Turkish police swoop on Erdogan foes, dozens detained
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish police launched an operation on Friday to detain dozens of people including businessmen seen as supporters of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, President Tayyip Erdogan’s ally-turned-foe, a provincial governor’s off…
‘My parents tried to marry me off as a child’: Indian activist
CASABLANCA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – At the age of 14 Usha Choudary was betrothed to a man she had never met. She refused to go through with the marriage. When her parents insisted, she threatened to kill herself.
Polish court seeks U.S. help on Polanski case by August 8
WARSAW (Reuters) – A Polish court on Friday said that it has requested legal help from the United States as it decides whether to extradite filmmaker Roman Polanski over a 1977 child sex crime conviction and that the United States has until Aug. 8 to r…
Stretched Afghan army falls back on militias to help defend Kunduz
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan/KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan government has enlisted hundreds of militia fighters controlled by local commanders to battle Taliban militants near the northern city of Kunduz, officials said, underlining how the armed forces are stru…
Nepalis return to quake epicenter to rebuild stone by stone
BARPAK, Nepal (Reuters) – Dressed in his brother’s old British army fatigues, Mohan Ghale is rebuilding his mother’s home stone by stone, after returning to Barpak village, high in the Himalayas, which was demolished by last month’s earthquake.
Islamic State says it has full control of Syria’s Palmyra
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Islamic State fighters tightened their grip on the historic Syrian city of Palmyra on Thursday and overran Iraqi government defenses east of Ramadi, the provincial capital that they seized five days earlier.
Shelling kills one worker at east Ukraine coke plant: Metinvest
KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s largest steel company, Metinvest, said on Friday one worker had been killed and two wounded after its Avdiyivka coke plant in east Ukraine was hit by heavy shelling, damaging the factory’s equipment and transport infrastructu…
UK’s Cameron uses EU summit to campaign for pre-referendum reforms
RIGA (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday began his campaign to persuade European leaders to make changes to the European Union before he holds a referendum to decide whether Britain should stay in or quit the bloc.
China calls for immediate end to conflict in South Sudan
BEIJING (Reuters) – China called on Friday for an end to conflict in South Sudan where fighting has caused thousands of people to flee from their homes and prompted warnings to oil companies to shut down operations.
South Korea says North drops demand for wage hike at joint factory park
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has dropped a demand for a wage hike for its workers at the Kaesong factory park run jointly with Seoul, South Korea said on Friday, paving the way for talks to resolve the latest dispute over the zone.
