Politics

  JAKARTA / AP An Indonesian court ruled on Tuesday that witness testimony will be closed to the media in the blasphemy trial of the capital’s minority Christian governor. Jakarta Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama is charged with insulting Islam and desecrating the Quran by using one of its verses to boost his chances of winning re-election. Ahok, 50, is seeking ...

  BAGHDAD / AP Violence claimed the lives of at least 6,878 civilian Iraqis last year, the United Nations said, as the Iraqi government struggles to maintain security nationwide and to dislodge IS group militants from areas under their control. The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, known as UNAMI, said its numbers “have to be considered as the absolute minimum” as ...

  SANAA / ap Yemeni security officials say pro-government forces attacked al-Qaida militants in the country’s south, killing 15 extremists but losing 11 of their own troops. The officials say the fighting began when security forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting Yemen’s Shiite rebels elsewhere in the country, on Tuesday attacked an al-Qaida stronghold in the Marakasha ...

  SACRAMENTO / AP As California lawmakers return to Sacramento on Wednesday, liberal dreams of expanding safety-net benefits and providing health coverage to immigrants are giving way to a new vision revolving around a feverish push to protect gains racked up in the past. After years of pushing forward a progressive agenda, legislative Democrats will be pushing back against conservative ...

  PARIS / AFP The son of Equatorial Guinea’s president is going on trial in France accused of buying real estate, sports cars and other luxury goods with public funds from his country. Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who is also Equatorial Guinea’s second vice president, faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of corruption, money laundering and embezzlement ...

  WARSAW / AP Polish authorities have charged a Tunisian citizen with murder in the stabbing death of a Polish man on New Year’s Eve, a case that sparked violent protests over the weekend. The trouble began on Saturday evening when the 21-year-old Pole, identified only as Daniel, got into a quarrel with the employees of a kebab restaurant in ...

  YANGON / AFP Myanmar’s government has vowed to take action against police officers shown beating villagers in a video that has circulated on the internet. A front-page story on Monday in the state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper about the November 5 incident was a rare official acknowledgment of abuses taking place in the western state of Rakhine. ...

  YANGON / AP A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a security checkpoint near Mogadishu’s international airport on Monday, killing at least three people, a Somali police officer said. Capt. Mohamed Hussein said the bomb detonated as security forces were searching cars at the checkpoint, a few hundred meters (yards) from the main base of the African Union peacekeeping ...

  BERLIN / AP German politicians voiced strong support on Monday for a police crackdown on potential troublemakers during New Year’s celebrations in the city of Cologne, despite concern that officers may have engaged in racial profiling. Police stopped hundreds of North African men heading into downtown Cologne on Saturday to prevent a repeat of the robberies and sexual assaults ...

  BERLIN / AP Authorities say a man has been detained in western Germany on suspicion of financing terrorism. Police and prosecutors in Saarland state, on the French border, wouldn’t give details before a news conference planned later Monday. They said that the 38-year-old man from Saarbruecken was detained on Saturday, news agency dpa reported.