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Chinese officials have condemned a US ship’s passage near disputed islands in the South China Sea as “illegal”. The guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen breached the 12-nautical mile zone China claims around Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly archipelago. The freedom of navigation operation is a serious challenge to China’s claims over the artificial islands. Its foreign ministry said the ...

The European Parliament has voted against a set of rules intended to safeguard “net neutrality” in the EU. A series of amendments to a regulation on how internet traffic is managed in Europe were all rejected by MEPs. Proponents of net neutrality, who demand that web traffic be treated equally by networks, have already criticised the move. The existing legislation, ...

A court in the western Indian state of Gujarat has refused to dismiss charges of sedition against a firebrand young leader of the Patel caste. However, the court told the police to drop charges of “promoting enmity between two communities or groups” against him. Hardik Patel, 22, was caught on camera earlier this month telling his supporters to “kill policemen ...

The president of the European Council has warned that the migrant crisis could threaten the cohesion of the EU. Donald Tusk told the European Parliament the challenge was the biggest the EU had faced for a decade. Meanwhile Parliament President Martin Schulz accused European governments of putting national interests above finding solutions as a community. The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) ...

Rescue efforts are being stepped up to help those affected by the magnitude-7.5 earthquake which hit remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Monday. More than 360 people are known to have died, most of them in Pakistan, and at least 2,000 were injured. Rescue teams have been sent to remote mountainous areas where the impact of the quake is ...

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has confirmed that the Turkish military has attacked Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) said Turkey shot at its forces in the town of Tal Abyad on Sunday. The YPG has been a key ally of the US in fighting the so-called Islamic State (IS) group in Syria. Turkey fears ...

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories in an effort to help end the spiralling violence. Mr Ban is expected to hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. In the latest in a wave of attacks, an Israeli soldier was stabbed and wounded and his Palestinian assailant shot dead in the occupied West Bank, ...

Head of bar association in Diyarbakir city charged with “promoting terrorism” after saying “PKK is not terrorist group”. Turkish authorities have arrested the head of the bar association in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir on a charge of “promoting terrorism” after he commented on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) group during a televised debate. Tuesday’s detainment of Tahir Elci, a ...

Palestinian and settler killed in separate incidents near Hebron, as Israel arrests top West Bank Hamas official. Israeli authorities have arrested Hassan Yusef, here pictured in 2006, several times in the past. A Palestinian man has been killed by Israeli forces near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank after he allegedly tried to stab an Israeli soldier, ...

Los Angeles prosecutors say they will not press charges against a Saudi prince accused of sexual assault. Majed Abdulaziz Al-Saud, 28, was arrested last month on suspicion of forced oral copulation with a worker at his Beverly Hills mansion. But prosecutors say they do not have enough evidence against Mr Al-Saud. Mr Al-Saud’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, said his client was ...