Israel removes flashpoint holy site metal detectors
Israel has removed metal detectors from outside a holy site in East Jerusalem after uproar from Palestinians over their recent introduction.
Israel's security cabinet voted early on Tuesday to remove and replace them with less obtrusive surveillance.
There were deadly clashes after the metal detectors were set up, which Palestinians saw as an Israeli attempt to assert control over the site.
Israel said they were necessary to prevent weapons being smuggled in.
It followed the killing on 14 July of two Israeli policemen by Israeli-Arab gunmen, who police say had hidden their weapons on the hilltop site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and Muslims as Haram al-Sharif.
Scandals threaten Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe's grip on power
Once seemingly unassailable, Abe is now dogged by plunging polls and allegations of giving favours to two school operators
Shinzo Abe is fighting for his future as Japan’s prime minister as scandals drag his government’s popularity close to what political observers describe as “death zone” levels.
Apart from clouding Abe’s hopes of winning another term as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) when a vote is held next year, the polling slump also undermines his long-running push to revise Japan’s war-renouncing constitution.
Abe, who returned to the prime ministership four and a half years ago, was long seen as a steady hand whose position appeared unassailable – so much so that the LDP changed its rules to allow Abe the freedom to seek a third consecutive three-year term at the helm of the party.
Secret Russian-Kurdish-Syrian military cooperation is happening in Syria’s eastern desert
In the first of a series from Syria, Robert Fisk says that new connections, however tenuous, demonstrate that all sides are determined to avoid military confrontation between Moscow and Washington
After a sweeping Syrian military advance to the edge of the besieged Isis “capital” of Raqqa, the Russians, the Syrian army and Kurds of the YPG militia – theoretically allied to the US – have set up a secret “coordination” centre in the desert of eastern Syria to prevent “mistakes” between the Russian-backed and American-supported forces now facing each other across the Euphrates river.
The proof could be found this week in a desert village of mud-walled huts and stifling heat – it was 48 degrees – where I sat on the floor of an ill-painted villa with a Russian air force colonel in camouflage uniform, a young officer of the Kurdish militia – with a YPG (Kurdish People’s Militia) patch on his sleeve – and a group of Syrian officers and local Syrian tribal militiamen.
Europe-wide police operation saves hundreds of sex trafficking victims
A massive operation coordinated by Europol has saved 910 potential victims from likely trafficking and sexual exploitation. Nearly 125,000 people were searched over the course of a week.
Law enforcement agencies across Europe carried out massive coordinated operations against organized criminal groups involved in trafficking and forced sexual exploitation, leading to the arrest of 107 people, Europol said on Monday.
Hundreds saved
The Austrian-led operation, conducted between 26 June and July 2, led to 910 potential victims of trafficking being identified.
Twenty-two countries participated in the Europe-wide operation, in which nearly 125,000 persons, 6,000 vehicles and 4,000 locations such as red-light districts, brothels and massage parlors were checked.
25 July 2017 - 10H00
India court to consider abortion plea from young rape victim
NEW DELHI (AFP) -
Doctors on Wednesday will examine a 10-year-old raped by her uncle as India's top court considers whether she should be allowed to have an abortion despite strict laws.
The girl's parents went to the Supreme Court after their appeal to abort the 26-week foetus was rejected by a lower authority, despite warnings her body was not ready for childbirth.
Indian law does not allow medical terminations after 20 weeks unless there is a threat to the mother's life.
But the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal, ordering doctors to conduct a medical examination and report back before a ruling is given on Friday.
The girl's pregnancy was only discovered recently after her parents took her to hospital complaining of stomach pain.
Indian courts have considered many pleas from rape victims seeking permission to terminate pregnancies following abuse.
Asia under water: How 137 million people's lives are being put at risk
Updated 0230 GMT (1030 HKT) July 25, 2017
Khorsheeda Khatun had been left with nothing -- then that too was washed away.
The 28-year-old fled her home country of Myanmar in January with her two daughters, escaping the latest outbreak of violence, and was living in the Kutupalang Makeshift Settlement in Bangladesh when cyclone Mora arrived five months later and displaced up to 500,000 people.
"My house was shattered. It broke the wooden planks supporting my hut and blew away the polythene rooftop. The wind and water destroyed whatever little possessions we had," she told UNICEF workers in June.
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