Turkey election: Erdogan seeks second term in hard-fought contest
Turkish voters are going to the polls to decide whether to grant President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a second five-year term, in the most fiercely fought elections in country in years.
Polls opened at 08:00 (05:00 GMT) in presidential and parliamentary votes.
If Mr Erdogan wins, he will adopt major new powers that critics say will weaken democratic rule.
But he faces a major challenge from centre-left candidate Muharrem Ince of the Republican People's Party (CHP).
Turkey remains under a state of emergency imposed in the aftermath of a failed coup in July 2016.
These elections were originally scheduled for November 2019 but were brought forward by Mr Erdogan.
Born out of brutality, South Sudan, the world’s youngest state, drowns in murder, rape and arson
As thousands flee the vicious civil war, families seeking safety in the swamp town of Nyal tell of villagers murdered and their homes burnt to the ground by government forces.
by Peter Beaumont
Sun 24 Jun 2018 09.00 BST
The canoe is barely visible at first, a dark shape moving among the lily pads and grasses in the vast expanse of South Sudan’s Sudd marshes.
The little craft is laden with five villagers – faces anxious and tired – and the few possessions they were able to rescue as they fled fighting around the counties of Leer and Mayendit, two days distant by boat.
Like others arriving in the opposition-held marsh town of Nyal in recent weeks, they recount horrifying stories of atrocities: people burned to death in their houses by government soldiers, arbitrary shootings, rape and widespread looting of cattle, the villagers’ major source of wealth.
Saudi Arabia women's driving ban lifted: With excitement and apprehension, Saudi women gear up for first day on the road
Deeply symbolic move granting women greater independence celebrated across the country - but rapid pace of change creates fresh problems
Technically, there isn’t a written law in Saudi Arabia banning women from driving. Instead, like so much else in the country, it’s a combination of religious diktats, social pressure and purposefully convoluted licensing rules which has effectively stifled women’s freedoms and make it illegal for them to get behind the wheel.
When a royal decree goes into effect on Sunday, for the first time in decades, that is going to change. The independence is going to revolutionise life for many - including Pilar al Amad, from Kohbar, on Saudi Arabia’s east coast. If the rules had changed a few months earlier, she says her recent family tragedy may have been a little easier to deal with.
“I was pregnant with twins and my husband was away with work when I went into labour,” she said
Germany's Conservative MeltdownThe Approaching End to Merkel's Tenure
With the chancellor under heavy fire from Bavarian conservatives, Germany's political landscape may be facing radical upheaval. Angela Merkel might lose her job and the country's traditional center-right partnership could soon end. By DER SPIEGEL Staff
"At some point, I would like to find the right time to leave politics," Angela Merkel said. "That's a lot more difficult than I had imagined. But I don't want to be a half-dead wreck when I leave politics."
The comments came in response to a question about her life goals outside of politics way back in 1999. Merkel had just become secretary-general of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and sat down for an interview with the photographer Herlinde Koelbl for her book "Spuren der Macht" (Traces of Power).
FORCE-FEEDING, FASTING, AND BIG MACS: THE DOUBLESPEAK OF FOOD AT GUANTÁNAMO
AT A MEDIA tour of Joint Task Force Guantánamo Bay this week, reporters were escorted not through interrogation rooms or military tribunals, but through kitchens. It might make sense that the military is eager to show off what it sees as humane living conditions for the detainees, while steering attention away from Guantánamo’s legacy as a site of torture and human rights abuses. But the quotidian subject matter of food preparation and logistics provides a window into how the 16-year mission at GTMO, as it’s known in military shorthand, is settling into permanence.
According to JTF Guantánamo Commander Rear Admiral John Ring, that mission has shifted from “expeditionary” to “enduring” since President Donald Trump’s January 30 executive order mandating the continuation of detainment procedures at the military prison — a sharp contrast from former President Barack Obama’s unfulfilled campaign pledge to close it. “We were going away for eight years, and then we have a new president and our mission changed to something more enduring,” said Ring. “We have been putting Band-Aids on our infrastructure for a long time, trying to get it through the eight years until we close. And now we’re going to be enduring and stick around for a while, then we need to make some investments in infrastructure.”
Japanese firms shift to clean energy despite state's cling to nuclear power
Today 05:05 pm JST
While Japan's government clings to atomic power even after the Fukushima nuclear crisis, its private sector is moving ahead with more use of renewables to power their operations amid growing international awareness of global warming.
Daiwa House Industries Co, for instance, became in March a member of both RE100 (Renewable Electricity) and EP100 (Energy Productivity), two global initiatives by the Climate Group.
RE100 is a global, collaborative initiative of influential businesses committed to using 100 percent renewable electricity, while EP100 brings together companies committed to doubling energy productivity to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
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