Former Venezuela Supreme Court judge flees to U.S., denounces Maduro
Former Venezuelan Supreme Court Justice Christian Zerpa has fled to the United States to protest President Nicolas Maduro’s second term that will begin with his inauguration this week, the onetime Maduro backer told a Miami broadcaster on Sunday.
Nigerian military raids paper after Boko Haram article, paper says
Nigerian soldiers raided the offices of the country’s Daily Trust newspaper and arrested two of its journalists following an article about the military’s fight against Islamist militants in the northeast, the newspaper said on Sunday.
WikiLeaks tells reporters 140 things not to say about Julian Assange
WikiLeaks on Sunday advised journalists not to report 140 different “false and defamatory” statements about its founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 2012.
Quake hits western Iran, about 75 injured
An earthquake hit an area in western Iran near the Iraqi border on Sunday, injuring 75 people, most of them lightly, the head of the country’s emergency medical services said.
Palestinian Authority pulls employees from Egypt-Gaza crossing
The Palestinian Authority said on Sunday it had ordered its employees to pull out from the Gaza-Egypt border crossing, effectively closing the main exit point from the impoverished Gaza Strip.
Egypt’s Sisi opens mega-mosque and Middle East’s largest cathedral in New Capital
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated Egypt’s largest church and mosque in the New Administrative Capital on Sunday, the eve of Coptic Christmas, in a message of tolerance in the predominantly Muslim country.
Mexico offensive against fuel theft leaves motorists stranded
An offensive by Mexico’s new government against fuel theft at one of the country’s main refineries has led to days of shortages at gas stations in several central states, as authorities move more fuel by tankers and less by vulnerable pipelines.
Key Cuban figure in Bay of Pigs victory dies at 95
Jose Ramon Fernandez Alvarez, who commanded Cuban forces under the leadership of Fidel Castro at the Bay of Pigs, repelling an exile invasion supported by the United States, died on Sunday at 95.
Earthquake of magnitude 6.6 hits Indonesia, authorities report no damage or casualties
An earthquake with a revised magnitude of 6.6 struck 174 km (108 miles) north-northwest of the city of Ternate in Indonesia’s Molucca islands on Sunday, followed by a series of aftershocks, but with no tsunami risk, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Bolton says Turkey must not attack Kurdish fighters once U.S. leaves Syria
White House national security adviser John Bolton added a new condition on Sunday to the U.S. withdrawal from Syria, saying Turkey must agree to protect the United States’ Kurdish allies.
