presidential primary
Reuters, Paris
Benoit Hamon, a former Socialist government rebel, won the first round of a primary on Sunday and will meet ex-prime minister Manuel Valls in a runoff to decide who will be the candidate of the beleaguered left in a presidential election in spring. Hamon, 49, a traditional leftwinger who was sacked from government by President Francois Hollande for criticizing his economic policies, coasted to a comfortable win ahead of Valls, a former Hollande loyalist in government, according to partial results.
Militants kill 5 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai
AP, Cairo
The Egyptian army says jihadi militants have killed five soldiers in the restive Sinai Peninsula, the latest casualties in a yearslong struggle to control the area’s northeast.
In a statement released early Monday by the military spokesman, the army expressed its condolences to the soldiers’ families and described the attackers as “enemies of the nation.”
China jails ex-top parliament body official for graft
Reuters, Beijing
A Chinese court on Monday jailed for life for corruption a former vice-chairman of the top parliamentary advisory body, the latest senior official to fall foul of President Xi Jinping’s sweeping campaign against graft.
China’s campaign against deep-rooted official corruption has intensified since Xi took power four years ago, with dozens of senior government figures and state company executives having been jailed.
12 bodies found in Mexican tourist town
AFP, Guadalajara
A dozen bodies-including seven that were headless and mutilated-were discovered over the weekend in western Mexico’s seaside resort of Manzanillo, apparent victims of the country’s epidemic of drug violence, local officials said.
It was a shocking turn of events for an area popular with American and other foreign tourists, which until now had largely been spared from the bloody drug wars wracking other parts of Mexico.
Seven bodies were found early Saturday in an abandoned taxi on the road from Manzanillo to the town of Cihuatlan.
