Palestinian President Abbas gets boost in Fatah congress vote
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas kept a strong grip on his Fatah movement in an election in which his loyalists remained dominant in its top decision-making body, final results showed on Sunday.
British PM heads to Bahrain to cement Gulf ties before Brexit
LONDON (Reuters) – Prime Minister Theresa May will travel to Bahrain this week for a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council that she hopes will cement stronger ties with Middle Eastern countries as Britain leaves the European Union.
Cash gifts and ‘crocodile holes’: Gambia’s outgoing ruler
BANJUL (Reuters) – Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh was celebrating his 48th birthday in Banjul in May 2013 when he saw a poor street hawker selling peanuts with a child strapped to her back.
Bowing out, Hollande leaves successor to fix French economy
PARIS (Reuters) – French voters elected Francois Hollande in 2012 on promises to fix the floundering economy. Five years on, he is leaving much unfinished work to his successor.
Venezuela confirms bigger bills amid world’s highest inflation
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela will introduce six new notes and three new coins starting in mid-December to help alleviate practical problems in doing business with the world’s most inflationary currency, according to the central bank.
MH370 families want investigation to focus more on debris from plane
ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) – Family members of those lost aboard a Malaysia Airlines flight that went missing in 2014 criticized Malaysian investigators on Sunday for not doing enough to find debris, which could give more clues about what happened.
Syrian rebels weakened in Aleppo battle by their own divisions
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) – As the Syrian government and its allies prepared to ramp up their attack on Aleppo in November, one of the rebel groups defending the opposition-held part of the city took up arms against another, seizing its stores of ammuniti…
Iran vows ‘firm response’ unless Obama stops sanctions renewal
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani demanded on Sunday that Barack Obama block an extension of sanctions passed by the U.S. Congress, saying Tehran would otherwise “firmly respond”.
Fake U.S. embassy in Ghana shut down after decade issuing visas
ACCRA (Reuters) – Authorities in Ghana have busted a fake U.S. embassy in the capital Accra run by a criminal network that for a decade issued illegally obtained authentic visas, the U.S. State Department said.
Putin says Trump clever, will understand new responsibilities
MOSCOW (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is a clever man and will quickly understand his new responsibilities, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with NTV TV.
