Mama, save me
Editor’s Note: The names of the people featured in this report have been changed to protect their identities.
SITTING in her modest apartment near Amsterdam, Wafa turns on her phone and opens WhatsApp. She’s filled with a mixture of hope and fear.
Covering her face with her hijab, Wafa, 40, weeps as she waits for two blue check marks confirming Maha has received her message — the only sign that her 23-year-old daughter is still alive.
Maha and her nearly 2-year-old son Odai are trapped in Raqqa, ISIS’ de facto capital in Syria and one of the most isolated places on Earth. When she can find a rare internet connection away from watchful eyes, Maha talks to her mother via WhatsApp voice message.
First meeting for Trump and Putin: what will the power dynamics reveal?
World awaits signals at G20 summit as Kremlin bid for leverage over the Oval Office confronts a hemmed-in US president
Hamburg will this week play host to one of the strangest encounters in modern history, when Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet on the margins of the G20 summit.
It will be their first meeting as presidents but less clear – and reflecting the unusual circumstances surrounding the event and their relationship – is whether it will be their first meeting at all. Over the past few years, Trump has variously claimed to have either met Putin and “got along great”, or to have never met him.
The power dynamics between the two leaders will be analysed around the world: one of them is widely believed to have helped engineer the election of the other, who is reportedly under investigation at home for colluding in that venture. Trump’s words and body language will be subject to immense scrutiny for signs of Putin’s leverage.
Germany breaks green energy record by generating 35% of power from renewables in first half of 2017
Country aiming to phase out nuclear plants by 2022
Germany raised the proportion of its power produced by renewable energy to 35 percent in the first half of 2017 from 33 percent the previous year, according to the BEE renewable energy association.
Germany is aiming to phase out its nuclear power plants by 2022. Its renewable energy has been rising steadily over the last two decades thanks in part to the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) which was reformed this year to cut renewable energy costs for consumers.
Germany has been getting up to 85 percent of its electricity from renewable sources on certain sunny, windy days this year.
This migrant filmed his Mediterranean crossing – and barely survived
Moroccan Ahmed al-Ghazali had lived in Tripoli for 20 years, most recently working in a hair salon. But as Libya became increasingly dangerous, he and his family decided to try to get to Europe. He describes the crossing that almost killed him.
Since Muammar Gaddafi was deposed in 2011, Libya has been in a political and security crisis. Armed robberies, kidnappings and assassinations have become almost common place in recent months, especially in the capital, Tripoli.
Since Muammar Gaddafi was deposed in 2011, Libya has been in a political and security crisis. Armed robberies, kidnappings and assassinations have become almost common place in recent months, especially in the capital, Tripoli.
"I saw dead bodies spread out across the boats"
I lived in Tripoli with my wife and my two daughters, who were 17 and 20 years old. As the violence and kidnappings increased, I decided to leave. There was no choice left for me except to risk everything to get to Europe – even with all the danger that came along with it.
So I sold all my belongings, mostly furniture, to pay for the trip, which cost about 12,000 Libyan dinars [about 8,000 euros].
Yuriko Koike hands Shinzo Abe’s LDP historic defeat in Tokyo poll
The Tokyo election was seen as a referendum on Governor Yuriko Koike's year in office, but the dismal showing for Abe's party was a stinging rebuke
By REUTERSPrime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party suffered an historic defeat in an election in the Japanese capital on Sunday, signalling trouble ahead for the premier, who has suffered from slumping support because of a favouritism scandal.
On the surface, the Tokyo Metropolitan assembly election was a referendum on Governor Yuriko Koike’s year in office, but the dismal showing for Abe’s party is also a stinging rebuke of his 4-1/2-year-old administration.
Koike’s Tokyo Citizens First party and its allies were on track for between 73 to 85 seats in the 127-seat assembly, according to exit polls by NHK public TV.
South China Sea: China calls USS Stethem warship 'a provocation'
Beijing has called the presence of a US warship near a disputed island in the South China Sea "a serious political and military provocation".
The USS Stethem sailed close to Triton Island, part of the Paracel Islands archipelago, claimed by China and others.
China responded by sending military vessels and fighter jets to the island.
It happened hours before US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping spoke on the phone.
During the call, Mr Xi told Mr Trump that "negative factors" were affecting US-China relations, according to a read-out of the call carried on Chinese state TV.
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