“Once again, not guilty your honor,” US Senator Bob Menendez said on Monday as he pleaded not guilty to new charges of obstruction of justice. The allegations against the embattled New Jersey senator have brought renewed attention from the international press to federal charges last year alleging that “Menendez helped one of the men get a lucrative meat-certification [agreement] with Egypt” while chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (New York Times | Associated Press | Reuters)

AND-Egyptian monks killed in South Africa: Three Egyptian Coptic monks were stabbed and killed in a “criminal assault” inside a South African Coptic monastery, Reuters wrote yesterday, citing a report from the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt. The motive is unknown at this stage, a police spokesperson said, but an internal investigation has been launched.

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