World

KUALA LUMPUR,  (Reuters) – Malaysia’s opposition alliance named former premier Mahathir Mohamad yesterday as its prime ministerial candidate for a general election this year, although the authoritarian who ran the country for two decades and is now 92 years old faces an uphill task.

MEXICO CITY, (Reuters) – The aftermath of a gunfight on the outskirts of the Mexican seaside resort of Acapulco that pit residents of a small town against members of a local, self-appointed community police force has left 11 dead, state officials said yesterday.

DUBAI,  (Reuters) – Iran has banned the teaching of English in primary schools, a senior education official said, after Islamic leaders warned that early learning of the language opened the way to a Western “cultural invasion”.

OSLO,  (Reuters) – The deputy head of Norway’s main opposition Labour Party said yesterday he was resigning following accusations of sexual harassment.

KUALA LUMPUR, (Reuters) – Malaysia’s opposition coalition today named 92-year old former premier Mahathir Mohamad as its prime ministerial candidate for a general election that must be called by August.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump yesterday rejected an author’s accusations that he is mentally unfit for office and said his business career and election victory showed he is “a very stable genius.”

BOSTON/NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A shroud of bone-chilling arctic air covered the U.S.

BERLIN, (Reuters) – More than three months after a German election, Chancellor Angela Merkel is still scrambling to form a new government and will today launch a five-day attempt to persuade the Social Democrats (SPD) to join a coalition with her conservatives.

 (Reuters) – U.S. astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon in 1972 and even smuggled a corned beef sandwich into orbit during a career that made him the only person to fly with three NASA space programs, has died at age 87, officials said yesterday.

RIYADH/DUBAI,  (Reuters) – Saudi Arabian authorities have detained 11 princes after they gathered at a royal palace in Riyadh in a rare protest against the government suspending payment of their utility bills, the public prosecutor said on Saturday.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – President Nicolas Maduro said yesterday that Venezuela would issue 100 million units of its new oil-backed cryptocurrency in coming days, although it is unclear whether any investors will want to purchase the “petro” at a time when the OPEC member is going through a deep economic crisis and its leftist government has little credibility.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The author of a deeply critical book about Donald Trump’s first year in office said yesterday he had spoken with the president while working on it, contradicting Trump’s assertion that he had never talked to the writer for the book and had not authorized any access to the White House.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States is examining ways to mitigate any Pakistani retaliation as it piles pressure on Islamabad to crack down on militants, a senior U.S.

TORONTO/MONTREAL, (Reuters) – Canada’s largest city, Toronto, scrambled to find emergency shelter for the homeless as temperatures dropped to record lows after a “weather bomb” knocked out power to tens of thousands in eastern provinces and destroyed coastal roads.

(Reuters) – Dozens of passengers were evacuated from an aircraft at Toronto’s Pearson Airport yesterday, after a plane under tow struck an arriving jet that was waiting to park, sparking a small fire, the airport authority said.

SEOUL, (Reuters) – North and South Korea will hold official talks next week for the first time in more than two years after Pyongyang accepted Seoul’s offer for dialogue, just hours after the United States and South Korea delayed a joint military exercise.

BOSTON/NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A powerful blizzard battered the U.S. Northeast hursday, knocking out power for tens of thousands of people and snarling travel amid a cold snap that has gripped much of the United States for over a week and killed more than a dozen people.

HAVANA, (Reuters) – The European Union’s top diplomat Federica Mogherini met Cuban President Raul Castro yesterday as she ended a two-day visit to the Communist country aimed at strengthening engagement even as the Trump administration backtracks on a fragile detente.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – The Dow industrials broke above the 25,000 level for the first time yesterday and other major indexes hit closing record highs again, propelled by strong global economic data that extended the New Year’s rally for the stock market.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – President Donald Trump is ramping up calls on the U.S.