Hajj stampede: Saudi king orders safety review
Saudi Arabia's King Salman has ordered a safety review for the Hajj pilgrimage after at least 717 people died in a stampede near the holy city of Mecca.
Another 863 people were injured in the incident at Mina, which occurred as two million pilgrims were taking part in the Hajj's last major rite.
It is the deadliest incident to occur during the pilgrimage in 25 years.
The king said there was a need "to improve the level of organisation and management of movement" of pilgrims.
The crush occurred after two massive lines of pilgrims converged on each other from different direction at an intersection close to the five-storey Jamarat Bridge in Mina.
As part of the Hajj, pilgrims travel to Mina, a large valley about 5km (3 miles) from Mecca, to throw seven stones at pillars called Jamarat, which represent the devil. The pillars stand where Satan is believed to have tempted the Prophet Abraham.
The crush is the second disaster to strike in two weeks, after a crane collapsed at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing 109 people.
China to launch national cap-and-trade plan in 2017, US announces
White House officials announce deal, which will make China the world’s biggest carbon market, on eve of summit between Barack Obama and Xi JinpingChina, the world’s biggest carbon polluter, will launch a national cap-and-trade scheme in 2017, the White House said on Thursday.
The move, announced on the eve of a summit in Washington between Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping, would make China the world’s biggest carbon market, overtaking the European Union, and could strengthen global efforts to put a price on carbon.
White House officials said the cap-and-trade plan would be formally announced on Friday along with a “very substantial financial commitment” from China to help the world’s poorest countries fight climate change.
The US has already pledged $3bn to a Green Climate Fund for poor countries.
The US and Chinese leaders will also commit to the decarbonisation of their economies over the course of the century, campaign groups briefed on the negotiations said.
To Progress and Back: The Rise and Fall of Erdogan's Turkey
By Hasnain Kazim, Maximilian Popp and Samiha ShafyNo other state has catapulted itself into the future quite as rapidly, nor relapsed back into its dark past as suddenly, as Turkey. First there was modernization, and now the beginnings of a civil war. The country is divided by mistrust and hate.
This is Recep Tayyip Erdogan's country: a gorgeous mountain scenery on the Black Sea. On lush, green hillsides, people pick tea leaves and only interrupt their work to pray.
"I wish I could kiss his hand!" cries Aysel Aksay, 40. She is out of breath but her smile radiates all the same. Aksay is from Güneysu, the village at the foot of the mountain from which Erdogan's family also hails. In a headscarf and a black coat, Aksay gazes at the white marble structure as it glows in the sun. She is excited and happy to pray here, even though she may only do so inside the windowless room reserved for women. "On the opening day, I watched as the president's helicopter flew over our country," Aksay says. "We are so proud of him."
Migrant portraits: On the road from Molyvos to Mytilene
Latest update : 2015-09-25As EU states bicker over refugee quotas and border controls, the Greek island of Lesbos continues to carry much of the burden of the crisis as Europe’s main gateway for migrants.
If they survive the perilous boat journey from Turkey, fleeing refugees will take to the road by bus, on foot, by hitchhiking or by paying for passage in taxis and private vehicles.
Most, however, will pass through the small, picturesque village of Molyvos on the road to Mytilene.
‘Athens is like my mother’
Osman Hussein is a tailor who has lived in Athens for 18 months. He fled Syria paying $1,200 to get from Turkey to Lesbos after his wife and 6-year-old son were killed in an aerial bombing in Azaz.
“Two, three times a day bombs fall in my town. I’d rather sleep on the streets anywhere than stay in Syria – there’s so much killing,” Osman said.
“If I can get papers here I will stay in Greece. I speak the language. Athens is like my mother.”
Extremists in Bangladesh publish global hit list of bloggers and writers
By Jethro Mullen, CNN
Islamic extremists in Bangladesh appear to be taking their war on secular writers and bloggers beyond the South Asian country's borders.
A hit list purporting to be from the militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team has been sent out threatening people in Europe and North America.
"Let Bangladesh revoke the citizenship of these enemies of Islam," a statement accompanying the list says. "If not, we will hunt them down in whatever part of God's world we find them and kill them right there."
The list contains nine people in the United Kingdom, eight in Germany, two in the United States, one in Canada and one in Sweden. CNN isn't reporting any of the names on the list.
Diplomats jostle to lay out position on how to end Syria war
Diplomats from Europe, the US, and Russia met in Paris on Thursday to lay the groundwork for more in-depth talks at the UN General Assembly, which begins Monday.
PARIS — Europe's top diplomats, the United States, and Russia jostled to lay out their positions Thursday on how best to end the civil war in Syria, which has sent millions fleeing their homes and killed thousands.
A central issue at the UN's largest gathering of world leaders next week will be how and whether to include Syrian President Bashar Assad in any talks about the future of the country.
In the US, envoys said the Obama administration refused to negotiate over a Russian statement they feared would strengthen Assad's hand at the United Nations. But efforts to stem the long-running crisis have new urgency in Europe, which is divided over how to deal with a new influx of refugees fleeing the war zone.
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