By Alister Doyle SKIEN, Norway (Reuters) - Norway will appeal on Tuesday against a court ruling that it violated the human rights of mass killer Anders Behring Breivik by keeping him too isolated in jail after he massacred 77 people in 2011.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition-led Congress on Monday approved a resolution declaring that President Nicolas Maduro had "abandoned his post," a symbolic move unlikely to break a year-long stalemate between the executive and the legislature.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba on Monday named Vice Admiral Julio Cesar Gandarilla to the powerful post of Interior Minister, replacing Fernandez Godin, who died on Friday at the age of 78.

By Stephen Kalin and Isabel Coles MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi special forces made further advances against Islamic State in Mosul on Monday, pushing militants from another eastern district and edging closer to army units nearby, officers in the city said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday blacklisted Alexander Bastrykin, Russia's top investigator and a close aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and four other Russian officials for human rights abuses. The sanctions, announced by the U.S. Treasury Department, are not tied to U.S. hacking allegations against Russia but to the 2012 U.S.

By Gustavo Palencia TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen praised Honduras for its loyalty on Monday at the start of a trip to four Central American nations aimed at strengthening ties, days after she met U.S. lawmakers in Texas on a visit that angered China. Her trip has come under scrutiny since U.S.

By Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy destroyer fired three warning shots at four Iranian fast-attack vessels near the Strait of Hormuz after they closed in at high speed and disregarded repeated requests to slow down, U.S. officials said on Monday. The incident, which occurred on Sunday and was first reported by Reuters, comes as U.S.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is always gathering and analysing information on North Korea's nuclear missile situation with great interest, its top government spokesman said on Tuesday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that the government was taking all possible measures for warning and surveillance of North Korea.

By Tom Westbrook SYDNEY - Australia's health minister stepped down temporarily on Monday to allow auditors to scour her expense accounts after she bought an investment apartment while on a work trip, an embarrassing start to the year for embattled Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

GENEVA - Leaders of ethnically split Cyprus are scheduled to launch a week of intensive talks from Monday to reach the outline of a peace deal to end decades of division. Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci and Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades were to meet at the United Nations' European headquarters in Geneva for three full days of discussions.