30 June 2014 Last updated at 06:51
Isis rebels declare 'Islamic state' in Iraq and Syria
Islamist militant group Isis has said it is establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state, on the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria.
It also proclaimed the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and "leader for Muslims everywhere".
Setting up a caliphate ruled by the strict Islamic law has long been a goal of many jihadists.
Meanwhile, Iraq's army continued an offensive to retake the northern city of Tikrit from the Isis-led rebels.
The city was seized by the insurgents on 11 June as they swept across large parts of northern-western Iraq.
Ukraine leader urges Putin to tighten borders after violence
Call comes after Ukrainian, Russian, German and French leaders have four-way discussion
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko yesterday urged President Vladimir Putin to strengthen Russian control over its borders to prevent militants and arms entering Ukraine after violence broke a truce there.
The ceasefire, declared by Mr Poroshenko on June 20th to allow for peace talks with the pro-Russian rebels, is due to expire today, a deadline also set by EU leaders considering new sanctions against Russia.
The statement came after a four-way telephone conversation among the Ukrainian and Russian leaders, French president François Hollande and German chancellor Angela Merkel, said a statement from Poroshenko’s office.
Waves of news sweep the Indian countryside
Women from India’s poorest regions tell their stories every week on Khabar Lahariya, a local news website. This year, it won the DW Best of blogs (The Bobs) Global Media Forum Award in Hindi.
Kavita was barely 16 when she got married. She was still in school at the time. Her married life was not a happy one. Her husband's family was not very supportive and there was a lot of pressure on her to have children. Kavita was very young and, as a result, most of her pregnancies miscarried.
She decided to end her marriage and get back to her studies. She joined a literacy campaign organized by an NGO in New Delhi called Nirantar. Once the camp was over, Kavita and several other participants said they wanted to continue reading and writing. This is how Khabar Lahariya - which means "waves of news" - was born.
World's worst illegal logging in Indonesia
Michael Bachelard
Indonesia correspondent for Fairfax Media
Indonesia is destroying its tropical rainforests faster than Brazil, and the rate is soaring despite a five-year moratorium on new clearing.
Exhaustive new figures show Indonesia is probably the single largest deforester in the world, and that most destruction is happening in lowland and peat forests in Sumatra and Kalimantan, the only habitat in the world where tigers, orangutan, elephants and rhinoceroses live together.
The University of Maryland study, derived from satellite data and published in Nature, gives the lie to official Indonesian figures that claim the rate of deforestation has slowed under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s national forest moratorium, imposed in 2009.
World cup 2014: Algeria coach angry at Ramadan questions
Last updated at 00:04 GMT
Algeria coach Vahid Halilhodzic refused to divulge which of his Muslim players are observing Ramadan ahead of Monday's World Cup last-16 meeting with Germany.
The 30-day dawn-to-dusk fast began on Sunday and Halilhodzic, 61, bristled at a routine question about the subject in his pre-match news conference.
"This is a private matter and when you ask this you lack respect and ethics," said the Bosnian.
"The players will do as they wish and I would like to stop this controversy."
Ramadan is mandatory for Muslims and one of the five pillars of Islam, although there are exemptions for the sick, pregnant, infirm or elderly.
N. Korea Preparing to Indict 2 American Tourists
North Korea said Monday it is preparing to indict two American detainees for carrying out what it says were hostile acts against the country.
Investigations into American tourists Miller Matthew Todd and Jeffrey Edward Fowle concluded that suspicions about their hostile acts have been confirmed by evidence and their testimonies, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said in a short report.
KCNA said North Korea is making preparations to bring them before a court.
Both Americans were arrested earlier this year after entering the country as tourists.
No comments:
Post a Comment