Thai PM urges action on human trafficking as U.S. deadline looms
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Tuesday his government would step up measures against human trafficking as the country scrambles to improve its record in fighting the illegal trade before a U.S. deadline to show improv…
Myanmar’s new Catholic cardinal warns against religious extremism
YANGON (Reuters) – Religious extremism could derail Myanmar’s much-vaunted reform process, the Buddhist-majority country’s first Catholic cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, said on Tuesday.
Echoing Erdogan, Turkish PM brands graft scandal a ‘coup attempt’
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said corruption allegations against four former ministers were part of a “coup attempt”, denying on Tuesday that the government had put pressure on a parliamentary commission not to send them to…
Islamic State ‘police’ official beheaded: Syria monitor
BEIRUT (Reuters) – A top figure in Islamic State’s self-declared police force, which has carried out beheadings, was himself found decapitated in eastern Syria, a monitoring group said.
Two Egyptian police shot dead outside Coptic Church south of Cairo
MINYA, Egypt (Reuters) – Two Egyptian policemen were shot dead on Tuesday as they stood guard at a Coptic Christian church in a city south of Cairo, witnesses and a local security source said.
Iraq says rebuilding of army still in early stages
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said on Tuesday that the Iraqi military has started rebuilding after its near total collapse last summer but that the effort is still in its initial phase.
Taliban ‘joke’ joins online mockery over delayed Afghan cabinet
KABUL (Reuters) – The failure of Afghanistan’s new leaders to name a new cabinet after more than three months has sparked a wave of online jokes, with even the Taliban insurgents joining in.
India proposes special police units to probe crimes against women
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – India’s home ministry has proposed setting up 150 special police teams across the country to probe crimes against women and ensure victims get justice, the government said.
China arrests scholar who helped blind dissident flee house arrest
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese authorities have arrested a scholar who helped blind dissident Chen Guangcheng escape house arrest in 2012, the scholar’s wife said on Tuesday, in a case that activists say signals a tighter grip on civil liberties.
Shanghai stampede families await answers, fear being silenced
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Three days after his sister and 35 others were killed in a New Year’s Eve stampede, Wang Jianhua went to Shanghai’s waterfront to take pictures and measurements of the scene, hoping to piece together for himself how the disaster un…
