Canada’s Trudeau pledges assault rifle ban, pivots campaign amid blackface scandal
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, embroiled in a blackface picture scandal, on Friday pledged to ban military-style assault rifles in the country’s most ethnically diverse city in a bid to get his campaign back on issue.
Russia, in rare U-turn, frees jailed actor after outcry
A Russian court on Friday ordered the release of an aspiring actor whose prison sentence for injuring a police officer on the sidelines of an opposition protest sparked a public outcry over alleged police brutality and judicial injustice.
Drug and medical suppliers say Brexit freight plans needed urgently
Makers and suppliers of life-saving drugs and medical devices say they have still not been told by British authorities how their goods will be handled if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal at the end of October.
Turkey stations doctors near Syrian border for possible military operation: sources
Doctors from Turkey’s large cities have been stationed in two southern provinces to prepare for a possible incursion into northern Syria, two security sources told Reuters on Friday, adding leave for doctors in the region had been canceled.
Indonesia postpones vote on bill criminalizing sex outside marriage
Indonesia’s president ordered parliament on Friday to delay voting on a bill to criminalize extra-marital and gay sex, amid protests and criticism from rights groups and after major tourist market Australia warned its citizens about the plan.
Delay in bill criminalizing sex outside marriage divides Indonesians
Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s decision to delay a planned vote in parliament on a new penal code that would criminalize sex outside marriage and gay sex was met by relief from some but sparked criticism from conservative Muslims who back the new b…
Uzbekistan bars lavish debt-trap weddings
Not more than 250 guests, two music bands, and a maximum of three posh cars in a motorcades – such are the new wedding regulations adopted by the Uzbek parliament this week in an attempt to curb excessive spending and social discord.
Trump expects Iran sanctions to work; military option would work but should never have to use
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he expected sanctions to “work” on Iran and that he preferred that strategy to military action.
U.S. sanctions Iran’s central bank, fund after Saudi oil attack
The United States on Friday imposed another round of sanctions on Tehran, including on Iran’s central bank and a development fund, following last week’s attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia that Riyadh and U.S. officials have blamed on Iran.
Media visit Saudi oil plant damaged in strike blamed on Iran
Saudi Arabia on Friday took media on a tour of oil facilities damaged by attacks that Washington and Riyadh blame on Iran, showing melted pipes and burnt equipment, as Tehran vowed wide retaliation if heightened tensions boil over into hostilities.
