Washington / AFP US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen urged Washington to reject Turkey’s efforts to extradite him and rejected as “ridiculous” the claim he was behind the past week’s coup attempt. “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today once again demonstrated he will go to any length necessary to solidify his power and persecute his critics,” Gulen said in a statement. …

  London / AFP Anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks has released nearly 300,000 emails linked to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, with Turkey immediately blocking access on Wednesday. WikiLeaks said the emails came from the party’s web domain akparti.org.tr and mainly related to world affairs and not “the most sensitive internal matters”. It said the emails, which date between …

  Jerusalem / AFP Israel’s parliament passed a controversial law that allows the ouster of members accused of racial incitement, which critics have said is intended to target opposition Arab legislators. The bill, supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, allows parliament to vote to sack a member “who incites racism or supports armed struggle against the state of Israel”. The …