World

LONDON, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – India is set to overtake China and become the world’s most populous country in less than a decade – six years sooner than previously forecast, the United Nations said yesterday.

ADDIS ABABA/NAIROBI, (Reuters) – Judging by the applause at the African Union headquarters, Barack Obama hit a chord when he took aim at the continent’s ‘Big Men’, telling them they should quit when their time was up – especially since most have the cash to retire comfortably.

ANKARA, (Reuters) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said yesterday the nuclear deal reached between Tehran and major world powers this month will help fight terrorism and bloodshed in the Middle East, Iran’s state TV reported.

ORLANDO, Fla., (Reuters) – A Florida man who was called the nation’s youngest convicted murderer at age 12 walked out of prison yesterday morning after serving almost 16 years behind bars.

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – A Libyan court yesterday sentenced Muammar Gaddafi’s most prominent son, Saif al-Islam, and eight others to death over war crimes including killings of protesters during the 2011 revolution that ended his father’s rule.

ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria’s government has been approached by a group that says it is a faction of the Islamist Boko Haram with an offer to hold peace talks, a spokesman for President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – US President Barack Obama told Ethiopia’s leaders yesterday that allowing more political freedoms would strengthen the African nation, which had already lifted millions out of a poverty once rooted in recurring famine.

LA PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivia already has the largest urban cable car system in the world.

ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Turkey and the United States are working on plans to provide air cover for Syrian rebels and jointly sweep Islamic State fighters from a strip of land along the Turkish border, bolstering the NATO member’s security and possibly providing a safe haven for civilians.

DALLAS (Reuters) – The Boy Scouts of America lifted its outright ban on openly gay adult leaders and employees yesterday, rolling back a policy that has deeply divided the membership of the 105-year-old Texas-based organization.

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – El Salvador’s bus drivers went on strike yesterday, demanding better security in the wake of escalating gang attacks and leaving thousands of commuters stranded on the streets of the Central American capital.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said yesterday the army had been forced to give up areas in order to hold onto more important ones in its fight with insurgents, and the scale of the war meant the military faced a manpower shortage.

LONDON, (Thom-son Reuters Foundation) – Breaking the culture of impunity for militant groups such as Islamic State which use rape as a weapon of war is the priority for Britain’s new special representative on preventing sexual violence in conflict.

LONDON, (Reuters) – A senior British lord quit his post yesterday and will face a police investigation after a tabloid newspaper released a video showing him semi-naked and snorting white powder through a banknote while partying with two women.

KUWAIT, (Reuters) – Iran’s foreign minister called yesterday for a united front among Middle Eastern nations to fight militancy, in his first regional trip since Iran reached an agreement with world powers on the country’s nuclear programme – an agreement that raised fears among its Gulf Arab neighbours.

SAN FRANCISCO, (Reuters) – Investor enthusiasm for Amazon.com Inc is pretty consistent: the stock tends to rise, even though the company isn’t consistent about making profits.

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish fighter jets and ground forces hit Islamic State militants in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in Iraq yesterday, in a campaign Ankara said would help create a “safe zone” across swathes of northern Syria.

NAIROBI (Reuters) – US President Barack Obama told Africans yesterday that discriminating against gays was like treating people differently because of race, drawing criticism from anti-gay activists who said he was imposing his morality on the continent.

YAOUNDE (Reuters) – At least 19 people were killed in a suicide bombing in the northern Cameroonian town of Maroua yesterday, a local military commander said, just three days after twin bombings there suspected to have been carried out by Boko Haram.

ANKARA/ELBEYLI, Turkey, (Reuters) – Turkish warplanes pounded Islamic State targets in Syria for the first time yesterday, with President Tayyip Erdogan promising more decisive action against both the jihadists and Kurdish militants.