Cilacap / AFP Indonesia on Thursday rejected appeals from the UN and EU to halt the execution of 14 drug convicts including foreigners, as speculation mounted they could face the firing squad in a matter of hours. The group, including foreigners from Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe as well as Indonesians, have been placed in isolation on a prison island …

  Dhaka / AFP A Bangladesh court on Thursday upheld the death sentence for six militants convicted over a suicide bombing in 2005 of a lawyer’s office that killed eight people, a top prosecutor said. Bangladesh’s judiciary is under pressure to fast track cases involving militants as the government faces mounting criticism to crackdown on extremists over a series of recent …

  Berlin / AFP German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday “firmly” rejected calls to reverse her welcoming stance toward refugees following a series of brutal attacks in the country. Merkel told reporters that the assailants “wanted to undermine our sense of community, our openness and our willingness to help people in need”. “We firmly reject this,” she said. Merkel, who interrupted …