The United States is pressing Cuba to allow the opening of its embassy in Havana by April, U.S. officials told Reuters, despite the Communist island's demand that it first be removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.
A bomb has exploded under a car in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland but no one was injured, while part of a major train line has been suspended in a separate security alert, police said on Thursday.
The sons of deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak were released from prison on Monday, security officials said, a move that could fuel tension after the violent anniversary on Sunday of the 2011 uprising that toppled the autocrat.
Japan has vowed to work with Jordan to secure the release of a Japanese journalist held by Islamic State militants after the killing last week of another Japanese captive, but it reiterated that it would not give in to terrorism.
