World briefs

news@dailylobo.com
@ArdeeTheJourno

Egypt
Interim Egyptian President Adly Mansour passed a law on Sunday that outlawed public gatherings of more than 10 people without government permission in an effort to limit protests in the country. The new law requires protesters to request a protest permit three days in advance, and prohibits them from assembling in places of religious worship, The Associated Press reports. The law authorizes police officers to use weapons, such as tear gas and water cannons, after warnings during protests. Violent protests face a $44,000, and those without a permit are fined $1,500.

Honduras
Hondurans lined up at the polls in the capital Tegucigalpa Sunday to choose a new president. This election cycle occurs in the aftermath of a 2009 coup d’état. Xiomara Castro, whose husband, former president Manuel Zelaya, was overthrown by the military four years ago, faces off against conservative Juan Orlando Hernandez. According to the AP, Castro had been leading polls in recent months, but Hernandez has caught up because of promises law and order in the country, leaving current predictions at an unpredictable tie.

Iraq
One journalist and five other people were killed nationwide in the war-torn country Sunday as part of a recent surge in militant violence. Gunmen shot Alaa Edwar, a television journalist working for the local station Nineveh al-Ghad, in his home at the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. According to Agence France-Presse, 200 people were killed by militants around the country last week, including three other journalists. Officials suspect that the violence was caused by al-Qaida resurgence in neighboring Syria.

Latvia
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the collapse of a supermarket in the Eastern European capital Riga. The structure crumbled to the ground on Thursday possibly because of design flaws, killing at least 54 people. A second collapse killed three more firefighters who were rescuing victims under the rubble later that day, AFP reports. Rescuers continue to search the rubble for survivors Sunday, and police reported that “seven of 13 people who had earlier been reported missing remain unaccounted for,” according to AFP.

Mali
Sunday’s legislative elections in the West African country rolled through a rough patch after efforts of sabotage by rebels. The election cycle follows the murder of two Radio France Internationale journalists in the northern Malian town of Kidal, according to AP. On Sunday, members of separatist group Tuareg National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad threw stones at voters in Kidal, injuring three. In Timbuktu, rebels were reported to have stolen 10 ballot boxes. Rebels also launched rockets on Thursday into military posts in Gao.

Spain
Right-wing demonstrators gathered outside Madrid’s downtown Royal Palace on Sunday to celebrate the 38th anniversary of the death of former Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco. Members of the Spanish Patriotic Knot, a right-wing association that addressed protesters, urged the government to oppose immigration to counter the country’s high unemployment rate. According to AP, participants “made stiff-arm salutes and … sold far-right, fascist and Nazi memorabilia to curious passers-by.”

Thailand
About 100,000 protesters, some in support of the government and some against, took to the streets of Bangkok Sunday in one of the biggest political rallies in the country. According to AFP, 90,000 protesters gathered in public to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and for the reformation of her government. An additional counter-protest summoned 50,000 pro-government protesters, who call themselves “Red Shirts,” in a football stadium in the capital, according to AFP.

Ukraine
In an effort to urge the Ukrainian government to sign an agreement with the European Union, about 50,000 demonstrators rallied in the streets of the capital Kiev on Sunday. Protesters called for President Viktor Yanukovych to sign the free trade and political association deal with the EU in the body’s upcoming summit Friday. Protesters stated that they would not vacate the city until the president agrees to sign the agreement despite harshly cold conditions. This is the largest protest the country has experienced since 2004’s Orange Revolution, AP reported.