MINSK (Reuters) - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko won re-election with 80% of the vote at the country’s presidential election, the Central Election Commission cited preliminary results as saying on Monday.

Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, a former English teacher who emerged as Lukashenko’s main rival at the elections on Sunday, won 9.9% of the vote,

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday signed a decree to release a final batch of “hardcore” Taliban prisoners demanded by the militants, sources told Reuters, paving the way for long-awaited peace talks to begin in Qatar.

“It is signed,” a presidential palace source said.

Afghanistan’s grand assembly

MINSK (Reuters) - Belarus police fired stun grenades and used batons against protesters in fresh clashes on Monday after the opposition accused President Alexander Lukashenko of rigging his re-election victory to a chorus of criticism from Western leaders.

A Reuters witness saw police dragging protesters out of a crowd and beating them with truncheons in Minsk, and dozens of people detained. Police also blocked off roads in the capital.

One journalist was hospitalised after being shot in the leg by a rubber bullet, RIA news agency reported. Local media reported

ISTANBUL/ATHENS (Reuters) - Turkey dispatched a vessel to conduct a seismic survey in a disputed area in the eastern Mediterranean, a move which Greece said was illegal and is likely to heighten tensions between the two NATO allies.

The advisory issued by the Turkish navy said the Oruc Reis vessel would operate in the area over the next two

ZURICH (Reuters) - Roche Holding's experimental drug etrolizumab did not fare well in late-stage clinical trials in treating people with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, the Swiss drugmaker said bit.ly/33KLTqS on Monday.

“Mixed results were seen in studies evaluating etrolizumab as an induction therapy

(Reuters) - Surging COVID-19 infections in big states like California, Texas and Florida are scaring shoppers away from newly reopened malls, dealing a blow to an industry that was on the ropes even before the pandemic began.

Simon

OSLO (Reuters) - Equinor ( EQNR.OL ) has appointed Anders Opedal as its new chief executive as the Norwegian oil and gas group looks to speed up a move into renewable energy.

The new CEO, who had been Equinor’s head of technology, projects and drilling and is the first engineer to

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* Beijing denounces U.S. moves and Taiwan visit, vows retaliation

* Tencent pulls Hong Kong lower as investors mull restrictions

SHANGHAI, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Shanghai’s benchmark share index rose on Monday and blue-chip shares trimmed early losses, after new data showed factory deflation eased last month in China, adding to signs of a recovery from the coronavirus crisis

(Reuters) - Gold gave up early losses and gained on Monday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said an agreement over coronavirus relief aid could be reached by this week to help the pandemic-hit economy.

Spot gold rose 0.2% to $2,037.70 per ounce by