World

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Syrian rebels trained by the United States gave some of their equipment to the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front in exchange for safe passage, a US military spokesman said yesterday, the latest blow to a troubled US effort to train local partners to fight Islamic State militants.

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine and some of its Western allies condemned yesterday a decision by pro-Russian separatists to ban most foreign aid organisations from parts of rebel-held territory, saying the move violated the Minsk peace agreement.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations, Chad, Niger and Cameroon appealed yesterday for help for millions of people in the Lake Chad Basin region forced to flee the violence of Boko Haram and hit with repeated droughts and floods that have brought malnutrition and disease.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, who has repeatedly been challenged by the conservative wing of his Republican Party, told members on Friday that he will resign from the House at the end of October.

MINA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – At least 717 pilgrims from around the world were killed yesterday in a crush outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi authorities said, in the worst disaster to strike the annual haj pilgrimage for 25 years.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will push Russian President Vladimir Putin to explain how his country’s military presence in Syria will contribute to the defeat the Islamic State when the two leaders meet next week, White House officials said yesterday.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Bolivia won the first round of its battle against Chile to gain unfettered access to the Pacific Ocean, as an International Court of Justice decision went in its favour, disappointing Chileans who had hoped the case would end yesterday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For about an hour, the deeply divided lawmakers of the US Congress closed ranks yesterday behind Pope Francis, the powerful and popular leader of the world’s Catholics.

MINA, Saudi Arabia, (Reuters) – At least 717 pilgrims were killed today in a stampede outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi authorities said, the worst disaster to strike the annual haj pilgrimage in 25 years.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pope Francis yesterday urged the United States to help tackle climate change and touched on other divisive US political issues such as immigration and economic inequality on his first visit to the world’s richest nation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hackers who stole security clearance data on millions of Defense Department and other US government employees got away with about 5.6 million fingerprint records, some 4.5 million more than initially reported, the government said yesterday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union leaders concluded a summit early today that was expected to back offers of new aid for Syrian refugees and also patch up bitter divisions over the migration crisis.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pope Francis hopes the United States will lift its long trade embargo on Cuba as a result of negotiations between the two countries but does not plan to raise it in his address to Congress this week, the pontiff told reporters yesterday.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union approved a plan yesterday to share out 120,000 refugees across its 28 states, overriding vehement opposition from four ex-communist eastern nations.

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping said yesterday that his government will speed up efforts to build an open economy and will not go back on the reform process.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and India agreed yesterday to train troops in six African countries before they are deployed to UN peacekeeping missions, U.

ATHENS (Reuters) – Alexis Tsipras took the oath of office for a second term as Greek prime minister yesterday, promising to revive the crippled economy while demanding debt relief from creditors as his “first big battle” following an unexpectedly clear election victory.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) – At least 80 people were killed and about 150 injured in multiple bomb attacks in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state on Sunday evening, police and witnesses said yesterday.

LONDON (Reuters) – Sergei Pugachev, a tycoon once dubbed “Putin’s banker” because of his influence in the Kremlin, has filed a claim against Russia for more than $10 billion after his business empire was carved up when he fell out of favour with President Vladimir Putin.

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Burkina Faso soldiers marched into the capital Ouagadougou without resistance late yesterday as army leaders began surrender talks with the elite presidential guard that staged a coup against the government last week.