Jail, lawsuits cast shadow over Myanmar media freedom
YANGON (Reuters) – Two years after Myanmar scrapped censorship in one of its boldest reforms, its journalists are again living in fear of jail and are convinced a state-sponsored crackdown is under way to limit press freedom.
Hackers deface Bulgarian church website over mosque attack
SOFIA (Reuters) – Hackers defaced the website of Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church on Thursday, accusing the organization of failing to condemn an attack on a mosque and underlining simmering sectarian tensions in the EU’s poorest country.
Azerbaijan sentences opposition journalist to eight years in jail
BAKU (Reuters) – An opposition journalist in Azerbaijan was sentenced on Thursday to eight years in prison in a case critics say highlights a government-led crackdown on dissent in the oil-rich former Soviet republic.
Thai July election unlikely as renewed unrest grips Bangkok
BANGKOK (Reuters) – A Thai general election is unlikely to go ahead in July after renewed unrest, officials said on Thursday, as the acting prime minister was forced by protesters to flee a meeting with electoral officers and gunmen killed three people…
Sudanese woman sentenced to death for converting to Christianity
KHARTOUM (Reuters) – A Sudanese court has sentenced a 27-year-old woman to death for converting to Christianity, judicial sources said.
India’s Modi on course to become prime minister: latest exit polls
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi is set to become India’s next prime minister, according to a major exit poll released late on Wednesday, following others forecasting that his opposition party and its allies could win a parliamenta…
Afghan presidential election heads for run-off in mid-June
KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan election headed for a second round run-off in mid-June between Abdullah Abdullah, a former opposition leader, and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani after final results on Thursday showed no candidate had won an absolute …
As attitudes change in China, people look to the sea for burial
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Before Li Zhenxuan died at the age 101, the former chief officer of a Chinese riverboat told his son he wanted his ashes to be spread at sea along with those of his mother, who passed away in 1965, and his wife, who died in 1995.
Exclusive: Egypt’s Sisi asks for U.S. help in fighting terrorism
CAIRO (Reuters) – Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who ousted an elected Islamist president and is set to become Egypt’s next head of state, called on the United States to help fight jihadi terrorism to avoid the creation of new Afghanistans in the Mi…
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe on another ‘routine’ Singapore check-up
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s 90-year-old President Robert Mugabe is in Singapore for “another routine eye check-up”, his spokesman said on Thursday, playing down concerns about the health of the veteran African leader who has no obvious successor.
