Political news

• The Latest: Japan Prime Minister visits Ehime Maru memorial

  26-12-2016 23:56
  
  PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) — The Latest on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Hawaii (all times local):
  
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• Obama vs Trump: Dispute erupts over who would have won

  26-12-2016 23:48
  
  In an alternate universe in which President Barack Obama ran for a third term against Donald Trump, who would have won? No surprise: The president and the president-elect disagree. A fresh dispute erupted ...
  
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• Venezuela leader's foes say no more talks without concessions

  26-12-2016 23:40
  By Fabian Cambero and Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition on Monday ruled out returning to Vatican-led talks with President Nicolas Maduro's government unless it makes major concessions amid a crushing economic crisis and bitter political standoff. The opposition Democratic Unity (MUD) coalition blames Maduro for the OPEC nation's shrinking and dysfunctional economy and wants to bring forward the next presidential vote, due in late 2018.
  
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• Trump, days after Israeli settlements vote, calls U.N. 'sad'

  26-12-2016 23:02
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump on Monday chided the United Nations as "sad," just days after the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements despite pressure by the U.S. president-elect for a veto by Washington. "The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!" Trump said in a post on Twitter. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Leslie Adler)
  
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• Record-breaking Chelsea surge seven points clear

  26-12-2016 22:49
  By Mitch Phillips LONDON (Reuters) - Spaniard Pedro scored twice as Chelsea tightened their grip on top spot by sweeping past Bournemouth 3-0 on Monday, a club record 12th successive Premier League win taking them seven points clear. Approaching the halfway point of the season, Chelsea have 46 points to the 39 of Manchester City who won 3-0 at Hull City. Liverpool, who host Stoke City on Tuesday, and Arsenal, who needed a late Olivier Giroud goal to sink West Bromwich Albion 1-0, both have 37 po
  
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• ECB tells Monte dei Paschi it needs to raise 8.8 billion euros

  26-12-2016 22:34
  The European Central Bank has told Monte dei Paschi it needs to plug a capital shortfall of 8.8 billion euros (7 billion pounds), higher than a previous 5 billion euro gap estimated by the bank, the lender said on Monday, confirming what sources told Reuters. Last Friday the Italian government approved a decree to bail out Monte dei Paschi after Italy's No. 3 lender failed to win investor backing for a desperately needed 5 billion euro capital increase. The bank said on Monday it had officially
  
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• Saudi Arabia launches campaign to collect funds for Syrians displaced by war

  26-12-2016 22:06
  Saudi Arabia has launched a fundraising campaign for Syrians displaced by a five-year civil war, including those evacuated from eastern Aleppo, state news agency SPA reported on Monday. More than 11 million Syrians - around half of the population - have been displaced by the fighting, which began in 2011 and has killed more than 300,000 people. Saudi Arabia has been one of the main supporters of rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom Riyadh regards as a tool of regional
  
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• Kabila has overstayed his welcome

  26-12-2016 21:51
  Joseph Kabila has served two terms as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the limit under that country’s constitution. In April US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Kabila and urged him to hold timely and credible elections.
  
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• New Egyptian law establishes media regulator picked by president

  26-12-2016 21:03
  By Ahmed Aboulenein CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will pick a regulator and members of a new media council under a law passed on Monday, giving the body the power to fine or suspend publications and broadcasters and give or revoke licences for foreign media. The law, approved by parliament and signed into law by Sisi, creates the so-called Supreme Council for the Press and Media whose chairman will be picked by Sisi and whose remaining members will be appointed by him
  
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• Brazil taps academic to lead microeconomic reforms - sources

  26-12-2016 21:01
  The Brazilian government has invited an academic to join the finance ministry and lead a microeconomic reform agenda that aims to bolster the country's productivity, two government officials said on Monday. Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles has asked Joao Manoel Pinho de Mello, a professor with Sao Paulo-based business school Insper, to be part of his team, said the officials who asked for anonymity because the information has been made public yet. The finance ministry press office and de Mell
  
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• Election system susceptible to rigging despite red flags

  26-12-2016 20:50
  
  ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Jill Stein's bid to recount votes in Pennsylvania was in trouble even before a federal judge shot it down Dec. 12. That's because the Green Party candidate's effort stood almost no chance of detecting potential fraud or error in the vote — there was basically nothing to recount.
  
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• Man City go second with 3-0 win over Hull

  26-12-2016 20:21
  LONDON (Reuters) - Yaya Toure slammed home a penalty and Kelechi Iheanacho netted a simple goal for Manchester City as they secured a 3-0 win over struggling Hull City who again came up empty-handed despite a battling Boxing Day display at the KCOM Stadium on Monday. Hull held out for more than an hour but their resistance finally crumbled when Raheem Sterling was upended by Andrew Robertson in the 72nd minute and Toure fired the ball in from the spot. ...
  
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• Conte winning Chelsea hearts and minds - and points

  26-12-2016 20:15
  By Mitch Phillips LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea fans will always have a place in their hearts for Jose Mourinho but are also learning to love another Latin coach as Antonio Conte displays the sort of tactical acumen that is steering the club towards the title. Monday's 3-0 home win over Bournemouth represented a club record 12th successive Premier League victory and left the Londoners seven points clear of their nearest rivals. Such a happy Christmas at Stamford Bridge seemed most unlikely when Che
  
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• Slow-starting Man United leave Mourinho wanting more

  26-12-2016 19:45
  Manchester United stretched their unbeaten run to 11 games in all competitions with a 3-1 Premier League home win over Sunderland but their coach Jose Mourinho was not entirely happy with Monday's performance at a festive Old Trafford. United survived several scares in an end-to-end opening period before Dutch defender Daley Blind fired them ahead with a powerful 39th-minute strike for his first goal of the season. "I didn’t like the first half performance. I like the result," Mourinho sai
  
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• Swansea crushed at home by West Ham

  26-12-2016 19:43
  Struggling Swansea City slumped to a third consecutive loss as West Ham United moved well clear of the Premier League relegation zone with a comfortable 4-1 victory at the Liberty Stadium on Monday. Swansea's porous defence was again their Achilles heel as they conceded three or more goals for the fifth time in their last six league games to take their goals against total to 41. Only Rotherham, who prop up the Championship, have conceded more in the top two divisions. ...
  
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• Record-breaking Chelsea surge nine points clear

  26-12-2016 19:25
  By Mitch Phillips LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea's grip on the Premier League title race tightened on Monday as they beat Bournemouth 3-0 for a club record 12th successive league win that took them nine points clear at the top. Approaching the halfway point of the season Chelsea have 46 points to the 37 of Liverpool, who host Stoke City on Tuesday, and Arsenal, who needed a late Olivier Giroud goal to beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0. ...
  
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• Blind strikes as ruthless Man United sink Sunderland

  26-12-2016 19:07
  Manchester United stretched their unbeaten run to 11 games in all competitions after Daley Blind, in-form striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and substitute Henrik Mkhitaryan gave them a 3-1 home win over Sunderland on Monday. Left back Blind fired United ahead with a crisp 39th-minute shot after Ibrahimovic teed him up perfectly. The towering Swede doubled the lead with a clinical 82nd-minute finish for his 17th goal of the season. ...
  
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• Giroud leaves it late to nod Arsenal to first win in three

  26-12-2016 19:01
  By Richard Martin Olivier Giroud made the most of his first league start of the season by heading Arsenal to a 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on Monday and avoiding a third game without victory for Arsene Wenger's side. Goalkeeper Ben Foster had repeatedly frustrated the hosts in a dominant second-half display but France international Giroud finally found a way through by nodding Mesut Ozil's arched cross beyond him in the 86th minute. The striker's fourth league goal of the season returned A
  
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• Video shows fleeing Berlin truck attack suspect in Lyon - judicial source

  26-12-2016 18:52
  The Tunisian suspect behind the truck attack that killed 12 people in a Berlin Christmas market last week appears to have passed through Lyon in France as he fled to Italy, a French judicial source said on Monday. Video surveillance footage showed Anis Amri at the Lyon-Part-Dieu train station on Thursday, and officials believe it was at the station that he bought a ticket for Chambery, the source said, between Lyon and the Italian border. Amri was shot dead near Milan in Italy in the early hours
  
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• French jobless total falls for the third consecutive month in November

  26-12-2016 18:28
  PARIS (Reuters) - France's jobless total fell for the third consecutive month in November to a near four-year low, Labour Ministry data showed on Monday. The ministry said the number of people registered as unemployed in mainland France stood at 3,447,000, its lowest level since January 2013, down 0.9 percent over a month and 3.4 percent over one year. It is the first time since February 2008 that French jobless numbers have fallen for three consecutive months, Labour Minister Myriam El Khomri s
  
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• Israeli envoy accuses White House of orchestrating UN resolution

  26-12-2016 18:14
  Israel accuses US of orchestrating UN resolution
  
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• Israel accuses US of orchestrating UN resolution

  26-12-2016 18:14
  Netanyahu-May meeting cancelled as diplomatic backlash escalates
  
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• US elections still vulnerable to rigging, disruption

  26-12-2016 18:13
  
  ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Jill Stein's bid to recount votes in Pennsylvania was in trouble even before a federal judge shot it down Dec. 12. That's because the Green Party candidate's effort stood little chance of detecting potential fraud or error in the vote — there was basically nothing to recount.
  
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• Owen Smith Says He Still Receives Death Threats Months After Labour Leadership Bid

  26-12-2016 18:09
  
  Former Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith has revealed he is still receiving death threats after his unsuccessful attempt to oust Jeremy Corbyn this summer.
  The Pontypridd MP said he had had “lots and lots” of threats but does not regret his decision to challenge Corbyn, the Press Association reports.
  He told The Guardian that Corbyn’s performance as leader had improved since his re-election, but warned that Labour cannot assume its survival is guaranteed.
  He said: &ldquo
  
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• UK Boxing Day online sales up 11.5 percent, footfall down 6 percent

  26-12-2016 17:47
  (Reuters) - The number of Britons who hit the shops on Boxing Day morning, a traditional shopping day, fell 6 percent versus the same period last year, while online transactions rose 11.5 percent year-on-year, retail data company Springboard said. British retail sales grew at the fastest rate in more than a year in late November and early December, which may have taken some of the buzz out of the period around the Christmas holiday. Boxing Day sales have traditionally been an indicator of the st
  
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• Trumps pick for ambassador to Israel sparks hot debate

  26-12-2016 17:44
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — If President-elect Donald Trump wanted to show he planned to obliterate President Barack Obama's approach to Israel, he might have found his man to deliver that message in David Friedman, his pick for U.S. ambassador.
  
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• Tributes flow for soulful British pop idol George Michael, dead at 53

  26-12-2016 16:40
  By Edward Baran LONDON (Reuters) - Madonna, Elton John and Paul McCartney paid tribute on Monday to British pop idol George Michael, who has died age 53 after a career of soulful ballads and dance songs that provided a soundtrack to much of the 1980s and 1990s. Michael burst to stardom with “Wham!, one of the most successful pop duos ever, with singles like “"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and “"Careless Whisper", before reinventing himself as a solo artist with sexually daring l
  
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• Ex-BoE chief says Britain staying in EU single market makes no sense

  26-12-2016 16:39
  (Reuters) - Britain should decide its own immigration policy and stop pretending Brexit is compatible with staying in the European Union's single market, a former governor of the Bank of England said on Monday. Mervyn King, who steered UK monetary policy for 10 years to 2013, told the BBC that supporters and detractors of the EU should start to look at Britain's vote to leave it as an opportunity. "I don't think it makes sense for us to pretend that we should remain in the single market, and I t
  
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• Palace draw at Watford in first game under Allardyce

  26-12-2016 16:22
  Crystal Palace began life under Sam Allardyce with a 1-1 draw at Watford on Monday though they could easily have won an evenly-balanced Premier League game but for a missed Christian Benteke penalty. Palace had the best of the first half and went ahead after 26 minutes when winger Andros Townsend's incisive run and neat inside pass set up Yohan Cabaye to turn the ball into the net first time. The visitors missed the chance to double the lead 10 minutes later when Heurelho Gomes saved a softly-st
  
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• George Michael had his own cultural revolution in China

  26-12-2016 15:54
  
  By Cate Cadell BEIJING (Reuters) - It was strangely muted when George Michael, as part of the British pop duo Wham!, took the stage at the Workers Gymnasium in Beijing in April 1985, recalled one of those who attended that now legendary first Western pop act in Communist China. Around 15,000 concert-goers watched Michael and bandmate Andrew Ridgeley sing hits such as "Careless Whisper" and "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" – as police grimly stared at them. "I'd never seen so many police in my
  
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• Netanyahu backs out of Davos meeting mooted with May

  26-12-2016 15:46
  Israeli leader reprimands countries that supported UN resolution on settlements
  
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• King calls for UK to be ‘confident’ about Brexit

  26-12-2016 15:33
  Former Bank of England governor sees ‘real opportunities’ outside EU
  
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• Myanmar says Muslim with links to government murdered in troubled Rakhine

  26-12-2016 15:28
  By Shwe Yee Saw Myint YANGON (Reuters) - A man has been found dead with stab wounds in Myanmar's Rakhine State, in what the government said on Monday was the second murder in under a week of a Rohingya who cooperated with authorities as they crack down on suspected insurgents. Coordinated attacks on Oct. 9 killed nine police officers and sparked a military operation in northern Rakhine. The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar blamed Muslim Rohingyas supported by foreign militants.
  
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• Today's News: Dec. 26, 2016

  26-12-2016 15:03
  —Tributes pour in for George Michael, the singer who died Sunday at age 53. —Russian authorities continue the search for the bodies of 92 people aboard a military transport plane that crashed in the Black Sea.
  
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• Cafeteria manager jailed for insulting Turkey's Erdogan, lawyer says

  26-12-2016 14:40
  By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish authorities have arrested the cafeteria manager of the opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper for insulting the president after he said he would not serve tea to Tayyip Erdogan, one of the manager's lawyers told Reuters on Monday. Senol Buran, who runs the cafeteria at the Istanbul office of Cumhuriyet, was taken into custody after police raided his home late on Saturday, lawyer Ozgur Urfa said. Insulting the president is a crime punishable by up to four ye
  
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• Netanyahu seeks to rally Israelis around him in anti-Obama assault

  26-12-2016 14:36
  By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Benjamin Netanyahu has been unrelenting in his criticism of the Obama administration over what he condemned as its "shameful" decision not to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a halt to Israeli settlement-building. Netanyahu, after what critics are calling a stinging defeat on the international stage, is already manoeuvring to mine deep-seated feelings among many Israelis that their country and its policies towards the Palestinians are ov
  
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• Nigel Farage's Criticism Of Archbishop Of Canterbury Justin Welby Has Not Gone Down Well

  26-12-2016 14:30
  
  Nigel Farage has faced a backlash from people from a range both of faith and non-faith backgrounds after criticising the Archbishop of Canterbury.
  The former Ukip leader branded Justin Welby’s Christmas message “negative” in a tweet sent on Christmas day.Merry Christmas. Ignore all negative messages from the Archbishop of Canterbury and have a great day!— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) December 25, 2016
  In his Christmas sermon, Welby spoke of finding hope in a “differ
  
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• 2016 Politics Quiz: How Well Do You Remember The Tumultuous Year?

  26-12-2016 14:26
  
  At the start of 2016, David Cameron was prime minister. His most likely successor was George Osborne. Whatever Cameron got in his renegotiation with Brussels, Britons were expected to vote to remain in the EU.
  As the year ends, a long-serving home secretary-turned prime minister must keep her party together while negotiating the incredibly complex matter of how to leave the EU. 
  Try the HuffPost Politics Quiz of the Year to see how much you remember about what happened in between.-- Th
  
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• Russian police say no bomb found at evacuated Moscow railway stations - TASS

  26-12-2016 14:03
  Russian police said on Monday they had not found any explosive devices at three Moscow railway stations that were evacuated earlier in the day after a bomb scare, the TASS news agency reported. TASS earlier said police had evacuated almost 3,000 people from the Kazansky, Leningradsky and Yaroslavsky railway stations after receiving an anonymous bomb threat.
  
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• Russia hunts for crashed jet's black boxes, says no signs of foul play

  26-12-2016 14:03
  By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia expanded its search on Monday for the remains of a military plane that crashed into the Black Sea, killing all 92 on board, and said pilot error or a technical fault - but not terrorism - were likely to have caused the tragedy. The plane, a Russian Defence Ministry TU-154, was carrying dozens of Red Army Choir singers and dancers to Syria to entertain Russian troops in the run-up to the New Year. Nine Russian journalists were also on board as well as mi
  
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• Pope pays tribute to Iraqi Christians persecuted by Islamic State

  26-12-2016 13:46
  Pope Francis paid tribute on Monday to Middle East Christians who have clung to their faith during persecution by Islamist militants, saying there are more Christians martyrs now than in the Church's early days.
  
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• Serbia arrests three after 77 migrants found hidden in vehicles

  26-12-2016 13:27
  Serbian authorities arrested three men on suspicion of people trafficking after 77 migrants were found hidden in cargo vehicles, the defence ministry said on Monday. Serbia was a pinchpoint for migrant flows last year, when hundreds of thousands of people fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East and Asia journeyed up through the Balkans to reach the European Union. On Monday members of a military and police task force detained two men in central Serbia attempting to smuggle 36 migrants from A
  
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• Exclusive - Fresh advance in east Mosul to begin within days - U.S. commander

  26-12-2016 13:19
  By Stephen Kalin EAST OF MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi forces will resume their push against Islamic State inside Mosul in the coming days, a U.S. battlefield commander said, in a new phase of the two-month-old operation that will see American troops deployed closer to the front line in the city. The battle for Mosul, involving 100,000 Iraqi troops, members of the Kurdish security forces and Shi'ite militiamen, is the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.
  
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• Rival parties vie for power after Macedonia poll rerun

  26-12-2016 13:07
  A political crisis in Macedonia looks likely to extend into a third year after its two main parties both said they would try to form the next government following a disputed election. Veteran leader Nikola Gruevski's nationalist VMRO-DPMNE won 51 out of 120 parliamentary seats in the mid-December vote. The party with most votes would normally get the first chance to form a government, and the VMRO-DPMNE said that would be its next task.
  
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• ECB's Weidmann says Monte dei Paschi bailout must be carefully weighed - Bild

  26-12-2016 12:38
  European Central Bank policymaker Jens Weidmann said plans for a state bailout of Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena should be weighed carefully as many questions remain to be answered, according to German newspaper Bild. "For the measures planned by the Italian government the bank has to be financially healthy at its core. The money cannot be used to cover losses that are already expected," Bild quoted Weidmann as saying in a summary of an article due to be published on Tuesday.
  
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• Kazakhstan's Nazarbayev says ready to host Syria peace talks in Astana

  26-12-2016 12:27
  Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Monday he was ready to host multilateral talks on the conflict in Syria in the Kazakh capital of Astana. "Kazakhstan is ready to host all sides for talks in Astana," Nazarbayev said during a visit to St. Petersburg where he has been meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin also said last week the next step for Syria would be a nationwide ceasefire.
  
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• Bombed-out Aleppo soapmaker revives age-old tradition in Paris

  26-12-2016 12:24
  A Syrian soapmaker who fled Aleppo after the factory he worked in was bombed has set up shop in a Paris suburb, reviving a tradition he says dates back millennia. Hassan Harastani left Syria in 2012, first for Lebanon and then two years later moving to France at the invitation of Samir Constantini, a Franco-Syrian doctor who was already importing the distinctive Aleppo soap. "In Aleppo, this type of soap was manufactured maybe 3,000 years ago," said Harastani, who markets his version - which he
  
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• Total of 226 IS militants 'neutralised' in latest al-Bab operations - Erdogan spokesman

  26-12-2016 12:19
  ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A total of 226 Islamic State militants have been "neutralised" in latest operations around the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, the spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, supported by the Turkish military, have been laying siege to the town for weeks. Ibrahim Kalin made the comment at a news conference in Ankara that was broadcast live on television. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by David Dolan)
  
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• Turkish authorities detained 1,682 people last week over militant links - ministry

  26-12-2016 12:18
  Turkish authorities last week detained 1,682 people for questioning over suspected links to militant organisations and arrested 516 of them, the interior ministry said on Monday. People suspected of links to the Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara says orchestrated an attempted coup in July, made up the biggest number, with 1,096 detained and 426 of those arrested.
  
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• Turkey asks U.S.-led coalition for air support at Syria's al-Bab

  26-12-2016 12:15
  Turkey on Monday called on members of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State to provide air support for Turkey-backed troops laying siege to the Syrian town of al-Bab, held by fighters from the group. Not giving the necessary support is unacceptable," President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, told a news conference. Rebels supported by Turkish troops have laid siege to the town for weeks in the "Euphrates Shield" operation launched by Turkey nearly four months ago to sweep the S
  
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