BOSTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton says she would push for a no-fly zone and safe regions in Syria to address the humanitarian crisis that has spilled out in the Middle East.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The new leader of the Afghan Taliban said Friday that the capture of the northern city of Kunduz this week was a “symbolic victory” that showed the strength of the insurgency — even though the Taliban pulled out of the city after three days.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A U.S. Air Force C-130J transport plane crashed overnight at an air base in eastern Afghanistan, killing six American airmen and 5 civilians, the U.S. military said Friday.
By Neil Hartnell NASSAU (Reuters) – Hurricane Joaquin pounded the Bahamas for a second day with powerful winds and waves on Friday, but it was not expected to be a major threat to the U.S. East Coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. An easterly shift in the forecast track of the slow-moving Joaquin spared the Carolinas, New York and New Jersey, where Superstorm Sandy killed more than 120
(Reuters) – The U.S. Coast Guard said on Friday it was searching for a 735-foot cargo ship with 33 crew aboard reported to be caught in powerful Hurricane Joaquin near Crooked Island, Bahamas.
Ramzi bin al Shibh, who military prosecutors say relayed money and messages to the 9/11 hijackers, asked his lawyers to send a message to his nephew in Yemen. After the meeting, the defense team’s translator went to another part of the U.S. Navy base, called Yemen from a landline and had a five-minute phone conversation with Bin al Shibh’s brother. Defense lawyers say the translator conveyed an innocuous message from
News of a shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon Thursday prompted calls for stricter gun laws from the White House and the country.
The sheriff of Douglas County, Ore. — the location of the latest mass shooting — adamantly opposed the White House’s push for stricter gun laws three years ago.
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian jets carried out a second day of airstrikes in Syria Thursday, and Sen. John McCain said that the targets included U.S.-backed rebels, as concerns grew about a conflict that has now drawn in warplanes from the world’s two most powerful militaries.
The Category 3 hurricane is nearing the Bahamas and could reach the U.S. by the weekend.
(Reuters) – Hurricane Joaquin gathered strength on Thursday as it moved over the Bahamas and officials on the U.S. East Coast began gearing up for possible landfall early next week, three years after Superstorm Sandy devastated New York and New Jersey. Joaquin, the third hurricane of the 2015 Atlantic season, intensified into a major Category 3 storm on a scale of 1 to 5, with maximum sustained winds of 125
Top donors have reportedly told Bush that he will start hemorrhaging fundraisers if he does not rev up momentum.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — One day after President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin made little headway in their standoff over Syria at their first formal meeting in more than two years, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump is agreeing with Putin on his backing of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
By Megan Cassella WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. congressional Republicans on Tuesday challenged Planned Parenthood’s eligibility for federal funds, while the health organization’s president said defunding it would restrict women’s access to care and disproportionately hurt low-income patients. A series of videos that purport to show that Planned Parenthood improperly sells fetal tissue to researchers for profit has reignited anti-abortion voters’ fervor during a turbulent Republican presidential primary campaign. At a
The announcement confirming that water is flowing on the surface of Mars was celebrated by scientists searching for life in the universe — and by the publicists at Twentieth Century Fox looking to promote “The Martian,” the upcoming Ridley Scott film starring Matt Damon.
The announcement confirming that water is flowing on the surface of Mars was celebrated by scientists searching for life in the universe — and by the publicists at Twentieth Century Fox looking to promote “The Martian,” the upcoming Ridley Scott film starring Matt Damon.
By Richard Cowan and David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress moved on Monday to rush legislation to President Barack Obama that avoids a government shutdown on Thursday as the new fiscal year starts while setting aside a bitter Republican feud over money for Planned Parenthood. The Senate kicked off the effort by advancing a measure to extend all previous agency funding levels until Dec. 11, in a bipartisan
By Richard Cowan and David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Congress moved on Monday to rush legislation to President Barack Obama that avoids a government shutdown on Thursday as the new fiscal year starts while setting aside a bitter Republican feud over money for Planned Parenthood. The Senate kicked off the effort by advancing a measure to extend all previous agency funding levels until Dec. 11, in a bipartisan
By Mirwais Harooni and Jessica Donati KABUL (Reuters) – Taliban fighters were holding out against Afghan troops in Kunduz on Friday, a day after government forces recaptured most of the northern city that had fallen to the militants in their biggest victory of a 14-year insurgency. The Taliban said it had shot down the aircraft, but the U.S. military, which still has several thousands troops in Afghanistan after NATO’s combat
A spokesman for Yemen’s Saudi-backed government denied a television report on Friday that it had decided to break off diplomatic relations with Iran. “The cabinet has not discussed until now the matter of severing diplomatic relations with Iran and no decision was taken,” spokesman Rajeh Badi said, commenting on the unsourced report from state-owned Aden television. Iran is an ally of the Houthi fighters who seized control of the country
By Anton Zverev MOSCOW (Reuters) – International monitors say they have spotted a new kind of Russian weapons system in rebel-held Ukraine this week, possible evidence of Moscow’s continued interest in Ukraine even as it focuses on Syria. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is monitoring a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, reported that its monitors had seen a mobile TOS-1 ‘Buratino’ weapons system for the first time.
By Tom Miles and Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations backed a Saudi-led resolution on Friday to support Yemen in setting up a national inquiry into human rights violations, having ditched an attempt led by the Netherlands to mandate an independent U.N. investigation. Human Rights Watch, criticizing the move, said Yemeni authorities had neither investigated nor prosecuted serious international crimes committed since 2011, “nor has the Saudi-led coalition
By Ivana Sekularac and Gergely Szakacs BATROVCI, Serbia/BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Border closures and tighter controls caused by record numbers of migrants are clogging up trade in southeast and central Europe, driving up costs and forcing transport companies to seek other routes. Freight traffic through Serbia was severely disrupted when Hungary and Croatia closed their borders last month to cope with tens of thousands of migrants, most bound for richer nations
By Leila Bassam and Andrew Osborn BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria to join a major ground offensive in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s government, Lebanese sources said on Thursday, a further sign of the rapid internationalization of a civil war in which every major country in the region has a stake. Russian warplanes, in a second day of strikes, bombed a camp run by
By Hamid Shalizi KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Afghan troops recaptured the center of the strategic northern city of Kunduz on Thursday amid fierce clashes with Taliban militants, three days after losing the provincial capital in a humbling defeat for Kabul and its U.S. allies. “There are military helicopters in the sky and government forces everywhere,” said Abdul Ahad, a doctor in the city. “Dead Taliban are on the streets, but
By Parisa Hafezi and Lesley Wroughton UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Iran is unlikely to normalize relations with the United States despite a landmark nuclear deal reached with America and other major powers and the first handshake between a U.S. president and a high-ranking Iranian official in more than 30 years. Pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani, whose 2013 election paved the way for Iran’s diplomatic thaw with the West, has signaled his
Loyalist Yemeni troops and Gulf Arab forces seized the Mandab Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden from Houthi fighters, reasserting control over the strategic sea lane, a government spokesman said on Thursday. “In a large-scale military operation launched today, Yemeni government, resistance and coalition forces liberated the Bab al-Mandeb strait and Mayun island with the goal of safeguarding this key sea route,” Rajeh Badi told Reuters
By Marton Dunai ZAKANY, Hungary (Reuters) – A small gap in coils of newly laid razor wire is all that remains of the Zakany-Botovo border crossing between Hungary and fellow European Union member Croatia, as Budapest prepares to close off another route for migrants flocking to Europe. Heavy machinery is clearing trees and a 3-metre-high fence is taking shape along the line of the razor wire. The border, still traversed
By Luke Baker JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Before his speech to the United Nations late on Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas promised to drop a “bombshell”. For most of his address, Abbas took Israel to task over its 48-year occupation, its restrictions on Palestinian prayer at a holy site in Jerusalem and its failure to prosecute Jews suspected of crimes against Palestinians.
The CIA has withdrawn a number of its personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing following two massive cyber attacks involving U.S. government employee records, according to the Washington Post. Citing current and former U.S. officials “who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter,” the newspaper said the CIA took the steps because the hack of U.S. Office of Personnel Management records this year could have
MOSCOW (AP) — The latest developments as Russia and other nations counter Islamic State militants in Syria. All times local:
A record 270,000 to 280,000 refugees arrived in Germany in September, more than the total for 2014, said the interior minister of the southern state of Bavaria Wednesday. “According to current figures… we have to assume that in September 2015 between 270,000 and 280,000 refugees came to Germany,” said Joachim Herrmann. Herrmann highlighted the pressure on the state government of Bavaria — the key gateway for migrants arriving through the
The United States does not oppose Russian air strikes in Syria if they target the Islamic State group, but Bashar al-Assad must step down, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday. Kerry was addressing the United Nations Security Council hours after Russian jets hit targets in Syria, apparently in support of Assad’s battle to cling to power in Damascus.
MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Tuesday the nearly 1,100 photos distributed to foreign diplomats to help identify nationals who have died in the hajj are from the entire pilgrimage and not just a disaster near Mecca.
MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Tuesday the nearly 1,100 photos distributed to foreign diplomats to help identify nationals who have died in the hajj are from the entire pilgrimage and not just a disaster near Mecca.
BRUSSELS (AP) — In a challenge to Formula One’s status quo, Force India and Sauber lodged a complaint with the European Union on Tuesday charging that the sport’s rule-making and revenue-sharing mechanisms are unlawful, unfair and harmful.
President Barack Obama met his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro on Tuesday at the United Nations, all smiles after both renewed their calls for an end to the US trade embargo against Havana. Close neighbors but long-time foes, the United States and Cuba restored diplomatic ties in July after a five-decade stand-off, and now must turn their attention to economic relations.
LUXOR, Egypt (AP) — King Tut’s tomb may contain hidden chambers, Egypt’s antiquities minister said Tuesday, lending support to a new theory that a queen may be buried in the walls of the 3,300 year-old pharaonic mausoleum.
