India / AFP A special court in India has sentenced 47 policemen to life in prison for killing a group of Sikh pilgrims in 1991 whom they had claimed were militants, a prosecutor said on Tuesday. The officers were convicted of shooting dead the pilgrims to try and earn promotions in Uttar Pradesh state which at the time was hit …

Ankara / AFP German Chancellor Angela Merkel will next week inaugurate a new centre for Syrian refugees in the southeastern Turkish city of Kilis built with EU funds, Turkey’s prime minister said on Tuesday. “We are going to inaugurate a school and a hospital built in Kilis thanks to EU financing with European leaders led by Mrs Merkel,” said Turkish …

Kabul / AFP Global military spending has begun rising in real terms for the first time since the US began its withdrawal of troops from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Defense budgets rose 1 percent to $1.68 trillion in 2015, making up about 2.3 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, Sipri …