Anti-money-laundering body gives Iran until Feb to complete reforms
(Corrects second paragraph of Oct. 19 story to show Tehran had failed to act on nine out 10 of FATF guidelines, from ‘had acted on only nine of 10’.)
China and Japan should safeguard free trade, China’s Li urges
China and Japan should safeguard free trade and anchor global growth, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday, as Japan’s prime minister arrived in Beijing on a visit against a backdrop of trade friction with the United States.
Sudan lifts partial ban on Egyptian imports: president
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said on Thursday he was lifting a partial ban on the import of Egyptian goods, during a visit by his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Soros university says it being forced out of Hungary, mulls move
Hungary’s Central European University, a graduate school founded by U.S. financier George Soros, said it was being forced out of the country by the nationalist government and would switch to enrolling new students in Vienna if it did not get guarantees…
Three days of violence that emptied an Angolan town of Congolese
Residents of Kapende, a Congolese neighborhood in the Angolan town of Lucapa, scrawled messages on their homes to keep the looters away, but it did not work.
Philippines’ Duterte sacks all top customs officials over drugs
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte fired the head of the Bureau of Customs on Thursday and ordered all top bureau officials replaced after the agency failed to intercept more than a ton of drugs, the second such case in two years.
Merkel protege issues stark warning to SPD before state election
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s preferred successor as head of Germany’s conservatives warned the Social Democrats (SPD) on Thursday that quitting the ruling coalition after a weekend regional vote would trigger a federal election.
Saudi Arabia says Khashoggi murder premeditated: state media
Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said on Thursday the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was premeditated, citing a joint Saudi-Turkish investigation, state media reported.
Spain’s Supreme Court sends Catalan independence leaders to trial
Spain’s Supreme Court on Thursday said it had ended its investigation against 18 Catalan independence leaders who will now face trial, likely at the beginning of next year.
Rice balls for Japan hostage as he returns home from Syrian ‘hell’
A 44-year-old Japanese freelance journalist returned home on Thursday to rice balls cooked by his mother but an uncertain future more than three years after militants in Syria captured him in what he described as a physical and mental “hell”.
