G20: Trump and Putin to meet face to face for first time
US President Donald Trump is to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for the first time at a G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
They have both said they want to repair ties damaged by the crises in Syria and Ukraine, as well as Russia's alleged meddling in the US election.
Climate change and trade are set to dominate as the two-day summit opens, with mass protests in the streets.
Clashes at a "Welcome to Hell" rally left 76 police officers injured.
By choosing to hold the summit in Hamburg, Germany's northern hi-tech powerhouse, Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking to show mass protests can be tolerated in an open democracy, correspondents say.
Philippines police push for Muslim ID cards as counter-terrorism measure
Authorities in Central Luzon call for policy after Muslims blamed for failing to prevent Islamist conflict in the south
Police from a region in the majority-Christian Philippines are considering issuing mandatory identification cards to thousands of Muslims living there – a proposal Human Rights Watch condemned as “collective punishment”.
Authorities in Central Luzon, a region north of the capital, were quoted in local media as saying the policy was a counter-terrorism measure after Islamist militants took over a city hundreds of kilometres to the south on the island of Mindanao.
The issue was discussed at a meeting between police, military and political figures and about 200 Muslim religious and community leaders at the provincial capitol building, according to news outlet Rappler.
Naples building collapse: Several believed buried in apartment block rubble
Witnesses say there was no explosion but a train had recently passed by
A five-storey block of flats has collapsed near Naples in Italy, police have said.
Firefighters told Sky TG24 that six or seven people are believed to be buried in the rubble in the town of Torre Annunziata.
The news agency ANSA quoted witnesses as saying that there was no explosion before the collapse Friday morning but that a train had just passed by on adjacent train tracks.
Images show the structure partially collapsed, revealing the interior of some apartments.
Disenchanted by Europe, Syrian refugees try to head back to Turkey
A number of Syrian refugees in Europe are now crossing the Evros River that separates Greece from Turkey to return to Turkey clandestinely. Those attempting the journey find themselves at the mercy of people smugglers – just like their counterparts in Turkey trying to get to Europe.
Since January 2016, Turkey has been implementing new visa requirements for Syrians entering Turkey by air or sea in a bid to stem the flow of migrants to Europe. The new visa restrictions are a reversal of a six-year arrangement that permitted Syrians a visa-free entry into Turkey. Obtaining this document is so difficult that some refugees are taking the dangerous option of attempting to enter Turkish territory illegally.
There is also a reverse trend of Syrian refugees currently in Europe wanting to head back to Turkey. One of the main reasons for this return journey to Turkey is that the situation for refugees stuck on the Greek islands has deteriorated following the 2016 EU-Turkey deal and the closure of the Balkan route.
El Salvador rape victim jailed 30 years for stillbirth
Nineteen-year-old Evelyn Beatriz Hernandez Cruz convicted of aggravated homicide under country's strict abortion law.
A 19-year-old rape survivor has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in El Salvador after she suffered a stillbirth due to complications during her pregnancy.
Evelyn Beatriz Hernandez Cruz was convicted of "aggravated homicide" on Wednesday under what Amnesty International called El Salvador's "retrograde anti-abortion law".
Local rights groups say Hernandez Cruz had been raped months before going into labour, but had not told police out of fear.
She also did not know she was pregnant when she suffered severe abdominal pain and fainted in her bathroom in April 2016.
New front in Syria as Turks rout Kurds with Putin’s blessing
Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State in northern Syria claim they are being 'sacrificed by the Kremlin' as Turkey assails their positions in Russian sphere of influence
JULY 7, 2017
The powerful commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed Kurdish quasi-army currently engaged in the final battle for al-Raqqa, believes that the fall of ISIS in its self-proclaimed “capital” might be delayed because of a looming confrontation between his troops and invading Turkish forces west of the Euphrates River. On July, he said: “Our position is clear. We will fight with all our ability.
The last thing Syria needs is yet another front opening – once again between Kurds and Turks but this time in territory generally believed to be part of Russia’s fiefdom in the war-torn country.
The trigger for the latest confrontation was repeated Turkish shelling on the Kurdish city of Afrin, west of the Euphrates River, which has been neatly positioned in Russia’s sphere of influence since last April. That month, Russian troops were deployed to the once sleepy and forgotten city. They were said to be helping the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia branded a “terrorist” organization by Ankara, due to its affiliation with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
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