Philippines demands proof for rights group’s assertion of police ‘executions’
MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines on Thursday dismissed as “thoughtless and irresponsible” a report by Human Rights Watch that President Rodrigo Duterte had turned a blind eye to murders by police in what the group called a “campaign of extrajudicial …
Brussels tells EU states to detain more freely migrants awaiting deportation
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union member states should be ready to detain more migrants who have no case for asylum to prevent them from running away before they are deported, the chief migration official with the bloc’s executive arm in Brussels sai…
Suspected U.S. drone strike kills two in Pakistan near Afghan border: village elder
KURRAM AGENCY, Pakistan (Reuters) – A suspected U.S. drone strike killed two men on Thursday in a Pakistani village near the Afghanistan border, a local government official and a village elder said.
Uighur IS fighters vow blood will ‘flow in rivers’ in China
BEIJING (Reuters) – Vowing to plant their flag in China and that blood will “flow in rivers”, a video released this week purportedly by the Islamic State group shows ethnic Uighur fighters training in Iraq, underscoring what Beijing sees as a serious t…
Oil pumping from Iraq’s Kirkuk fields stops as Kurdish forces search for explosives
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Oil pumping from Iraq’s northern Kirkuk fields stopped on Thursday after Kurdish forces were deployed in the area to search for explosives said to have been planted by Islamic State, sources from the Kurdish security forces and oil …
Under Xi, wealth of China’s uber-rich lawmakers grew faster than economy
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The fortunes of the richest 100 members of China’s parliament and its advisory body – all dollar billionaires – grew about 64 percent in the four years since Xi Jinping rose to power, according to data from an organization tracking…
Japanese emperor meets former soldiers’ families in Vietnam
HANOI (Reuters) – Japan’s Emperor Akihito met the Vietnamese families of Japanese World War Two soldiers on Thursday on his first visit to Vietnam, one of many trips he has used to try to soothe the wounds of war.
With Libya’s transition paralyzed, a would-be premier projects power in Tripoli
TRIPOLI (Reuters) – In a cluster of luxury residences that survived Tripoli’s battles almost unscathed, a self-declared defender of Libya’s revolution has set up base as one of three claimants to the country’s premiership.
Japan’s Abe has shot at extended PM run, and planned charter reform
TOKYO (Reuters) – Already rare among Group of Seven leaders for the stability of his reign, Shinzo Abe will have a shot at becoming Japan’s longest-serving prime minister after his party changes a rule allowing him to serve a third consecutive three-ye…
Land haunts Germany’s effort to atone for Africa genocide
OKAHANDJA, Namibia (Reuters) – Namibia’s Herero people are heartened that Germany is keen to atone for the genocide of their ancestors, but they expect something Berlin says it is not in a position to give.
