Pakistan’s parliament votes for military courts to try insurgents
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan’s parliament on Tuesday passed legislation allowing military courts to try insurgents, one of a raft of measures aimed at clamping down on increasingly brutal attacks after Taliban gunmen massacred 134 children last month…
Israeli nationalist leader in spotlight over 1996 Lebanon attack
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Naftali Bennett, leader of an ultra-nationalist Israeli party and a potential future defense minister, is in the spotlight over his indirect role in an army shelling attack that killed more than 100 Lebanese civilians nearly two d…
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.
