Malé / AFP The Maldives brushed off warnings from Western governments on Monday that a new defamation bill risked undermining basic freedoms on the troubled honeymoon islands, accusing its critics of hypocrisy. After a joint statement from Western missions urging President Abdulla Yameen’s administration to “return to the path of democracy”, the government countered that the same countries had …

  Baghdad / AFP One of the deadliest bombings to ever hit Iraq killed 323 people, two thirds of whom needed DNA testing to identify, the health minister said, raising an earlier toll from last month’s attack. A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-rigged minibus in a crowded shopping area in Baghdad’s Karrada district early on July 3, sparking infernos in …

  Istanbul / AFP Turkey summoned a senior German diplomat on Monday, a day after a rally in Cologne in support of the Turkish president who was not permitted to address the crowd by video link. The coup aimed to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has since launched a sweeping nationwide purge of suspected Gulen supporters, dismissing tens of …