Refugee conventions a tool for ‘death voyages’: Australian minister
SYDNEY (Reuters) – The U.N. refugee conventions have become a tool to facilitate people-smuggling “death voyages”, Australia’s immigration minister said on Monday, amid mounting criticism of the country’s hardline asylum seeker policies.
U.S. reconnaissance plane crosses into Sweden to avoid Russians – NY Times
(Reuters) – A U.S. reconnaissance plane crossed into Swedish airspace last month as it sought to avoid being intercepted by Russian fighters, the New York Times reported on Sunday, citing U.S. military officials.
Japan, China seek to hold summit at APEC in November: media
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan and China are trying to arrange two-way talks between their leaders at a summit of APEC leaders in November in Beijing, in a bid to mend ties strained over a territorial spat and wartime history, the Nikkei business daily said o…
Son of prominent Mexican politician charged in drug cartel case
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The son of a prominent ruling party politician in Mexico was charged on Sunday with withholding evidence as authorities investigate his potential ties to organized crime after a video surfaced showing him meeting with one of the…
At least 367 dead after quake hits southwest China
BEIJING (Reuters) – A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck southwestern China on Sunday, killing at least 367 people and leaving 1,881 injured in a remote area of Yunnan province, and causing thousands of buildings, including a school, to collapse.
Turkey’s Erdogan lashes out at Israel at election rally
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel on Sunday of deliberately killing Palestinian mothers and warned it would “drown in the blood it sheds”, pulling foreign policy to centre stage as a presidential race enters its …
Islamic State grabs Iraqi dam and oilfield in victory over Kurds
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Islamic State fighters seized control of Iraq’s biggest dam, an oilfield and three more towns on Sunday after inflicting their first major defeat on Kurdish forces since sweeping across much of northern Iraq in June.
Ten dead in strike on school in new Gaza fighting
GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli air strike killed 10 people and wounded about 30 on Sunday in a U.N.-run school in the southern Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official said, as dozens died in Israeli shelling of the enclave and Hamas fired rockets at …
Iran’s elite Guards fighting in Iraq to push back Islamic State
BEIRUT (Reuters) – In early July, hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral of Kamal Shirkhani in Lavasan, a small town northeast of the Iranian capital Tehran. The crowd carried the coffin past posters which showed Shirkhani in the green uniform o…
German magazine reports Israel spied on Kerry last year
BERLIN (Reuters) – German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Sunday that Israel and at least one other intelligence agency were listening in on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s unsecured phone calls last year when he was holding nearly daily negotiat…
