AFP, Riyadh
Saudi police have recovered the body of a kidnapped pro-government Shiite judge after a shootout in which a policeman and a suspected militant were killed, the interior ministry said Monday.
The remains of Judge Mohammed al-Jirani were found on a farm in the town of Awamiya in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, which has been a hotbed of protests among the Shiite minority for years.
Vietnam braces for typhoon
Reuters, Hanoi
Authorities in Vietnam prepared to move a million people from low-lying areas along the south coast on Monday as a typhoon approached after it battered the Philippines with floods and landslides that killed more than 230 people.
Typhoon Tembin is expected to slam into Vietnam late on Monday after bringing misery to the predominantly Christian Philippines just before Christmas.
Suicide bomber kills 6 in Kabul
AP, Kabul
A suicide bomber struck Monday near an office of the Afghan intelligence service in the capital, Kabul, killing at least six people, including a woman in a passing vehicle, officials said.
The Islamic State group claimed the attack.
Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said another three people were wounded in the attack, adding that the exact target was unclear.
150 trapped in French Alps ski lifts
AFP, Lyon
Around 150 skiers in the French Alps were rescued after being trapped for several hours when their ski lift broke down on Sunday.
The rescue operation lasted about two hours, Franck Lecoutre, head of the tourism office in the Chamrousse ski resort, near Grenoble, told AFP.
5 killed in IS ambush in Iraq
Xinhua, Kirkuk
Five people including a police officer were killed Sunday in an ambush by Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq’s northern province of Kirkuk, a police source told Xinhua.
The incident took place when IS militants set up a fake checkpoint on a road connecting the town of Ryadh and Hawijah in southwestern part of Kirkuk province, and intercepted a car carrying the five people, including Colonel Fadhel al-Sab’awi head of a police station, and shot them dead, the source from Kirkuk police said.
Ukraine, rebels to exchange prisoners
AP, Moscow
Ukrainian authorities and separatist rebels have agreed on a major prisoner exchange.
Separatist leaders and a Ukrainian government representative said in televised comments on Monday that they would exchange prisoners on Wednesday.
