BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian government forces recaptured four northwestern villages on Tuesday as they pounded the area with air strikes in a counter-attack on insurgents threatening strongholds of President Bashar al-Assad, a monitor said. Government warplanes by Tuesday afternoon had launched more than 100 air strikes since the previous night on parts of the Sahl […]
By Shihar Aneez and Douglas Busvine COLOMBO (Reuters) – Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s attempt to stage a comeback in Sri Lanka’s general election has ended in defeat as results on Tuesday showed the alliance that toppled him making decisive gains. The ruling United National Party (UNP) fell just short of an outright majority, but Prime […]
By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A Palestinian on a hunger strike against his detention without trial was brought out of sedation in an Israeli hospital on Tuesday and vowed to continue his fast, one of his lawyers said. The condition of Islamic Jihad activist Mohammed Allan, who began to refuse food two months ago, […]
By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A fighter proclaiming allegiance to Islamic State has appeared in a video urging fellow Turks to rebel against “infidel” President Tayyip Erdogan and help conquer Istanbul, highlighting the threat the NATO member faces as it battles the radical insurgents. Turkey has been in a heightened state of alert since […]
BEIJING (Reuters) – Police in China said on Tuesday they had arrested about 15,000 people for crimes that “jeopardized Internet security”, as the government moves to tighten controls on the Internet. Since taking over in 2013, President Xi Jinping has led an increasingly harsh crackdown on China’s Internet, which the Communist Party views with greater […]
ROME (Reuters) – Eight suspected human traffickers thought to have forced migrants to stay in the hold of a fishing boat in the Mediterranean as 49 of them suffocated on engine fumes have been arrested on suspicion of homicide, Italian police said on Tuesday. Some of the traffickers were believed to have kicked the heads […]
By Hnin Yadana Zaw and Antoni Slodkowski NAYPYITAW (Reuters) – Myanmar’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday her opposition would ally with powerful ousted ruling party leader Shwe Mann, as the country’s political forces re-align in the biggest shake-up since the end of military rule. President Thein Sein purged rival Shwe Mann […]
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African police officers fired rubber bullets at parents protesting outside a primary school on the outskirts of Johannesburg on Tuesday, wounding at least six people, local media said. The Gauteng Department of Education (GED) shut down the Roodepoort Primary School on Monday in an effort to stem unrest between feuding communities […]
TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia said it would reopen its airspace to flights to and from Libya on Tuesday as safety standards in its neighbor’s airports had improved. Tunisia, hit by two major militant attacks this year, has banned the flights since March, fearing more violence could spill over from Libya where two rival governments, Islamist […]
