JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has published tenders for more than 1,000 new housing units in settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite a commitment it made in U.S.-backed talks in February that discussion of new settlement units would be halted for the next four months. Since the meeting in Jordan, attended by U.S., Egyptian, Jordanian,…
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced to death a police officer blamed for leading a group that gunned down well-known analyst and government adviser Hisham al-Hashemi three years ago in Baghdad. Hashemi, who had advised the government on defeating Sunni Muslim Islamic State militants and curbing the influence of the pro-Iran Shi’ite…
By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Stuck in Tayyip Erdogan’s shadow throughout his career, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu believes his time has come to set Turkey on a new path and roll back much of the legacy of the man who has dominated politics for two decades. An alliance of six opposition parties named the…
By Rami Amichai TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of Israelis joined protests across the country on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bitterly disputed plans to tighten controls on the Supreme Court. The planned overhaul, which would give the government control over naming judges to the Supreme Court and let parliament override many…
By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir PORT SUDAN, Sudan (Reuters) -Heavy gunfire echoed around Khartoum on Friday as civilians trapped in the Sudanese capital said the army and rival paramilitary were fighting without regard to their plight. Battles since mid-April have killed hundreds and wounded thousands, disrupted aid supplies, sent 100,000 refugees fleeing abroad and…
By Andrew Mills DOHA/MOMBASA (Reuters) – Andrew Maganga seized the chance to work as a World Cup security guard in Qatar last year, only to be fired along with some 200 others on the last day of the tournament, jailed for protesting over wages, and deported back to his native Kenya. At home in Mombasa,…
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A prominent Russian theatre director was remanded in custody for two months on Friday after being accused of justifying terrorism with an award-winning play about Russian women who married Islamic State fighters, the state news agency TASS reported. Investigators opened a case this week against Yevgenia (Zhenya) Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriychuk,…
By Arshad Mohammed, John Irish, Jonathan Landay and Parisa Hafezi WASHINGTON/PARIS/DUBAI (Reuters) -Even as the United States and its European allies grapple with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions with China, the smoldering crisis over Iran’s nuclear program threatens to reignite. In a sign of European concern, Britain, France and Germany have warned Iran…
ANKARA (Reuters) – A Ukrainian delegate punched a Russian delegate in the face during a gathering of Black Sea nations in the Turkish capital on Thursday, after his Ukrainian flag was snatched away to stop him photobombing a video interview with Russia’s lead delegate. Olesandr Marikovski posted a video of himself thumping the Russian and…
By Ece Toksabay and Huseyin Hayatsever ANKARA (Reuters) – Whoever wins Turkey’s elections this month, the NATO-member is expected to maintain cordial relations with Russia that have already endured several years of dramatic change in Ankara’s foreign policy. What prompted that change was Turkey’s severe economic crisis, which forced President Tayyip Erdogan to mend strained…
