Ankara / AFP The Turkish government on Tuesday withdrew a controversial bill from parliament that could overturn men’s convictions for child-sex assault, after an angry public backlash that saw thousands take to the streets. Critics had said the bill—which would allow the release from jail of sex assault convicts if they marry their victims—would legitimise rape of minors. Its ...

  Arbil / AFP More than 68,000 people have fled their homes since Iraqi forces launched a huge offensive against the IS group in and around Mosul last month, the UN said on Tuesday. The figure increased significantly over the past week as forces battled deep into the densely populated city, but it falls short of pre-offensive predictions. “68,550 people ...

  Dhaka / AFP Hundreds of Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh after fleeing violence in neighbouring Myanmar, community leaders said on Tuesday, many with horrific tales of troops killing and burning villages. Bangladesh says it has prevented hundreds more from crossing into the country, despite pleas from the United Nations to open its border after up to 30,000 Rohingya were displaced ...

  Washington / AFP Donald Trump said the United States would signal its withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact on his first day in the White House, one of six immediate steps aimed at “putting America first.” The Republican billionaire—who for 10 days has been sounding out cabinet picks at his Trump Tower offices in New York—made the pledge ...

  Guatemala City / AFP Foreign ministers from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico have vowed to “defend” migrants from those countries who live in the United States, amid uncertainty following Donald Trump’s election. The US president-elect vowed to crack down on immigration during the bitter presidential campaign, promising to build a wall along the US-Mexico border and deport millions of ...

  Buenos Aires / AFP A Pacific-wide trade deal would be “meaningless” without the United States, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as Donald Trump vowed to abandon the agreement on his first day in office. The future of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been thrown into serious doubt after the US president-elect repeated a pledge to make withdrawing from the ...

  MANILA / AFP Philippine-US military ties are still “robust” despite threats by President Rodrigo Duterte to sever defence relations between the two allies, Manila’s military spokesman said on Tuesday. Brigadier General Restituto Padilla gave the assurance following the latest meeting of the two countries’ senior military officials to discuss defence cooperation up to 2017. Duterte last month announced a “separation” ...

Phnom Penh / AFP Cambodia’s opposition MPs ended a six-month boycott of parliament Tuesday, following months of legal and political pressure from strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen. Lawmakers from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) pulled out of parliamentary sessions in May after some MPs, including its deputy leader Kem Sokha, were slapped with legal cases by the government. With ...

  Moscow / AFP Russia has accused Ukraine of abducting two Russian servicemen on the annexed Crimea peninsula, but Kiev said it had merely detained two Ukrainian army deserters. In a statement carried late Monday by local news agencies, the Russian defence ministry said servicemen Maxim Odintsov and Alexander Baranov were “illegally detained and removed from Crimea by Ukrainian security ...

  Bloomberg Oil traded near $48 a barrel as OPEC members sought to reach an agreement on output cuts. January crude fluctuated in New York, rising as much as 2 percent after dipping 1.1 percent. The details of a deal will be finalized Tuesday and “everybody is on board,” Nigerian OPEC delegate Ibrahim Waya said in Vienna, where the group ...