AFP, Brussels
European Union and British diplomats held “intensive” talks in Brussels on Monday in a race against time to seal a deal on changes to Britain’s membership of the crisis-ridden bloc by the end of the day.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and EU President Donald Tusk failed to reach an agreement over dinner in London on Sunday and so decided on a 24-hour extension for further discussion in a bid to reach an accord by the self-imposed deadline.
China to execute two for killing monk
AFP, Beijing
China has sentenced two men to death for stabbing to death a British monk who founded Europe’s first Tibetan monastery over a financial dispute, state media said.
Akong Tulku Rinpoche, co-founder of Scotland’s Samye Ling monastery, was found dead with multiple stab wounds at his home in the southwestern city of Chengdu in 2013.
Millions facing drought in Ethiopia: UN
AFP, Addis Ababa
Ethiopia is struggling with its worst drought for 30 years, with millions in dire need of life-saving aid, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned on Sunday.
At least 10.2 million people need food aid in Ethiopia, a figure the UN has warned could double within months, casting a fifth of the population into hunger.
11 killed at teen birthday party in Mexico
AFP, Acapulco
A teenager’s 15th birthday party became the scene of a ghastly massacre in southern Mexico where 11 people were fatally shot, officials said on Sunday.
The shooting occurred Friday at a “quinceanera” coming-of-age celebration in the Mexican state of Guerrero, not far from the border with Michoacan.
9 American ‘terror’ suspects held in KSA
AFP, Riyadh
Saudi authorities have arrested nine American citizens among 33 “terror” suspects rounded up over the past week, the Saudi Gazette newspaper reported Sunday.
Four Americans were arrested last Monday and five others over the past four days, the paper reported, citing an unidentified source.
Al-Qaida seizes Yemeni town
AP, Sanaa
Yemeni security officials say a local al-Qaida affiliate has seized a town from southern separatists, setting up checkpoints at its entrances and besieging government buildings.
The officials said Monday that al-Qaida gunmen in pickups seized the entrances of the town of Azzan and stormed the city council.
Israel partially closes Ramallah
AP, Ramallah
The Israeli military partially closed off the main Palestinian city in the West Bank on Monday, sealing off roads out of the city intermittently after a nearby shooting the day before that wounded three soldiers.
