Algeria’s Bouteflika registers for April election
ALGIERS (Reuters) – Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the ageing independence veteran who suffered a stroke last year, has registered his candidacy for April’s election, the state news agency APS said on Monday.
Egypt jails policemen for activist’s death that triggered Mubarak uprising
ALEXANDRIA (Reuters) – Two Egyptian policemen were sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday for torturing an activist to death in 2010 in an incident that became one of the triggers for the uprising that toppled veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Ukraine financial fall-out exposes Russia’s economic weakness
MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin’s decision to raise the stakes in Ukraine could cause lasting damage to Russia’s own economy.
Ugandan troops to form U.N. guard force in Somalia
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Uganda will send about 400 extra troops to Somalia to protect U.N. personnel in the capital Mogadishu, officials said on Monday.
Life and a death sentence in rebel-held Damascus
(The identity of the correspondent has been withheld for security reasons)
Romanian PM, president at odds over forming new government
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Prime Minister Victor Ponta urged Romania’s president on Monday not to block his attempts to form a new governing coalition as a new standoff loomed between the two bitter rivals, threatening to unnerve investors.
Pistorius trial witness: ‘bloodcurdling screams’ then shots
PRETORIA (Reuters) – The first witness at Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial told the court on Monday she heard “bloodcurdling screams” from a woman followed by shots, a dramatic opening to a case that could see one of global sport’s most admired role model…
Italy’s Grillo handed four-month sentence over rail protest
TURIN, Italy (Reuters) – An Italian court sentenced Beppe Grillo, leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, to four months in prison on Monday for entering part of a sealed-off construction site during a protest against a high-speed train line …
China train station attack risks driving ethnic wedge deeper
KUNMING/BEIJING (Reuters) – Police swept a Muslim Uighur district of the Chinese city of Kunming hours after knife-wielding assailants killed 29 people in a crowded station, underscoring the risk of ethnic tension spilling over from the remote Xinjiang…
Romania’s ethnic Hungarians join Ponta government
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Romania’s ethnic Hungarian opposition party UDMR voted to join the leftist government of Prime Minister Victor Ponta on Monday, and will be given the environment and culture ministry portfolios, party officials said.
