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By Robbie Corey-Boulet, David Lewis and Portia Crowe DAKAR, June 13 (Reuters) – The meetings have become routine. Every few months, jihadists in Mali affiliated with al Qaeda summon the men of Poutchi to a mud-brick mosque to collect tax on their crops and cattle, and later distribute food, medicine and animals to the poor. …
BRUSSELS, June 12 (Reuters) – Ambassadors from the European Union’s 27 countries agreed on Friday to advance membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova, with the first phase of negotiations set to begin on Monday. Even as Ukraine continues to fight Russia’s invasion, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has made EU membership a key strategic goal to anchor …
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine began counting ranked choice ballots on Friday to determine nominees for its open governor’s office and a pivotal race for the U.S. House of Representatives. Results are expected sometime next week, the secretary of state’s office said. Maine and Alaska use ranked choice voting for some statewide elections. Voters in …
Firefighters responding to a blaze that destroyed a massive medical equipment warehouse in Northern California that was still burning a day later were hindered by sprinklers and hydrants that weren’t working, authorities said Friday. The 1 million-square-foot (93,000-square-meter) warehouse in Tracy, a city about 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) east of San Francisco, supplied medical equipment …
MEXICO CITY, June 12 (Reuters) – FIFA President Gianni Infantino has failed to deliver on promises to secure full access for the Iranian soccer federation to attend the team’s three games in the United States, Iran’s World Cup team supervisor told Reuters. Mahdi Mohammad Nabi, who also served as Iran’s supervisor in charge of squad …
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — A home where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders planned strategies during the Civil Rights movement in the Deep South has been rebuilt at a Michigan museum after being dismantled and hauled from Alabama. The daughter of the original owners on Friday helped open the Jackson House on …
By Andrew Mills, Marwa Rashad and Ahmad Ghaddar DUBAI/LONDON, June 12 (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates has agreed to unlock billions of dollars for Iran, four sources said, in a tactical shift after weeks of Iranian attacks on the wealthy Gulf Arab state during the U.S.-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic. Word of the …
MOSCOW, June 13 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian drone attack killed one person and sparked a fire at a sea terminal in the southern Russian port of Temryuk, in the Krasnodar region, governor Veniamin Kondratiev said on the Telegram messaging app. Ukraine continues to pummel Russia’s energy infrastructure as peace talks to resolve the Ukraine war …
EDITOR’S NOTE: When U.S. President Gerald Ford and leaders of five other leading democracies gathered for talks at a castle outside Paris on Nov. 15, 1975, they planted the seed for what subsequently became the Group of Seven nations. The initial six industrial powers that huddled at the Château de Rambouillet for three days of …
MOSCOW, June 12 (Reuters) – Russia is developing a satellite-based system for controlling combat drones, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday during a meeting with military officials, the Interfax news agency reported. Russian news agencies later said Putin issued a decree setting the size of the Russian military at 2,399,130 individuals, including 1,510,000 service members. …