Russia jails Navalny campaigner for nine years for “extremism”

(Reuters) – The former head of a local branch of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s campaign organisation was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison for participating in an “extremist community”, Navalny’s team said on Monday.Vadim Ostanin, who had run Navalny’s local headquarters in the Siberian city of Barnaul, had carried out only “legal political…

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Spanish parties begin talks to try to break electoral deadlock

By Joan Faus and Belén Carreño BARCELONA/MADRID (Reuters) -Spain’s conservative People’s Party (PP) has started talks with other parties to seek their support to lead a new government while the ruling Socialist (PSOE) party said it wanted to avoid a repeat ballot after Sunday’s election produced a hung parliament. PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo hailed…

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Iraq condemns burning of Koran in Copenhagen, says Danish mission staff have left Baghdad

DUBAI/COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Iraq condemned the burning of a copy of the Koran in front of its embassy in Denmark on Monday and said Danish staff at the embassy in Baghdad had left the country after protests there, while Copenhagen said it had “not withdrawn from Iraq”. Demonstrations have raged across Iran and Iraq after Denmark…

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