Afghanistan’s Abdullah rejects election result as ‘coup’ against people
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan presidential contender Abdullah Abdullah’s camp rejected preliminary results of last month’s run-off election on Monday as a “coup” against the people, putting him on a dangerous collision course with his rival, Ashraf Ghani.
Pro-Beijing figure warns Hong Kong’s freedoms under threat: report
HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s leaders could re-think Hong Kong’s autonomy if tensions in the Asian financial hub reached a level that threatened national security, one of the city’s leading pro-Beijing figures has warned.
Nicaragua approves route for $40 billion canal linking oceans
MANAGUA (Reuters) – A Nicaraguan committee approved a proposed route on Monday for a $40 billion shipping channel across the Central American country that would compete with the Panama Canal.
U.S. ‘troubled’ by jailing of Saudi human rights activist
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States said on Monday it was troubled by Saudi Arabia’s sentencing prominent human rights lawyer Walid abu al-Khair to 15 years in prison on charges that included seeking to undermine the state and insulting the judici…
Central African Republic fighters attack church sheltering civilians
BANGUI (Reuters) – Rebel fighters and armed Muslim civilians killed “many” people in an attack on a church compound in the Central African Republic on Monday where thousands of civilians had taken refuge, Catholic Church officials said.
Ex-Soviet minister and Georgia leader Shevardnadze dies
TBILISI (Reuters) – Eduard Shevardnadze, who as Soviet foreign minister helped bring down the Berlin Wall and end the Cold War, died on Monday after a long illness.
Iran’s Khamenei says U.S., Israel playing ‘good cop, bad cop’
DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the United States and Israel were playing “good cop, bad cop” to intimidate his country into making concessions on the nuclear dispute with the West.
From New York heroin dealer to Afghanistan’s biggest oil man
KABUL (Reuters) – One-eyed Rateb Popal’s debut as an Afghan businessman was not promising: he was caught smuggling heroin and locked up in a New York federal prison for almost a decade.
Vatican bank to be scaled back, restructured: sources
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican bank will soon hive off its investment activities and transform itself into an institution dedicated mostly to payment services for the Roman Catholic Church, Vatican sources said on Monday.
Iraq parliament delayed for five weeks, general killed near Baghdad
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s new parliament put off its next session for five weeks on Monday, extending the country’s political paralysis amid a Sunni Islamist insurgency which claimed the life of an army general near Baghdad.
