Politics

  STOCKHOLM / AP A spokesman for one of Sweden’s three nuclear power plants says they will have armed guards outside the facilities starting next month in a decision made by the country’s nuclear watchdog. Anders Osterberg of the Oskarshamn power station says “the elevated level” was based on a general security assessment, not a specific threat. Osterberg said Thursday in ...

  ATHENS / AP Greek police on Thursday recaptured a convicted far-left militant wanted for more than four years after she absconded during her trial on domestic terrorism charges. Pola Roupa, 48, was arrested during an early morning raid in Athens, police said, while a 25-year-old Greek woman suspected of aiding and sheltering Roupa was also taken into custody. Roupa was ...

  Washington / AFP Under mounting pressure to free convicts as a last act, President Barack Obama is planning at least one more batch of pardons and commutations before leaving office in two weeks, but don’t expect many famous offenders to make the list. The list of bold names appealing to Obama for compassion in his final weeks includes accused leaker ...

  Bloomberg Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will consider joint naval exercises with Russia, his spokesman said on Thursday, months after he decided to reduce military drills with the US. At a briefing in the presidential palace, spokesman Ernesto Abella said Duterte saw this week’s visit by two Russian warships to Manila would enhance friendship between the navies. Duterte, who in ...

  NEW ORLEANS / AFP The Coast Guard says it’s responding to a fire on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. A Coast Guard news release says the fire was reported around 2:30 a.m. Thursday on an oil platform about 80 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana. The Coast Guard says four people aboard ...

  ISTANBUL / AP Turkey has identified the gunman in the Istanbul nightclub massacre, the foreign minister said on Wednesday as the president vowed that the country won’t surrender to terrorists or become divided. The gunman, who killed 39 people during New Year’s celebrations at the Reina club, is still at large. But Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said authorities had identified ...

  BEIRUT / AP Turkey warned on Wednesday that repeated cease-fire violations by Syria’s government were threatening peace talks scheduled for later this month. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the talks in Kazakhstan were scheduled for January 23, to be preceded by preparatory meetings between Turkish and Russian “experts”in Turkey. The Syrian government and allied militias have pressed on with ...

  BEIJING / AP An official allegedly shot and injured two leaders of a city in southwestern China on Wednesday as the pair held a meeting in a conference center, and later killed himself, local authorities said. The suspect entered the venue where the Communist Party chief and mayor of Panzhihua city in Sichuan province were meeting and shot continuously ...

  TEL AVIV / AP An Israeli soldier was convicted of manslaughter on Wednesday in the deadly shooting of an incapacitated Palestinian attacker, capping a nine-month saga that has deeply divided the country. The verdict, which marks an extremely rare instance of an Israeli military court siding against a soldier over lethal action taken in the field, threatened to deepen the ...

  Bloomberg India’s Election Commission announced poll dates for five states—including Uttar Pradesh, a politically crucial election that will gauge the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of his disruptive cash ban move. Uttar Pradesh, a bellwether state of 200 million people that sends more representatives to India’s upper house than any other region, will vote in ...