Venezuela local vote tests President Maduro’s strength
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelans voted in municipal elections on Sunday that are the biggest political test yet for President Nicolas Maduro as he tries to halt an economic slide and preserve the socialist legacy of his late mentor, Hugo Chavez.
Protesters fell Lenin statue, tell Ukraine’s president ‘you’re next’
KIEV (Reuters) – Anti-government protesters toppled a statue of Soviet state founder Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine’s capital and attacked it with hammers on Sunday in a symbolic challenge to President Viktor Yanukovich and his plans for closer ties with Ru…
Singapore hit by rare outbreak of rioting
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A crowd set fire to vehicles and clashed with police in the Indian district of Singapore late on Sunday, in a rare outbreak of rioting in the city state.
Colombia’s FARC says to declare 30-day ceasefire from December 15
HAVANA (Reuters) – Colombia’s main leftist guerrilla group, the FARC, said on Sunday it would implement a 30-day ceasefire from December 15 while the government said it would keep pursuing the rebels after they attacked a police station a day earlier, …
British military chopper makes unexpected West Bank landing
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A British military helicopter made an unscheduled landing on Sunday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank because of a “technical malfunction”, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.
PKK militants abduct four Turkish soldiers after unrest
ANKARA (Reuters) – Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants abducted four Turkish soldiers while they were on patrol in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakir on Sunday, Turkish media reported.
Afghanistan, Iran plan cooperation pact amid tensions with U.S.
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed on a cooperation pact with Iran on Sunday, an Afghan official said, while continuing to resist signing a long-term security agreement with the United States.
South Africans remember Mandela with praise and prayers
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – With hymns and eulogies, South Africans of all colors and creeds remembered Nelson Mandela in a day of prayers on Sunday, holding him up as a symbol of freedom, forgiveness and hope for the nation and the world.
Egyptian police stage rare protest in defiance of new law
CAIRO (Reuters) – Hundreds of Egyptian police rallied on Sunday to demand higher wages, in a rare act of defiance of a new protest law which they themselves have been enforcing to quell unrest on the streets.
Assad’s forces kill five children in Syria: activists
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad have killed at least five children during fighting for the town of Nabak north of the capital Damascus, activists said on Sunday.
