The Italian government is ready to open negotiations with Lombardy and Veneto after the two wealthy regions voted overwhelmingly for greater autonomy, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Tuesday.Unlike a recent referendum on independence in Catalonia, which sparked a political crisis in Spain, the Italian votes this weekend were legal, but not binding on Rome, […]

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that his country’s armed forces had largely completed their military mission in Syria’s northwestern Idlib Province.As he was hailing its completion, he pointed out that control of Syria’s Afrin region remained an issue, TRT reported.Afrin is under the control of YPG, which is the armed wing of   […]

Leaders of India and Afghanistan on Tuesday expressed “firm resolve” to jointly fight against terrorism for the sake of regional peace and stability. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is on a daylong official visit to capital New Delhi on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Anadolu reported. Modi and Ghani held bilateral talks and discussed […]

Catalonia’s ousted separatist president on Saturday called on Catalans to peacefully oppose Spain’s imposition of direct rule in the region, in a veiled refusal to accept his cabinet’s dismissal as ordered by central authorities. Spain took formal direct control of Catalonia on Saturday, dismissing the region’s defiant separatist government, including Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, a […]

A federal grand jury in Washington on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources briefed on the matter.The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, the […]

One in two women in Germany has experienced some form of sexual harassment, a new YouGov survey showed. The poll comes amid global outrage over sexual assault allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.Close to 43% of the women surveyed in Germany said they had been sexually harassed or abused at least once in their lifetime […]

The Taliban killed 13 police in an attack on a checkpoint early Sunday in the northern Kunduz Province, an official said. Hayatullah Ameri, chief of the Khan Abad District, near where the attack took place, says only one policeman escaped the battle alive, ABC News reported. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the attack. Kunduz is […]

A “hellish” gun battle erupted at a hotel in the Somali capital Mogadishu after militants rammed a car bomb into the gates and stormed the building.A second car bomb targeted the former parliament house nearby, and a third blast was reported when an attacker detonated a suicide vest at the hotel, Sky News reported.At least […]

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Sunday confirmed his intention to step down on Nov. 1 and asked parliament to take measures to fill the presidential power vacuum.Meeting in the Kurdish capital Erbil, parliament was informed of a letter sent by Barzani seeking not to extend his term beyond Nov. 1, Reuters reported.“I refuse to […]

Political parties opposing a split by Catalonia from Spain had a small lead in an opinion poll published on Sunday, the first since Madrid called a regional election to try to resolve the crisis over Catalan demands for independence.The poll of 1,000 people by Sigma Dos for newspaper El Mundo, which opposes independence for the […]