Political News from Yahoo

Somaliland dismisses Britain's security threat warning

HARGEISA (Reuters) - Somalia's breakaway Somaliland enclave has dismissed as "baseless" a British government warning of an imminent attack on foreigners. London urged all British nationals to leave Somaliland immediately on Sunday, warning of a "specific threat" to foreigners. Ireland issued the same alert to its citizens. Somaliland's Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdillahi Omer told reporters on Sunday night that there was no "imminent threat and danger from terrorists" and that the "UK government's presumption of insecurity in Somaliland is baseless. ...

China threatens reporter who exposed sex-tape scandal

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police threatened a muck-raking investigative reporter on Monday with arrest for concealing evidence if he did not hand over further tapes in his possession after a sex video he released of an official with a mistress went viral online. Zhu Ruifeng, who runs a whistleblowing website called "People Supervision Net", released the video last year of Lei Zhengfu, a district party chief in the southwestern city of Chongqing, having sex with his much younger mistress. ...

Thousands attend funerals in Egypt port city

CAIRO (Reuters) - Thousands of people turned out on the streets of Port Said on Monday to attend the funerals of the latest victims of violence in the Egyptian city where President Mohamed Mursi has declared a state of emergency, state television images showed. The mourners bore coffins above their heads and some waved teargas canisters at the camera. Seven people were killed on Sunday at funerals for the 33 who had died in riots a day earlier. ...

France fears Islamist rise in Syria unless opposition helped

PARIS (Reuters) - France's foreign minister said on Monday Syria risks falling into the hands of Islamist militant groups if supporters of the Syrian opposition do not do more to help it in a 22-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. Addressing the opening of a conference in Paris with senior members of the Syrian National Coalition, Laurent Fabius said the meeting must focus on making the opposition politically and militarily cohesive to encourage international assistance. ...


Dispute over military command holds up Congo peace deal

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - African leaders failed on Monday to sign a U.N.-mediated peace deal aimed at ending two decades of conflict in eastern Congo, said a senior Congolese diplomat, who pointed to concerns over who would command a new regional military force. The agreement was to include the deployment of several thousand extra soldiers to tackle armed militias in the mineral-rich eastern region. The brigade would fight under the banner of the U.N.'s MONUSCO peacekeeping force. ...


Peugeot halts Slovak output on weak demand

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - France's carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen halted production in Slovakia for the day on Monday and will add another four stoppage days next month in response to weak demand across Europe, the Slovak unit said. Peugeot, which is cutting some 10,000 jobs and closing a domestic plant in France, is one of the key exporters in the central European country where growth is driven almost solely by the automotive production. ...


Cabinet backs Egyptian army to make civilian arrests: source

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's cabinet has approved a draft law giving the army the right to arrest civilians and assist the police in providing security, a cabinet source told Reuters on Monday after the death toll in five days of anti-government protests rose to 50. The source said the army would "behave like a police force" meaning that any detainees would go to a civilian and not military court. He did not say if the army's right to make arrests extended across Egypt or just applied to Suez Canal cities where the president has declared a state of emergency. ...

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