CANADA
Trudeau, Gates raise billions
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that a record $12.9 billion has been raised for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the next three years. Trudeau made the announcement on the second and final day of an international donors’ meeting as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, U2 frontman Bono, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and others gathered in Montreal to determine how to replenish the major global health fund that combats AIDS and two of the world’s other leading killers in low-income countries.
NIGERIA
Leader sorry for plagiarism
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari apologized for stealing several lines from President Barack Obama’s 2008 election victory speech, a spokesman said Saturday. Those responsible will be held accountable, the spokesman said. Buhari asked Nigerians to overlook the Sept. 8 “incident” and instead concentrate on the message of his speech.
COLOMBIA
FARC has last rebel meeting
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia kicked off its last conference as a rebel army Saturday as it looks to transition into a political movement following the signing of a peace accord to end more than a half-century of hostilities. The FARC’s top leader, Rodrigo Londono, addressed about 500 mostly unarmed and semi-uniformed guerrillas who had arrived from all parts of Colombia to attend the meeting in which top commanders will ratify a peace accord reached with the government last month.
PHILIPPINES
Militants free foreign hostage
Abu Sayyaf extremists on Saturday freed a Norwegian man kidnapped a year ago in the southern Philippines with two Canadians who were later beheaded and a Filipino woman who has been released by the ransom-seeking militants, officials said. Kjartan Sekkingstad was freed in Patikul town in Sulu province and was eventually secured by rebels from the larger Moro National Liberation Front, which has signed a peace deal with the government and helped negotiate his release, Philippine government officials said.
RUSSIA
Parliamentary election begins
Russia’s governing party and its three largely cooperative opponents are expected to retain their positions in the national parliament, but new procedures for choosing the seats could affect their proportions. Voting for the State Duma began Sunday morning in the Far East, nine hours ahead of Moscow and won’t conclude until 22 hours later when polls close in the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.
Compiled from wire reports