Dutch far right’s Geert Wilders: I will boycott “political” trial
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Islam opposition leader, said on Friday that he refuses to attend his trial next week and that he sees it as politically motivated.
Malaysia to buy navy vessels from China in blow to U.S.
MANILA/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia will sign a contract to purchase Littoral Mission Ships from China when Prime Minister Najib Razak visits Beijing next week, according to a Facebook posting by the country’s Ministry of Defence.
Myanmar investigators dismiss missing plane reports, end search
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar has halted an investigation into unconfirmed reports of an aircraft crashing into the sea off the country’s west coast on Friday, a senior official with the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) said.
Hungary’s PM threatens to sue EU over mandatory migrant quotas
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary will sue the European Commission and resist mandatory migrant resettlement quotas if Brussels does not take them off the agenda, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday.
Rebel shelling kills children at school in west Aleppo: government, monitor
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Shelling by Syrian rebels killed several children at a school in government-held western Aleppo on Thursday, state media and a monitoring group said, just a day after air strikes on a school in a rebel-held village in Idlib, 50km (32…
All hail the mighty uncle – Chinese welcome Xi as the “core”
BEIJING (Reuters) – Hailing “mighty Uncle Xi”, Chinese people have taken to social media using an old imperial term to welcome President Xi Jinping’s naming by the Communist Party as its “core”, despite party efforts to limit his cult of personality.
Philippine mayor among 10 killed in shootout as drug war enters new phase
MANILA (Reuters) – A mayor on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s wanted list for alleged drugs links was killed along with nine of his guards in a shootout on Friday, police said, as a new phase of a bloody narcotics crackdown zeroed-in on high pro…
World’s largest marine park created in Antarctic Ocean
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Twenty-four countries and the European Union agreed on Friday to create the world’s largest marine park in the Antarctic Ocean, covering a massive 1.55 million square km (600,000 square miles) of ocean.
Two senior Chinese officers expelled from Communist Party
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s ruling Communist Party has expelled from its ranks two senior military officers for corruption, state media said, part of President Xi Jinping’s sweeping campaign against graft in all sectors of the government.
World Bank appoints first adviser to tackle LGBTI discrimination
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The World Bank has appointed its first adviser tasked with promoting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) issues in its development work.
