Rodman leaves for North Korea for basketball on leader Kim’s birthday
BEIJING (Reuters) – Former NBA basketball star Dennis Rodman left Beijing for North Korea on Monday with a team of retired basketball players to mark the birthday of “nice guy” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Turkey’s Erdogan says not opposed to military coup plot retrials
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said he would not oppose the retrial of hundreds of military officers convicted on coup plot charges, a case that underlined civilian dominance over a once all-powerful army.
Afghanistan says 88 prisoners to be freed, despite U.S. concern
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan will release 88 prisoners as planned even though the United States considers them dangerous and wants them to remain in detention, the board reviewing their cases told Reuters.
Spanish officials to start talks with Panama over canal cost row
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – A Spanish government team will meet officials in Panama on Monday to try and end a cost dispute between a Spanish-led consortium expanding the Panama Canal and the waterway’s operator that threatens to stall the huge infrastruct…
Singapore Airlines A380 in emergency landing in Azerbaijan, no injuries
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore Airlines Ltd said on Monday an Airbus A380 flying from London to Singapore made an emergency landing in Azerbaijan due to cabin depressurization, but there were no injuries to the 467 passengers and 27 crew on board.
Chinese drug cop implicated in major amphetamine raid: paper
BEIJING (Reuters) – A Chinese drug enforcement officer has been linked to government officials arrested after the seizure of nearly three tons of the drug crystal methamphetamine in the southern province of Guangdong last month, local media reported.
China sentences six Mongol herders in land-grab case
BEIJING (Reuters) – Six herders in China who tried to defend grazing land from expropriation by a forestry firm have been sentenced in the resource-rich Inner Mongolia region, a lawyer and family members said on Monday, in a case that has sparked prote…
Syria rebels push al Qaeda back; U.S. open to Iran role
AMMAN/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Syrian rebel fighters loyal to al Qaeda ceded ground near the Turkish border to rival Islamists on Sunday, activists said, in what seemed to be a tactical withdrawal to end clashes between Syrian- and foreign-led opponents o…
Stampede at China religious event kills 14 – state media
BEIJING (Reuters) – A stampede at a religious ceremony in northwestern China as food was being handed out killed 14 people and injured 10, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.
Italy’s former center-left leader Bersani suffers brain haemorrhage
ROME (Reuters) – The former leader of Italy’s center-left Pier Luigi Bersani was hospitalized for a brain haemorrhage on Sunday, less than a year after he resigned as head of the Democratic Party (PD) following party upheaval and a disappointing electi…
