Mongolia amends constitution in bid to end political instability
(This version of the Nov. 15th story corrects date of Battulga’s election from 2016 to 2017 in paragraph 10 and date of election under new rules from 2024 to 2025 in paragraph 7)
Hong Kong campus protest showdowns loom but tension eases
The president of Hong Kong’s Chinese University, which anti-government protesters have turned into a fortress stockpiled with petrol bombs and bows and arrows, threatened on Friday to call in “assistance” unless all non-students leave.
China envoy threatens Sweden over award to detained writer Gui Minhai
China threatened Sweden with unspecified “counter measures” if its culture minister attends a literary award ceremony on Friday for Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen who was abducted in Thailand in 2015 and is now in detention in China.
Mekong countries and U.N. agree to jointly fight drug scourge
Five Southeast Asian countries, China, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) agreed on Friday to improve intelligence sharing and law enforcement operations to fight drug trafficking in the region by transnational crime groups.
Venice hit by another ferocious high tide, flooding city
An exceptionally high tide hit Venice again on Friday just three days after the city suffered its worst flooding in more than 50 years, leaving squares, shops and hotels once more inundated.
Taliban shifted Western hostages as prisoner swap postponed: sources
A plan to swap two Western hostages with three Taliban prisoners has been postponed, an Afghan government official told Reuters on Friday, and Taliban sources said the group had moved the Westerners to a “new and safe place”.
Russian spy chief: New Start treaty unlikely to be extended – TASS
The New START nuclear arms control treaty between Russia and the United States is unlikely to be extended, Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said on Friday, the TASS news agency reported.
South Korean, Chinese students face off over Hong Kong protests
Kim Ji-mun, a 23-year-old South Korean university student, had just put up a banner on campus with his friends in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests when a group of Chinese students tried to take it down.
Anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats take opinion poll lead
The anti-immigrant Sweden Democrats have overtaken the Social Democrats to become Sweden’s most popular party for the first time, an opinion poll showed on Friday, nine years after winning its first seats in parliament.
UK’s Labour plans to nationalize BT’s network in free broadband plan
Britain’s opposition Labour Party plans to nationalize BT’s broadband network to provide free internet for all, a radical election pledge to roll back 35 years of private ownership that caught both the company and its shareholders by surprise.
