Algeria’s powerful army chief dies at pivotal point in political crisis
Algeria’s powerful army chief, who masterminded the state’s response to mass protests this year, died suddenly of a heart attack on Monday, and a likely successor quickly emerged from the same old guard the demonstrators want swept away.
India’s Modi contradicts key aide over citizenship register as he tries to douse protests
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi contradicted his closest lieutenant over plans for a nationwide register as he tried to defuse protests against a citizenship law in which at least 21 people have been killed.
Explainer: Why India’s new citizenship plans are stirring protests
(This corrects paragraph 9 to remove reference to the majority of excluded residents in Assam being Muslim, amends to show there was no official breakdown by religion in December 23 story.)
U.S., North Korea talks ‘more important than anything’, South Korea tells China
It is “more important than anything” to keep up the momentum for talks between the United States and North Korea, South Korean President Moon Jae-in told Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday.
Saudi sentences five to death, three to jail over Khashoggi murder
Saudi Arabia on Monday sentenced five people to death and three to jail over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but a U.N. investigator accused it of making a “mockery” of justice by allowing the masterminds of last year’s killing to go fr…
Uzbek LibDems lead in vote criticized by Western observers
Uzbekistan’s Liberal Democratic Party have retained the biggest number of seats in the Central Asian nation’s legislature so far, winning 43 seats out of 128 in Sunday’s vote which Western monitors criticized for “numerous serious irregularities”.
Afghan election runoff likely amid thousands of complaints: officials
Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaints Commission said on Monday the election might go to a second round as it begins reviewing thousands of complaints a day after the preliminary result handed incumbent president Ashraf Ghani a narrow victory.
Scuffles break out as protesters invade Paris’ Gare de Lyon station
Protesters scuffled with police at Gare de Lyon station in Paris on Monday as a nationwide strike against plans by French President Emmanuel Macron to change the country’s pension system dragged on into a 19th day.
UK widens fast-track visa plan for scientists as Brexit nears
Britain said on Monday it would increase the number of scientists and researchers eligible for fast-track visas, part of the government’s plans to attract more elite researchers after Brexit.
Turkish aid group says 120,000 fleeing attacks in Syria’s Idlib
The number of Syrians fleeing attacks in the country’s northwestern Idlib province and heading toward Turkey has reached 120,000, a Turkish aid group said on Monday, adding it was setting up a camp for some of those uprooted.
