World

LUANDA, (Reuters) – Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos called yesterday for a crackdown on social media, heightening concerns about the tolerance of dissent or political opposition in Africa’s number two oil producer.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazil’s Supreme Court handed embattled President Dilma Rousseff two victories yesterday in rulings that improve her chances of blocking an impeachment bid by opponents seeking to oust the unpopular leftist leader.

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Martin Shkreli, the boyish pharmaceutical entrepreneur who caused a public uproar after he drastically raised the price of a life-saving prescription drug, was arrested yesterday for engaging in what U.S.

PARIS, (Reuters) – A French court has ordered Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to face trial over her role in a payout of some 400 million euros ($434 million) to businessman Bernard Tapie, her lawyer said yesterday.

COLOMBO, (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s government said yesterday it would go ahead with billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese projects, almost a year after declaring it would cancel them because of corruption and overpricing.

LONDON, (Reuters) – Britain’s upper house of parliament should be stripped of some of its veto power over new laws, a government-commissioned review into the unelected House of Lords said yesterday.

BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentina’s peso plunged more than 26.5 percent yesterday, after the country’s new government floated the currency as part of a slew of free-market reforms aimed at revitalizing the stagnant economy.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday said his government will summon France’s ambassador to protest a letter by that country’s prime minister congratulating the opposition for winning a congressional majority this month.

MOSCOW, (Reuters) – Russia’s Vladimir Putin subjected Turkey to a furious tirade yesterday, using barrack-room language to wonder aloud whether it had shot down a Russian warplane last month to curry favour with the United States.

GENEVA, (Reuters) – Burundi is on the verge of civil war because of a campaign of political repression in which at least 400 people have been killed and almost 3,500 arrested, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said today.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – A controversial secret congressional vote that stacked an impeachment committee with opponents of President Dilma Rousseff was found legitimate yesterday by the Supreme Court justice who suspended proceedings against her last week.

AMSTERDAM, (Reuters) – A motion of censure against Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte over the handling of a 15-year-old deal with a convicted drug trafficker failed narrowly in parliament last night after almost the entire opposition backed it.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Two senior Venezuelan officials facing U.S. drug trafficking charges are accused in an indictment of taking payments from narcotics traffickers and alerting them to drug raids, according to a person with knowledge of the case.

(Reuters) – U.S. and Cuban officials said yesterday they had made important headway in a months-long effort to restore scheduled flight service between the countries after half a century of confrontation.

BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentina said yesterday it was lifting its currency controls and would allow the peso to float when markets open, setting the stage for a sharp devaluation, following vows by new President Mauricio Macri for reforms to spur economic growth.

(Suzanne Garment, a lawyer, is the author of “Scandal: The Culture of Mistrust in American Politics.”

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Los Angeles shut more than 1,000 public schools yesterday over a threatened attack with bombs and assault rifles, sending hundreds of thousands of students home as city leaders were criticized for overreacting to what authorities later said was apparently a hoax.

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela’s ruling Socialists inaugurated a grassroots assembly yesterday in the same building as the national legislature in a further effort to minimize impact of an opposition election win that has shaken the government.

BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazilian police searched the home of lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha yesterday as part of a series of anti-graft raids against senior political figures, dealing a blow to the man who opened President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment proceedings.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi  Arabia today announced the formation of a 34-state Islamic military coalition to combat terrorism, according to a joint statement published on state news agency SPA.