Congo election preparations shaky, monitors say, with opposition ahead

Polling stations in Democratic Republic of Congo are ill-prepared for Sunday's presidential election, diplomats and an observer mission said, as new polling showed opposition candidate Martin Fayulu favored to win.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2SoUDun

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Trump threatens to close southern border if not given wall funding

President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to close the U.S. southern border if Congress does not agree to provide $5 billion in taxpayer funds for his promised wall along the border with Mexico.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2EV9uJb

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Trump threatens to shut Mexican border in demand for wall funding

The US leader is locked in a dispute with Congress over funding for his proposed wall.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2Rk48xD

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Ahead of Bangladesh vote, opposition says it faces 'a reign of terror'

Bangladesh has a general election this weekend, but opposition candidate Abdul Moyeen Khan says he has yet to hold a single public meeting in his constituency about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Dhaka, the capital.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2TdDTGg

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Taliban seeks image makeover as Afghan peace talks gain momentum

As moves toward peace pick up in Afghanistan, the Taliban are trying to show they have changed since the brutal days of the 1990s when they banned music and girls' education and carried out public executions in Kabul's football stadium.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2Skjyze

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UK's Royal Mail sorry for D-Day landings stamp blunder

Britain's Royal Mail apologized on Friday after historians pointed out that a stamp design it planned to issue to commemorate the D-Day landings in France in fact showed U.S. troops going ashore thousands of miles away weeks earlier.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2Alvfys

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Congo election monitors warn of shaky preparations, poll shows opposition in lead

Polling stations in Democratic Republic of Congo are ill-prepared for Sunday's presidential vote, diplomats and an observer mission said, as polling released on Friday showed opposition candidate Martin Fayulu favored to win.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2BIQt9v

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Israeli author Amos Oz dead of cancer at 79: daughter

Israeli novelist Amos Oz has died of cancer at the age of 79, his daughter said on Friday.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2RiLENX

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Islamists kill at least 10 in bid to capture northeast Nigerian lake town: residents

Islamist militants and Nigerian troops have been fighting around a fishing town on Lake Chad as the insurgents step up attacks in the run-up to a presidential election in which security is a campaign issue, the army and residents said.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2rZKb0M

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Russia and Britain to start returning diplomats in January: TASS

Moscow and London have reached an agreement to return some staff to their respective embassies after they expelled dozens of diplomats early this year, TASS news agency reported on Friday, citing the Russian envoy to the UK.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2LI6txa

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Shot in the back: the dangers of being an opposition candidate in Bangladesh

At a library inside a small district court in southeastern Bangladesh, barrister Mahabub Uddin Khokon stood up to take off his coat and scrunched his white shirt up to his shoulders to reveal a back covered in bandages over several shotgun pellet wounds. Settling back into an office chair, the 62-year-old smiled.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2GJwj52

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Brexit won't affect Spain-based Britons' rights, PM Sanchez says

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sought on Friday to reassure Britons living in Spain, saying their rights would remain unchanged after Britain's exit from the European Union.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2CDIxI4

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Tear gas used as Sudan protests continue

Hundreds demonstrate in Omdurman after Friday prayers, following nine days of anger over prices.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2EUpgVp

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Madagascar pochard: World's rarest bird gets new home

A species of duck thought to have been wiped out a decade ago is re-released at a lake in Madagascar.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2TfNkoB

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Turkey-backed Syrian rebels move toward Manbij front: rebel

The main Turkey-backed Syrian rebel force said on Friday that its convoys, along with Turkish forces, were moving toward the frontlines with the Syrian town of Manbij, in "full readiness... to start military operations to liberate" the town.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2SnUtTR

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World's rarest bird gets new home in Madagascar

Conservationists hope to save a species of duck called the Madagascar pochard from extinction.

from BBC News - World https://bbc.in/2RiS7bI

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Unidentified gunmen kill 10 gendarmes in Burkina Faso

Gunmen killed 10 Burkinabe gendarmes in a village near the Malian border this week, Burkina Faso's security ministry said, in a further sign of deteriorating security in a country once seen as one of the region's more stable.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2Q6lGbW

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