All about German parties over spying, Facebook ban in Tripoli

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who once likened his crime-fighting policy to Hitler's mass murders and then apologized for the comparison, on Monday laid a wreath to commemorate the Holocaust dead in Jerusalem.

Philippines' Duterte says 'never again' at Israel's Holocaust memorial

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who once likened his crime-fighting policy to Hitler's mass murders and then apologized for the comparison, on Monday laid a wreath to commemorate the Holocaust dead in Jerusalem. During his visit to Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial and museum, Duterte stood alongside his daughter, Sara, whom he fathered with Elizabeth Abellana Zimmerman, his Jewish first wife, which by religious tradition makes Sara Jewish too.

Pakistan girds for 'exchanges' with Pompeo as the U.S. halts military funding

Pakistan's new foreign minister said he will "have exchanges" with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over Washington's cancellation of a $300 million disbursement for the Pakistani military when he visits Islamabad on Wednesday. Adopting a tougher line with an ally that U.S. President Donald Trump considers unreliable, the United States halted the disbursement of Coalition Support Funds due to Islamabad's perceived failure to take decisive action against Afghan Taliban militants operating from Pakistani soil.

Venezuela says migration flows are 'normal'

Venezuela's government on Monday said migratory patterns out of the OPEC nation are "normal" and that the situation was being exaggerated to justify an intervention by foreign powers. The United Nation's migration agency last month said the exodus of citizens out of Venezuela, which is suffering a hyperinflationary economic collapse, is nearing a "crisis moment" comparable to the situation of refugees in the Mediterranean.

Facebook blocked in Tripoli and other cities as fighting rages: residents

Facebook has been blocked in the Libyan capital of Tripoli and other cities, residents said on Monday as fighting between rival groups raged. Facebook is the main platform for news in Libya with officials, ministries and armed groups that effectively control the country posting statements there.

Myanmar army apologizes for mistaken photos in a book on Rohingya crisis

The Myanmar military issued a rare apology on Monday, acknowledging that two photographs it published in a book on the crisis over the Rohingya Muslim minority were "published incorrectly". Reuters published an exclusive report on Friday revealing that two of the pictures in the book that aimed at illustrating the army's account of last year's events in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine, were, in fact, archive pictures of different conflicts, and one was posted with an incorrect caption.

Special Report: How Myanmar punished two reporters for uncovering an atrocity

Time and again, Myanmar's government appeared at risk of blowing its prosecution of two young journalists who had exposed a massacre of 10 Muslim men and implicated security forces in the killings. On April 20, a prosecution witness revealed in pre-trial hearings that police planted military documents on Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in order to frame them for violating the country's Official Secrets Act. That admission drew gasps from the courtroom.

The man who stabbed American tourists in Amsterdam names Wilders cites 'insults' to Islam

A man who stabbed two American tourists at Amsterdam's central station last week named Dutch, anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders during police questioning and said he was motivated by perceived insults to Islam in the Netherlands, prosecutors said on Monday. The man, identified by Dutch media as Jawed S., is a 19-year-old Afghan with residency in Germany, who traveled to Amsterdam to carry out an attack because of what he said were repeated insults to God, the Koran and Islam's Prophet Mohammed, prosecutors said in a statement.

To spy or not to spy? German parties split over AfD

Differences emerged between Germany's governing parties on Monday over how to respond to the Alternative for Germany's (AfD) alleged ties to anti-Islamic and racist groups, as calls grew for the far-right party to be placed under surveillance. About 6,000 supporters of the AfD and the anti-Islam PEGIDA group turned out to a series of protests in the eastern city of Chemnitz after a man was stabbed to death there last weekend, allegedly by two immigrants.

Myanmar court jails Reuters reporters for seven years in landmark secrets case

A Myanmar judge on Monday found two Reuters journalists guilty of breaching a law on state secrets and jailed them for seven years, in a landmark case seen as a test of progress toward democracy in the Southeast Asian country. Yangon northern district judge Ye Lwin said Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, breached the colonial-era Official Secrets Act when they collected and obtained confidential documents.

Trump warns Syria not to 'recklessly attack' Idlib province

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Iran and Russia not to "recklessly attack" Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, warning that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. "The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don't let that happen!" Trump wrote in a tweet.

(With inputs from Reuters)