China Tianjin blasts: Evacuations as sodium cyanide found
The Chinese authorities have ordered the evacuation of residents within a 3km radius of the Tianjin blast site over fears of chemical contamination.
The evacuations came as police confirmed the highly toxic chemical sodium cyanide was found near the site.
A man was found alive 50m from the blast core,Xinhua news agency said.
Eighty-five people are now known to have died and hundreds were hurt in the giant blasts in the north-eastern Chinese port on Wednesday.
People sheltering at a school used as a safe haven since the disaster have been asked to leave wearing masks and long trousers, reports say.
Anti-chemical warfare troops have entered the site.
The People's Daily newspaper tweeted that they had been sent to handle highly toxic sodium cyanide which had been found there.
US launches secret bid to stop release of hunger-striking Guantánamo detainee
Objection to freeing Tariq Ba Odah, who is 56% of his ideal body weight, comes as Obama administration fights to stop detainees seeking freedom in federal courts
In an extremely rare legal manoeuvre, the Obama administration has challenged a legal request to free a hunger-striking Guantánamo Bay detainee entirely in secret.
US officials said the objection to freeing Tariq Ba Odah, who is undernourished to the point of starvation, and the decision to challenge his legal gambit outside of public view, are indications that the Obama administration will fight tenaciously to stop detainees from seeking freedom in federal courts, despite Barack Obama’s oft-repeated pledge to close Guantánamo.
Late on Friday, the US justice department submitted a long-awaited filing in Ba Odah’s habeas corpus petition. The filing was kept under seal, a rarity for a challenge to the so-called “great writ,” the underpinning of Anglo-American jurisprudence.
The filing itself simply reads: “Sealed opposition.”
Beer and blood sacrifices: Meet the Caucasus pagans who worship ancient deities
Selfish politics lead to Turkey's next ballot box
Voters in Turkey could soon be heading back to the polls. It's no surprise at all that coalition talks broke down, says DW's Seda Serdar.
The third meeting between Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) and The Republican People's Party (CHP) ended with "no grounds for coalition," according to the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (above left).
It is not a big surprise that the leaders couldn't build a coalition, considering their different views on the future of the country - be it on foreign policy, economics, education or changing the constitution. What is surprising is that CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu (above right) stated they were never offered a coalition proposal to begin with.
All that was on the table was a transitional government, or in other words: the AKP wasn't looking for a long term solution for Turkey's current problems as a part of a grand coalition, but rather a shortcut to the next ballot box.
Egypt's dictator murdered 800 people today in 2013. He's now a US ally and GOP folk hero.
Updated by Max Fisher
Two years ago today, Egyptian military dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi committed one of the deadliest atrocities of the 21st century, killing at least 817 civilians, a number of them women and children.
No one has been punished for the massacre, and in the 24 months since it happened, Sisi has been embraced as an American ally and a folk hero among segments of the Republican Party.
The story of the Rabaa massacre, as it quickly became known, begins about six weeks earlier, in July 2013. Mohammed Morsi, Egypt's first-ever democratically elected president and an Islamist affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, was under siege. His brief presidency had been a disaster, and much of the country was turning against him. On July 3, his own defense minister, a general named Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, arrested Morsi and suspended the constitution in a coup.
Can UK royals win battle against paparazzi?
Updated 0215 GMT (0915 HKT) August 15, 2015
In a rather unsurprising move, Kensington Palace has released a letter expressing its concern over the growing number of paparazzi photographs taken of Prince George in recent weeks -- photographs subsequently bought and published by the foreign press.
While aides were quick to praise the British media for not printing illicit photos, they issued their strongest warning yet to those who choose to forgo decent editorial practices.
Citing the serious issue of security, the statement also drew attention to the perverse way in which such photos are obtained. Many would argue that all children, not just those who are royal, should be allowed to play free from the prying eye of a photographer intent on financial gain, sequestered in the boot of his car and equipped with a long lens.
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