Politics

  Cologne / AFP Tens of thousands of supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rallied in the German city of Cologne on Sunday as tensions over Turkey’s failed coup put authorities on edge. Waving the Turkish flag and chanting “Turkey”, the demonstrators turned the rally site next to the River Rhine into a sea of red as they began ...

  Ankara / AFP Turkey’s government on Sunday dismissed nearly 1,400 military personnel, including a top aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the latest round of a sweeping purge following a failed coup. The announcement in the official gazette came as Erdogan sought to tighten his grip over the country by bringing the armed forces and spy agency under his ...

  Ankara / AFP The United States must extradite Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen to Turkey to remove any suspicion that Washington was involved in the failed July 15 coup, the mayor of Ankara Melih Gokcek said. Gokcek, mayor for over 22 years and one of the most senior figures in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of President Recep Tayyip ...

  Washington / AFP Washington has warned that those who perpetrate atrocities in South Sudan’s civil war will be held responsible for their crimes. The United States served as a midwife in the creation of the South Sudan, formed in July 2011 by partitioning Sudan. But South Sudan descended into war in December 2013, and a peace deal signed last year ...

  Kuwait City / AFP The Yemeni government said Sunday it has accepted a UN-proposed peace agreement to end more than a year of armed conflict, but there has been no word from the rebels. The announcement by the Saudi-backed government came after a high-level meeting in Kuwait’s capital chaired by Yemen’s President Aberabbo Mansour Hadi. “The meeting approved the draft ...

  Beijing / AFP Dozens of civilians left the besieged and battered opposition-held east of Syria’s Aleppo city on Saturday through a “humanitarian corridor” to the government-held west, state media reported. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that “a number” of civilians had crossed into government territory. The crossings were the first major movement of people from ...

  Lahore / AFP A man killed his two sisters on the eve of their weddings in Pakistan’s central Punjab province, police said on Saturday, in the latest case of so-called “honour” killings in the country. Kosar and Gulzar Bibi, aged 22 and 28, were shot dead by 35-year-old brother Nasir Hussain on Friday as they prepared to marry men they ...

  Tokyo / AFP Beijing said it has detained and questioned a Japanese national working on cultural exchange projects for allegedly “endangering China’s national security”, Japanese newspapers reported on Saturday. The man, who has been missing since mid-July, was identified by the Nikkei business daily as the Japanese head of an organisation working to improve ties between the two rivals. China ...

  Ankara / AFP Turkey was on Saturday holding 17 journalists on charges of “terror group” membership as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Western critics to “mind your own business” over a relentless crackdown following a failed coup. But in a goodwill gesture two weeks after the July 15 coup bid, Erdogan also announced he was withdrawing thousands of lawsuits against ...

  Paris / AFP Muslim and Christian groups will hold vigils for a French priest murdered by extremists on Saturday, as authorities charged a man in connection with the brutal church attack that rocked the nation. A shellshocked France is still coming to terms with the extremist murder of a priest at his altar that has sparked fears of tensions between ...