Politics

  Washington / AFP CIA chief John Brennan said that secret findings of a 2002 congressional investigation into the 9/11 attacks should not be taken as evidence of official Saudi complicity. A decision is expected soon on whether to release the classified 28-page section of the report by the House and Senate intelligence committees. Former senator Bob Graham, who headed ...

  Bamako / AFP As the United Nations looks to extend its most deadly active mission for peacekeepers for another year, those working closely with its venture in Mali say poor local collaboration and funding gaps are costing lives. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the Security Council to approve 2,500 extra troops and police for the Mali force, known ...

  BENGHAZI / AP Militants from the IS group have barricaded themselves in the center of their stronghold in Libya’s coastal city of Sirte, hoping to draw militias fighting to dislodge them into a protracted street battle, a spokesman for the fighters loyal to the UN-backed government said on Sunday. Brig-Gen. Mohammed Al Ghasri said the militants have fallen back ...

  Bloomberg Kenya’s national assembly wants to give the East African nation’s supreme court more time to settle presidential election disputes and reform the Independent and Electoral and Boundaries Commission to ease concerns of the opposition party that have spurred nationwide protests and left at least five people dead. The draft proposes to give the supreme court 30 days, up ...

  WASHINGTON / AP Far from ending the two wars he inherited from the Bush administration, Barack Obama is wrestling with an expanded set of conflicts in the final months of his presidency, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Libya and Syria, with no end in sight. In Afghanistan, where a Taliban resurgence has upset Washington’s “exit strategy,” Obama is giving the ...

  LONDON / AFP A group of 13 Nobel laureates have urged UK voters to remain in the European Union, warning that Britain will lose funding, global influence and access to expertise if the nation votes to leave the 28-nation bloc. The scientists wrote an open letter to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, expressing concern that those arguing that Britain should ...

  Rio de Janeiro / AFP President Dilma Rousseff, suspended from office pending her impeachment trial, has been called as a defense witness for a key figure in the Petrobras corruption scandal, Brazilian media reported. The case reportedly involves Marcelo Odebrecht, the former head of a family-owned construction company who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role ...

  Paris / AFP After a triumphant start to Euro 2016, France braced for more strike disruptions and hooligan violence as England face Russia in a high-risk match on Saturday. A tense France was finally able to party after winning the opening match against Romania and avoiding major hiccups as ongoing industrial unrest failed to disrupt transport to the Stade de ...

  Puebla / AFP Gunmen marched into a remote mountain village in Mexico and killed 11 members of the same family, including two children, apparently over “personal conflicts,” authorities said. Five women, four men and two girls were killed in the pre-dawn attack in El Mirador, a community in central Puebla state, near Oaxaca. Two other girls were wounded in ...

  Caracas / AFP Facing mounting pressure from food shortages, looting and increasingly violent protests, Venezuelan authorities announced the next stage of a recall referendum against embattled President Nicolas Maduro. But Maduro’s camp said it would go to the Supreme Court to contest the process, accusing the opposition of fraud while gathering the signatures needed to call a referendum. The wranglings ...