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.
In win for protesters, Chile to vote on Pinochet-era constitution
Lawmakers in Chile agreed on Friday to hold a referendum next April on replacing the Pinochet-era constitution, bowing to demands of protesters who want the country’s social and economic model overhauled.
Bolivia’s dueling parties converge on new vote to calm political chaos
Bolivia’s interim government and lawmakers from the party of unseated leftist leader Evo Morales appeared to have reach an accord late on Thursday to hold a new presidential election, potentially helping resolve country’s political crisis.
Bangladesh coast guard rescues 122 Rohingya from sinking boat
Bangladesh coast guard rescued 122 Rohingya Muslim refugees from the Bay of Bengal on Thursday as the boat they had boarded to illegally flee to Malaysia started sinking due to a mechanical problem, a coast guard official said.
