Benjamin Netanyahu has won a reprieve from the threat of early elections in Israel after a senior member of his cabinet announced he would not resign and break up the coalition government.Naftali Bennett, the hardliner education minister, was widely expected to quit during a press conference on Monday morning but instead said in a surprise announcement that his Jewish Home party would give the prime minister another chance.

Bennett, a security hawk, had considered following Netanyahu’s defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who left the Israeli government to protest against Netanyahu’s decision to agree to a truce with the rulers of Gaza, Hamas. The Tuesday ceasefire followed the most intense round of fighting since the war in 2014, as militants and Israeli forces battled each other with rockets and airstrikes.

Bennett had threatened to bring down the government if he was not appointed defence minister, a portfolio Netanyahu gave to himself on Sunday. If the education minister had left, he would have stripped the prime minister of his parliamentary majority and triggered early polls.(theguardian)…[+]

Russian authorities have announced new charges against the US-born British financier William Browder – another twist in a highly politicised case that has seen the Kremlin tirelessly go after one of its most vocal international critics.

On Monday, prosecutors in Moscow accused Browder of organising a “transnational criminal group” and claimed he may have poisoned Sergei Magnitsky, the lawyer who uncovered huge government-linked fraud and died in prison. Browder has accused Russian prison officials of causing Magnitsky’s death. Prosecutors said the charges carried a potential 20-year sentence. The move would increase unease about the prospect of a Russian candidate taking over Interpol, the international police agency. The Sunday Times reported that British officials believe Alexander Prokopchuk, a 56-year-old veteran of the Russian interior ministry, was likely to be elected the next secretary general of the organisation during its general assembly this week. It comes after Interpol’s Chinese head Meng Hongwei resigned in October. China’s anti-corruption authorities have been investigating him.(theguardian)…[+]

SUSPENDED Senior Superintendent of Police Edward Castillo was gunned down at his business place in Waterloo on Saturday afternoon. Gunmen went to Aiden’s Mini Mart and Meat Shop around 6 p.m. in Waterloo, pretending to be customers. Castillo was shot multiple times as he attended to the men. The father of five died at the scene. A woman was also shot in the leg, the Sunday Express was told. Police have arrested one man in connection with the case. Two others have been identified. Castillo was suspended from the Police Service in 2012. He later faced three charges of indecent assault against women police officers which were allegedly committed between 2003 and 2010. He also faced a charge of unlawfully imprisoning one of the officers against her will. The matters were still pending before the court. His attorney Prakash Ramadhar said yesterday he was saddened by the news. “We were very eager to have the matters ventilated to vindicate his good name and reputation. It is very sad he left this life with these matters and his name under some cloud.” Castillo’s killing brought the murder toll for the year so far to 463.(Trinidad Express)…[+]