ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish police have arrested the Islamic State militant group’s top figure in Turkey, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Tuesday. Soylu said on Twitter “important plans” had been seized along with the militant. No further details wer... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Two decades of Maya Husseini’s work to restore stained glass windows destroyed in the Lebanese civil war was lost in an instant in the seismic port explosion in Beirut. “I can say that in this blast, 20 years of my professional life was on t... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday it had appealed for $76 million in aid for Lebanon after last week’s massive explosion in Beirut destroyed or damaged hospitals, clinics and medical supplies. Lebanon was already strugglin... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Curtains flutter through broken windows, piles of debris block the streets and top-floor apartments with their roofs blown off are exposed to the sky. As the residents of Beirut try to pick up their lives after an explosion that shook the co... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese police fired tear gas to try to disperse rock-throwing protesters blocking a road near parliament in Beirut on Sunday in a second day of anti-government demonstrations triggered by last week’s devastating explosion. Fire broke out a... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Before he went missing on Aug. 4, Ghassan Hasrouty, an employee of Beirut’s giant grain silos for 38 years, thought he was working in the safest place in the city. The reinforced concrete walls and underground rooms were his shelter for many... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai became the highest-profile person arrested under a new national security law on Monday, detained over suspected collusion with foreign forces as around 200 police searched the offices of his Apple Daily ne... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran said on Monday that countries should refrain from politicising the massive blast in Beirut last week, and that the United States should lift sanctions against Lebanon. “The blast should not be used as an excuse for political aims … the c... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Global wealth managers are examining whether their clients in Hong Kong have ties to the city’s pro-democracy movement, in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the crosshairs of China’s new national security law, according to six people ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will place a “huge priority” on national security when considering Chinese telecoms firm Huawei’s role in the country’s 5G network, justice minister Robert Buckland said on Monday. “National security comes first … and I know that the... More »
KOBLENZ, Germany (Reuters) – Forty-nine faceless figures stand on the lawn outside a German courthouse, facing the windows of a courtroom behind which two suspected members of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s security services are standing trial for torture ... More »
HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s parliament passed national security legislation for Hong Kong on Tuesday, setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony’s way of life since it returned to Chinese rule 23 years ago. Details of... More »
BRUSSELS/TOKYO (Reuters) – The European Union expressed anger while Britain and Japan voiced concern on Tuesday after China passed a national security law for Hong Kong that threatens to usher in the starkest changes for the former British colony since its ret... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Thousands of Turkish lawyers protested outside Istanbul’s main courthouse on Tuesday against a government plan to reform bar associations, saying it aims to silence dissent and will lead to politicization of their profession. Under a draft... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain urgently needs to see the legislation China passed regarding Hong Kong to determine whether it has breached the joint declaration and then will set out its next steps, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday. “De... More »
READING, England (Reuters) – The English town of Reading held a minute’s silence on Monday for the victims of a stabbing that killed three people including an American in the latest terrorism-linked attack. Three people were also hospitalised after a man wield... More »
READING, England (Reuters) – The man who went on a stabbing spree in the British town of Reading was acting alone, interior minister Priti Patel said on Monday. “This is a tragic, tragic event,” Patel said. She did not comment on whether the arrested man was L... More »
AMMAN (Reuters) – The toughest U.S. sanctions yet on Syria take effect this week, increasing the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad as he grapples with a deepening economic crisis after a decade of war. Washington says sanctions will help hold Assad and his... More »
BAMAKO (Reuters) – Gunmen ambushed an army convoy near a town in central Mali on Sunday and killed a number of soldiers, residents from another nearby town said. Several other soldiers and around half of the dozen or so vehicles in the convoy were still missin... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Russia and China are taking advantage of the coronavirus emergency to put their interests forward in Europe, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Monday, describing Chinese efforts to promote Huawei mobile phone network equipment as malig... More »
RIYADH (Reuters) – The Saudi-led coalition engaged in Yemen on Monday urged a leading separatist group that declared self-rule in the south to rescind its move, saying it was an “escalatory action” at a time all parties should focus on confronting the novel co... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates stands against a decision by a main Yemeni southern separatist group to declare self-rule in areas it controls, and urges full implementation of a peace deal agreed last year for the south, minister of state for forei... More »
BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) – Rockets landed near a site connected with foreign oil firms and state-run companies in Iraq’s southern city of Basra early on Monday, without causing damage or casualties, oil and police sources said. The rockets, which police said were... More »
KASTANIES/LESBOS, Greece (Reuters) – A child died after being pulled from the seat when a boat capsized off the Greek island of Lesbos, officials said on Monday, the first reported fatality after the Turkish government opened its border last week to let migran... More »
(Reuters) – Twitter Inc said on Thursday that it was testing a new community moderation approach that would enable users to identify misleading information posted by politicians and public figures and add brightly colored labels under those tweets. NBC News ea... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A Russian artist unveiled four giant paintings of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in central Istanbul on Saturday, saying he wanted to show the good ties between Ankara and Moscow despite differences over Syria and other issues. However ... More »
MUNICH (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a former comic actor, joked on Saturday that after dreaming of Oscars and popularity in the United States, he had achieved at least the fame part through President Donald Trump’s impeachment. Asked at... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Libya’s warring rival leaders will hold peace talks in Moscow on Monday alongside representatives from Russia and Turkey, Russian news agencies cited the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying. The talks come after a ceasefire in Libya, initiate... More »
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Allegations in Australian media about China’s efforts to interfere in Taiwan’s elections roiled the island on Thursday, after new reporting said a self-professed Chinese spy described a smear campaign against Taiwan’s ruling party. Taiwan is... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – At least four people, including three policemen, were killed on Thursday in Vietnam when protesters attacked authorities trying to build a wall near a military airport, the Ministry of Public Security said. The protesters attacked the authori... More »
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – About 20 soldiers were killed and nearly 1,000 people made homeless in a militant attack on a town in northeastern Nigeria, two residents and a military source said on Wednesday. The militants entered Monguno in Borno state posin... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday the House would vote on a resolution intended to limit President Donald Trump’s military actions regarding Iran, stating that concerns about the administration’s strate... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday postponed a trip to Ukraine so he could focus on the situation in Iraq after demonstrators attacked the U.S. embassy. Supporters of Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary groups stormed the U.S... More »
ROME (Reuters) – Chinese telecoms firm Huawei should be allowed a role in Italy’s future 5G network, the Italian industry minister said on Sunday after an influential parliamentary committee called on Rome to block the company. The United States has lobbied It... More »
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Four Katyusha rockets struck a military base next to Baghdad International Airport on Monday wounding “six fighters”, a statement from the military said. Security forces found a rocket launcher and several rockets in a search of the area, t... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain will on Monday honor the two people who were killed when a militant knife man went on a stabbing spree near London Bridge in an attack that has thrust criminal justice to the center of the election campaign. Jack Merritt, 25, and Sas... More »
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) – International organizations warned on Friday of a potential resurgence of Ebola in Congo after deadly militia attacks on health centers forced aid groups to suspend operations and withdraw staff from the epidemic’... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey said on Monday it had deported two Islamic State militants — a German and an American — beginning a programme to repatriate fighters that has caused friction with its NATO allies since it launched an offensive in northern Syria. Allie... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany does not yet know the identity of seven people Turkey plans to deport on the grounds that they have fought for the Islamic State militant group, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday. Earlier, Turkey said it would deport seven ... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The founder of an organization that trained the Syrian “White Helmets” emergency response group has died in Istanbul, his neighbor and a diplomat said on Monday. James Le Mesurier, founder of the Mayday Rescue group, was found dead early o... More »
NAIROBI/JOHANNESBURG/LONDON (Reuters) – As jihadists wreaked ever more havoc in the last two years, mining firms in Burkina Faso rolled out extra security measures, from barracks for government troops protecting them to safe rooms for workers behind barbed wir... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Sunday it had agreed to withdraw more than 30 km (19 miles) from the Turkish border, an announcement welcomed by Damascus which said Turkey should now end its “aggression” in northeast S... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A Turkish soldier died in hospital after an attack by the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria’s Ras Al Ain region, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said on Monday, bringing the death toll from the attack to two. The ministry had said on Sunday that a ro... More »
DOHUK, Iraq (Reuters) – United States troops have crossed into Iraq from Syria through the Sahela border crossing in the northern province of Dohuk, Reuters witnesses said on Monday. Reuters video images showed armored vehicles carrying troops into Iraq, part ... More »
BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday said they had withdrawn from the border town of Ras al Ain under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, but a spokesman for Turkish-backed Syrian rebels said the withdrawal was not yet... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia hopes its coordination with the United States and Turkey in Syria will help security and stability in the region, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday, according to the RIA news agency. Speaking during a visit to China, Shoig... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday demanded Turkey stop its military incursion in Syria and imposed new sanctions on the NATO ally as Trump scrambled to limit the damage from his much-criticized decision to clear U.S. troops from Turk... More »
WASHINGTON/BEIRUT/ANKARA (Reuters) – President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey on Monday and demanded the NATO ally stop a military incursion in northeast Syria that is rapidly reshaping the battlefield of the world’s deadliest ongoing war. Trump, who... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s foreign ministry urged Turkey on Tuesday to stop military action in Syria and “come back to the right track”. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comments at a daily briefing in Beijing. Turkey launched a militar... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters had emptied a jail holding Islamic State prisoners in a part of Syria where Ankara is mounting an offensive, and that the prisoners there had been abducted. Turk... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to pull American troops out of northeast Syria, said on Monday he strongly supports Trump’s decision to sanction Turkey over its invasion ... More »
(Reuters) – The United Kingdom is reviewing all weapons exports licenses to Turkey as it faces mounting pressure over its military offensive in northern Syria, the Financial Times reported on Monday. British ministers have suspended issuing new licenses for ar... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The United States said it was pulling troops from northeast Syria, in a major shift which clears the way for a Turkish military offensive against Kurdish-led forces and hands Turkey responsibility for thousands of Islamic State captives. A... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that U.S. troops had started to withdraw from parts of northeast Syria after his phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, adding that talks between Turkish and U.S. officials on the matter ... More »
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkey on Monday replaced mayors from a pro-Kurdish party with state officials in three cities and detained more than 400 people for suspected militant links, the Interior Ministry said, a move likely to fuel tensions in the main... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish police have detained 418 people in 29 provinces in an investigation targeting suspects with links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, the Interior Ministry said on Monday. The ministry announcement, made on Twitter... More »
ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Turkey began taking delivery of an advanced Russian missile defense system on Friday, a move expected to trigger U.S. sanctions against a NATO ally and drive a wedge into the heart of the Western military alliance. The first par... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Russia started delivering advanced missile defense equipment to NATO member Turkey on Friday, the Defense Ministry in Ankara said, setting the stage for likely U.S. sanctions on Ankara. The dispute over the S-400 air defense missiles, whic... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey took its first deliveries of the Russian S-400 air defense system on Friday, a development likely to trigger U.S. sanctions on Ankara and escalate tensions between Turkey and its Western partners in the NATO military alliance. Why d... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Friday that the United States had not changed its position on Turkey’s role in the F-35 program if they accepted a Russian missile defense system and he would be speaking with his Turkish ... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation confirmed on Friday it had started delivering S-400 missile defense systems to Turkey and that the deliveries would continue as per an agreed schedule, the RIA news agency reported.... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon said on Friday that senior defense officials would hold a press briefing on the Pentagon’s response to Turkey accepting delivery of an advanced Russian missile defense system. The Pentagon said Ellen Lord, the under secretar... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s state broadcaster and the media company News Corp said on Monday they will challenge the legality of recent police raids on their staff saying the action was unconstitutional and a threat to media freedom. The Australian Federal ... More »
AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) – The Syrian war has inflicted all kinds of hardships on Najwa Abdelaziz but she still manages to make light of one of them. “The uprising ruined my teeth,” she jokes while getting dental care for the first time in years in the back of a ... More »
(Reuters) – Saudi air defenses intercepted two Houthi drones, one of them targeting a residential area in the southern city of Abha, the Saudi press agency said on Tuesday, citing the Saudi-led coalition. Al Masirah TV, citing a military spokesman, said on Mon... More »
DUBAI (Reuters) – Bahrain, a U.S. ally that hosts the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has warned citizens and residents that following anti-government social media accounts could result in legal action, hardening a government campaign against critical online voices. The i... More »
SANTANDER, Spain (Reuters) – A Saudi ship, prevented by rights groups from loading an arms cargo at the French port of Le Havre on Friday, arrived at the Spanish port of Santander early on Monday. It was not clear what the Saudi ship was doing in Santander or ... More »
ALEPPO, Syria (Reuters) – The pencil minaret of the Ottoman Adliyeh mosque in Syria’s Aleppo lists to one side and is scored by an ugly gash running down its flank, the result of bombing in the war. The sorry state of Aleppo’s Old City, a labyrinthine World He... More »
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – As a new war reached the Libyan capital, businessman Mustafa Iskandar opened an art gallery and cultural center, hoping to draw attention to a long-neglected old city in need of revival. One of the best preserved in North Africa with monume... More »
DAMASCUS (Reuters) – A Damascus museum on Tuesday unveiled a replica, built by Italian archaeologists, of part of a temple altar destroyed by Islamic State militants in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. The 2,000-year-old Temple of Bel at Palmyra was one of ... More »
AMMAN (Reuters) – A hospital in Jordan has given a victim of Yemen’s war new hope for the future, thanks to the cutting edge technology of 3D printed prosthetics. 21-year-old Abdullah Ayed lost one arm and badly damaged the other when his home in Aden was hit ... More »
AVALON, Australia (Reuters) – Major global defense contractors want to sell Australia on cutting-edge technology such as high-altitude, solar-electric powered drones and optionally manned aircraft to keep an eye on the oceans. Airbus SE, Italy’s Leonardo SpA, ... More »
TRIPOLI. (Reuters) – Libyan authorities have arrested a suspected al Qaeda leader who fled from the eastern city of Derna, once a jihadist bastion, a source in the attorney general’s office said on Friday. Abdel Qader Azuz was arrested in the western city of M... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Philippines security forces investigating a deadly twin bombing at a church on a predominantly Muslim southern island are zeroing in on what they say is an affiliate of the militant Abu Sayyaf Group. Twenty people were killed and more than 1... More »
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Police in Australia are investigating suspicious packages sent to a wide range of embassies and consulates on Wednesday, which officials said included the U.S. and British missions in Melbourne, but there were no reports of harm to staff.... More »
ADEN (Reuters) – The head of a United Nations advance team tasked with monitoring a ceasefire between the Iranian-aligned Houthi group and Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen’s Hodeidah has arrived in Yemen, U.N. and local officials said on Saturday. The s... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany agreed new rules on Wednesday to lower the threshold for screening and even blocking purchases of stakes in German firms by non-Europeans, in a move to fend off unwanted takeovers by Chinese investors in strategic areas. The decision... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Iran has the ability to build ballistic missiles with a broader range, a senior commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Monday, according to the semi-official Fars News agency. Iran’s missiles currently cover a range of 2000 kilo... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s competition watchdog on Monday recommended tougher scrutiny and a new regulatory body to check the dominance of tech giants Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google in the country’s online advertising and news markets. The recommen... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s competition regulator says it has five investigations afoot as a result of its examination of the market power and public influence of tech giants such as Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google. “We have five investigations under... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Lebanese army killed a suspected drug dealer and seven others during a raid in northeast Lebanon on Monday, the army said. During the raid, which took place near the town of Brital, not far from the border with Syria, soldiers were fired... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey ordered the detention of 331 soldiers on Friday in two operations targeting alleged supporters of the U.S.-based Islamic cleric who Ankara says orchestrated an attempted coup two years ago, state media and Istanbul police said. The ... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey should extend its nearly two-year state of emergency for some more time, a senior member of the nationalist MHP party allied to President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party said on Tuesday. Turkey imposed the state of emergency, which limits s... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish forces are waiting for the right time to carry out an operation in northern Iraq’s Qandil region where high-ranking members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are located, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Monday.... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday named Rear Admiral Douglas Fears as his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser on the National Security Council, the White House said. “Doug Fears brings more than three decades of experience... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt’s security detail has cost taxpayers well over $3 million so far, up sharply from his predecessor during an equivalent period, according to details released by the agency, which said Pruitt’s ... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt requested and received around-the-clock security from his first day in office in 2017, the agency’s watchdog on Monday told a lawmaker questioning Pruitt’s expensive security detail. Prior EPA... More »
KABUL (Reuters) – An explosion at a mosque used as a voter centre in the eastern Afghan province of Khost on Sunday killed at least 17 people and wounded 34, local officials said, in the latest attack on preparations for long-delayed parliamentary elections. B... More »
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish police arrested three people on Monday on suspicion of preparing to commit terrorist crimes and took in several more for questioning after raids in northern Sweden and the Stockholm area, the security police said. It added there w... More »
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – A suspected Boko Haram attack in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri killed 15 people and wounded 68, an emergency agency official said on Monday, in the biggest strike since the government said it was in talks with the Isla... More »
Kachalla Bukar, father of Aisha Kachalla, a missing student of Government Girls Science and Technical College, holds a dress of her daughter in Dapchi, in the northeastern state of Yobe, Nigeria, February 23, 2018. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde DAPCHI, Nigeria (Reut... More »
Lt. Gen. Paul M. Nakasone testifies before a senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination to be general and director of the National Security Agency, chief of the Central Security Service and commander of United States Cyber Command, Defense Depar... More »
Belgian police special forces patrol after an area of the Forest commune that had been closed by them in Brussels, Belgium February 22, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Police closed down a street in southern Brussels in a major security operatio... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – A Turkish court on Friday sentenced three prominent journalists to life in jail on charges of aiding the network blamed for a failed coup in 2016, TRT Haber television said, even after Turkey’s highest court had ordered the release of one of... More »
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian security forces killed 12 Islamist militants in gun battles and arrested 92 suspects, while airstrikes destroyed dozens of militant targets in Sinai, the army said in a statement carried on state television on Monday. Based on army s... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – A man was shot and arrested in Iran after trying to break into president’s office, the deputy governor of Tehran was quoted as saying by Fars news agency on Monday. “We are trying to identify the person and find out his motivation,” Mohsen H... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam has arrested a former chairman of state-owned Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC) for alleged abuse of power, police said on Friday, as the Southeast Asian nation cracks down on graft. A spate of high-profile arrests has shed lig... More »
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Heavy clashes broke out in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Monday, leaving at least nine people dead and forcing the airport to suspend all flights. Heavy gunfire and artillery could be heard from the city center and Mitiga airport said all f... More »
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey on Friday said the case of two journalists held for more than a year over alleged ties to a failed coup would be decided by a local court, after the Constitutional Court ruled they be freed, a turnaround likely to deepen concerns fo... More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey on Friday reinstated more than 1,800 civil servants purged after a 2016 failed coup, determining they had no links to the network of a cleric accused of masterminding the putsch, state-run Anadolu news agency said. Prosecutors last ye... More »
