WASHINGTON (AP) — A military base in southern Syria where U.S. troops have maintained a presence to train forces as part of a broad campaign against the Islamic State group was attacked by drones on Thursday, two U.S. officials told The Associated Press. One drone was shot down, but another caused in minor injuries, said…
Azerbaijan says it has begun a military operation in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The territory is recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan but large areas of it have been controlled by ethnic Armenians for three decades. Nagorno-Karabakh, which lies in the mountainous South Caucasus region, is at the heart of one of the world’s…
BAMAKO, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, three West African Sahel nations ruled by military juntas, signed a security pact on Saturday promising to come to the aid of each other in case of any rebellion or external aggression. The three countries are struggling to contain Islamic insurgents linked to al Qaeda…
Five Americans jailed for years in Iran and widely regarded as hostages are on their way home to the United States. The last pieces in a controversial swap mediated by Qatar fell into place when $6bn (£4.8bn) of Iranian funds held in South Korea reached banks in Doha. It triggered the departure of the four…
The US has announced a raft of new sanctions aimed at people and companies in countries, notably NATO member Turkey, that sell Western technology to Russia that could be used to bolster its war effort. The US is slapping sanctions on more than 150 businesses and people from Russia to Turkey, the United Arab Emirates…
NEW DELHI, Sept 11 (Reuters) – The Group of 20 major economies reached a hard-fought compromise over the war in Ukraine and papered over other key differences in a summit declaration at the weekend, presenting few concrete achievements in its core remit of responses to global financial issues. Diplomats and analysts said the surprise consensus…
Iran was excluded from last year’s ceremonies following the government’s violent crackdown against protesters. Iran will again be able to attend Nobel Prize events after the eponymous organization reversed on Thursday its decision to bar the country in response to the ongoing Iranian protests. The Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation said in a press release that “ambassadors…
NEW DELHI/BEIJING, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to skip a summit of G20 leaders in India next week, sources familiar with the matter in India and China told Reuters. Two Indian officials, one diplomat based in China and one official working for the government of another G20 country said Premier…
Seizure of power announced on television, cancelling election results that gave president third term in office Military officers in Gabon say they have taken power and put the president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, under house arrest, as the country becomes the latest in Africa to suffer an attempted coup, only weeks after mutinous troops seized power…
The Modular Open Source Identity Platform, modeled after India’s biometric database, is expanding globally despite controversy over consent and data protections, but privacy advocates warn the Gates Foundation-funded digital ID initiative could enable tracking citizens “from cradle to grave.” Spurred in part by the COVID-19 pandemic and the push for digital vaccine “passports,” a growing…