Sanaa caused a big explosion that blew out windows in homes, killing seven civilians and wounding dozens, medical sources told Reuters. Yemen’s state news agency Saba, run by the Houthi movement which controls the capital, said the bombing resulted in “dozens of martyrs and hundreds of wounded,” citing a government official. Saudi Arabia has led an alliance of
By Sylvia Westall CAIRO (Reuters) – A video purportedly made by Islamic State and posted on social media sites on Sunday appeared to show militants shooting and beheading about 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya. Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the video, but the killings resemble past violence carried out by Islamic State, an ultra-hardline group that has expanded its reach from strongholds in Iraq and Syria to
By Katharine Houreld ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – China and Pakistan launched a plan on Monday for energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan worth $46 billion, linking their economies and underscoring China’s economic ambitions in Asia and beyond. China’s President Xi Jinping arrived in Pakistan to oversee the signing of agreements aimed at establishing a Pakistan-China Economic Corridor between Pakistan’s southern Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea and China’s western Xinjiang region.
By Antonio Denti PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) – As many as 700 people were feared dead after a fishing boat packed with migrants capsized off the Libyan coast overnight in what officials said may be the Mediterranean’s worst disaster as thousands flee poverty and war to Europe. Top officials in Europe, whose recently-downsized border protection program has been criticized by international aid groups, said urgent action was needed. EU foreign policy
By Francesco Guarascio and Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The EU is considering sending warships to the Libyan coast to combat oil and arms smugglers but fears that could encourage more migrants to take to sea in hopes of being rescued and taken to Europe, according to an EU document seen by Reuters. In a frank reference to EU fears that saving more lives could mean trafficking gangs put more
By Sam Wilkin DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told military commanders on Sunday the United States had created the “myth” of nuclear weapons to portray Iran as a threat, hardening his rhetoric before nuclear negotiations resume this week. Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, has supported the talks but continues to express deep mistrust of the United States. “They created the myth of nuclear weapons so
By Rafiq Sherzad JALALABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) – A suicide bomber in Afghanistan’s eastern city of Jalalabad killed 33 people and injured more than 100 on Saturday, setting off a blast outside a bank where government workers collect salaries, the city’s police chief said. President Ashraf Ghani blamed Islamic State militants, without giving further detail. If true, it would be the first such major attack carried out by the group in
Iraqi security forces fought Islamic State militants at the gates of the western city of Ramadi on Friday, and local authorities warned it was in danger of falling unless reinforcements arrived soon. Police sources and provincial council members said the militants were no more than half a kilometer from the center of the capital of Anbar province, and many residents were rushing to leave, waving white flags. “The situation in
By Mohamed Mokashaf ADEN (Reuters) – Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Friday he would not leave the country, dismissing reports in the Gulf Arab media that he was seeking a safe exit as Saudi Arabian war planes bomb troops loyal to him and their Houthi militia allies. The United Nations, meanwhile, said about 150,000 people had been driven from their homes by three weeks of air strikes