Mexico says Sean Penn meeting was ‘essential’ to finding kingpin Chapo
LOS MOCHIS, Mexico (Reuters) – A secret meeting that Hollywood star Sean Penn held with the world’s most-wanted drug boss, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, in pursuit of a magazine article was essential to finding the fugitive, Mexico’s Attorney General said…
Venezuela Supreme Court declares congress decisions void
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the new National Assembly’s decisions are void until three banned opposition lawmakers are removed from office, deepening a power struggle over the opposition’s new legislative majority…
Iraqi embassy in Berlin issues 1,400 passports for migrants to return
BERLIN (Reuters) – The Iraqi embassy in Berlin has issued 1,400 passports recently for Iraqi migrants who want to return to their home country, the German foreign ministry said on Monday.
Iran fills heavy water nuclear reactor core with cement: Fars
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran has removed the core of its Arak heavy water nuclear reactor and filled it with cement as required under a nuclear deal signed with world powers last year, the semi-official Fars news agency said on Monday, citing an informed Ira…
U.N. Security Council discusses starving, besieged areas of Syria
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council was discussing the besieged towns of Syria on Monday after reports emerged that tens of thousands of civilians have been trapped for months without supplies and are starving to death.
North Korea holding U.S. citizen for allegedly spying: CNN
SEOUL (Reuters) – A Canadian pastor serving a life sentence in North Korea for subversion said he spends eight hours a day digging holes at a labor camp, while a naturalized American citizen said he is being held by the state for spying, CNN reported f…
Merkel under pressure as Cologne police detail assaults
BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced growing pressure to harden her line on refugees on Monday as the first extensive police report on New Year’s Eve violence in Cologne documented rampant sexual assaults on women by gangs of young …
At least 51 killed in attacks in Iraqi capital, eastern town
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Gunmen detonated suicide vests inside a shopping complex in Baghdad on Monday and a car bomb exploded nearby in an attack claimed by Islamic State that killed at least 18 people and wounded 40 others.
Hong Kong ‘Umbrella Soldiers’ visit boisterous Taiwan to see democracy at work
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Hundreds of residents of Hong Kong, the Chinese-ruled territory rocked by street protests demanding free elections in 2014, have flown to Taiwan for Saturday’s elections to see free-wheeling democracy in action.
Argentina snares remaining fugitives, says rogue forces complicit
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentine police commandos recaptured two of the country’s most notorious convicts in a rice mill plant on Monday, ending a 15-day manhunt through backwater towns and flooded farm land in an episode underscoring the power of Ar…
