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Tough choices as Brazil's Lula gets down to business
Tough choices as Brazil's Lula gets down to business
World
by  AFP

Fresh off a celebratory beach holiday, Brazilian president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva got down to uglier business Monday: figuring out how to govern with a hostile Congress, nasty budget crunch and impossible-looking to-do list. Lula is meeting Monday with advisers in Sao Paulo.

Chad junta chief names 100 more MPs
Chad junta chief names 100 more MPs
Africa
by  AFP

General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno on Monday appointed by decree 104 more members of his "parliament" as he leads Chad's two-year transitional government after taking power on the death of his father.

Madrid denies migrants died on Spanish side of border
Madrid denies migrants died on Spanish side of border
Africa
by  AFP

Madrid on Monday denied that migrants had died on Spanish soil during a deadly mass border crossing from Morocco earlier this year as claimed by a BBC documentary. Last Tuesday, British broadcaster BBC released a documentary that claimed lifeless bodies were dragged by Moroccan police from an area that was Spanish-controlled, casting doubt on official government accounts.

Defiance by candlelight as Kyiv adapts to blackouts
Defiance by candlelight as Kyiv adapts to blackouts
World
by  AFP

When their apartment block in northern Kyiv goes dark just after 6:00 pm as scheduled, residents Iren Rozdobudko and Igor Zhuk are ready. The buildings in the neighbourhood where Rozdobudko and her husband Zhuk live experienced three four-hour power cuts on Saturday -- from midnight to 4:00 am, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and again from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm.

Three Egyptian journalists start hunger strike to free dissident
Three Egyptian journalists start hunger strike to free dissident
Africa
by  AFP

Three Egyptian journalists said Monday they had begun hunger strikes to demand authorities free Alaa Abdel Fattah, a jailed political dissident who has been refusing food and now water too. After a seven-month hunger strike during which he consumed only "100 calories a day", Alaa Abdel Fattah has refused food altogether since last Tuesday.