Hong Kong financial secretary resigns, expected to seek top job
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary John Tsang resigned on Monday, the city’s government said, and is widely expected to announce his intention to run for the city’s top job in March.
Australian government gives green light to Sydney’s second airport
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Australian government approved a second international airport for Sydney on Monday, opening the way for construction to begin in Australia’s largest city on a project mired in political squabbling for 70 years.
Macedonia’s nationalists, Social Democrats, almost tied in parliamentary vote
SKOPJE (Reuters) – Macedonia’s nationalist VMRO-DPMNE and opposition Social Democrats were virtually tied in a Sunday election aimed at ending a two-year-long crisis that brought down the previous government, state election commission preliminary resul…
Taliban demands for cash stir fears of comeback in Pakistan’s Swat Valley
MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) – When Pakistani shopkeeper Abdur Rahim’s phone rang in mid-October, he was shocked to hear the voice of a senior militant commander demanding protection money from him and his fellow traders in the Swat Valley.
Italy hurries to form new government as banking crisis looms
ROME (Reuters) – Italian President Sergio Mattarella asked Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Sunday to try to form a new government, giving him a mandate to lead Italy out of a political crisis caused by the resignation of Matteo Renzi.
Britain to adopt new anti-Semitism definition to fight hate crime
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Monday it would become one of the first countries to adopt an international definition of anti-Semitism to clamp down on hate crime after an increase in the number of reported incidents targeting Jews.
Finance Minister English named as New Zealand prime minister
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand Finance Minister Bill English was confirmed as the country’s new prime minister on Monday, as expected, a week after John Key announced his surprise resignation after eight years in the role.
Exit polls show Romania’s leftists winning parliamentary vote
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s leftist Social Democrats (PSD) won Sunday’s parliamentary election by a wide margin, exit polls showed, putting them in a strong position to form a coalition government with a junior ally.
Emergence of political Islam puts Indonesian president to a test
JAKARTA (Reuters) – As the ranks of protesters thickened in central Jakarta on Dec. 2, turning into Indonesia’s biggest mass demonstration since the end of authoritarian rule in 1998, President Joko Widodo grappled with a dilemma: should he join the ra…
Cairo church bombing kills 25, raises fears among Christians
CAIRO (Reuters) – A bombing at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral killed at least 25 people and wounded 49, many of them women and children attending Sunday mass, in the deadliest attack on Egypt’s Christian minority in years.
