Politics

  KABUL / AP Gunmen wearing white lab coats stormed a military hospital in Afghanistan’s capital on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people and wounding dozens in an attack claimed by the IS group. The attack on the 400-bed military facility, located near two civilian hospitals in Kabul’s heavily-guarded diplomatic quarter, set off clashes with security forces that lasted several ...

  BRUSSELS / AP NATO and the United States warned Wednesday they could scale back cooperation with Kosovo’s security services if the government goes ahead with plans to transform its lightly-armed security force into an army without the required constitutional changes. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he told Kosovo’s leaders by telephone “that unilateral steps such as these are ...

  ANKARA / AP Turkey’s government has revoked the registration of a US-based aid group, forcing it to shut down operations that provided assistance to conflict-stricken Syrians from Turkey, the group announced on Wednesday. The Portland, Oregon-based Mercy Corps said it was “seeking a dialogue” with Turkish authorities to resume operations that constitute one of the largest humanitarian operations for ...

  TEHRAN / AP Iran says a vessel from a joint US and British naval fleet approached Revolutionary Guard boats in the Strait of Hormuz in an “unprofessional” manner aimed at escalating tensions in the region. Revolutionary Guard Cpt. Mahdi Hashemi disputed allegations made earlier this week by a US Navy official, who said a US ship was forced to ...

  BENGHAZI / AP Libya’s eastern-based parliament has called for elections to be held early next year, after it backed out of a United Nations-brokered peace deal with rival authorities in the capital, Tripoli. The widening split has stoked concerns that violence could escalate in the fractured country. In an open letter to the country’s electoral commission released late Tuesday, ...

  RAMALLAH / AP Britain’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that his country remains “absolutely” committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that obstacles to a deal, including accelerated Israeli settlement building, must be removed. Boris Johnson said he believes it’s still possible to set up a state of Palestine alongside Israel and that the leadership change ...

  BERLIN / AP Germany’s foreign minister expressed cautious optimism on Wednesday that Berlin and Ankara may begin to slowly reel diplomatic relations back to normal, following an escalation of tensions that culminated with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing Germany of “Nazi practices.” Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said talks at a Berlin hotel over breakfast with Turkish Foreign Minister ...

  MANILA/ AP Philippine lawmakers rejected the appointment of Perfecto Yasay as the country’s top diplomat on Wednesday after his flip-flopping statements first denying then admitting he was once a US citizen. When he first appeared before the congressional Commission on Appointments’ Foreign Affairs Committee last month, Yasay denied ever holding US citizenship. During Wednesday’s hearing, he admitted being granted ...

  SEOUL / AP US missile launchers and other equipment needed to set up a controversial missile defense system have arrived in South Korea, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said on Tuesday, a day after North Korea test-launched four ballistic missiles into the ocean near Japan. The plans to deploy the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, within ...

  BRUSSELS / AP Europe’s top court has ruled that European Union member states aren’t obliged to grant humanitarian visas to people who want to enter their territory to apply for asylum. The decision announced on Tuesday came after a Belgian court in October ordered the government to give humanitarian visas to a family in war-torn Syria. The European Court ...