Tens of thousands of opposition supporters have marched in Sri Lanka's capital to demand the government step down, accusing it of corruption and selling national assets to foreign nations.
The activists loyal to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa walked along several main roads in Colombo on Wednesday, shouting slogans and holding placards. They later gathered near the president's office and launched a sit-in protest on a main road.
Rajapaksa's loyalists criticize the government for selling national assets to foreign countries, including the leasing of a sea port to China for 99 years.
The government was elected on a platform of good governance but its image was marred in 2015 by a central bank scandal that led to the resignation of a key minister.

Sri Lankan opposition protesters demand government step down

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Rachael Bland, a BBC radio journalist, has died of breast cancer several days after she announced on social media that her death was near. She was 40.
Bland's family said that she died early Wednesday.
Her husband and 2-year-old son said on Twitter that "we are crushed but she would want me to thank everyone who took an interest in her story or sent messages of support. You'll never know how much they meant to her. Steve and Freddie xxx." Bland was a newsreader on BBC Radio 5 Live and had commented extensively about her illness on her "You, Me and the Big C" podcast.
She had been diagnosed nearly two years ago.

BBC journalist dies of cancer several days after statement

Myanmar's government looks as if it's under siege from an international community concerned about the condition of its nascent democracy, with widespread calls for a genocide tribunal to hold its military to account for the brutal treatment of its Muslim Rohingya minority.
But experts say not to expect any change of course from the country's leader, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, even after a fresh round of withering criticism from abroad following Monday's show-trial conviction of two Reuters reporters who helped expose extrajudicial killings of 10 Rohingya men and boys.
Suu Kyi's motivations are opaque. Even as a revered pro-democracy activist, the Nobel Peace laureate had a reputation for being autocratic, but now her core ideology has come into question.
There is at least a loose consensus that she faces real restrictions on her actions due to the power retained by the military that is enshrined in the constitution it imposed in 2007.
"Aung San Suu Kyi has tried to balance her 

Criticism doesn't have Suu Kyi or Myanmar on the ropes

The e-commerce billionaire who was arrested and released by Minneapolis police is a prominent member of a Chinese tech elite who enjoy the glamour of movie stars in their homeland.
Admirers know Richard Liu's story well: The son of peasants built a Beijing electronics shop into JD.com, China's biggest online direct retailer, selling everything from clothes to toys to fresh vegetables.
He appealed to customers by promising genuine products in a market buffeted by scandals over fake and sometimes deadly milk and other goods.
Like a pop star keeping fans up to date, the 45-year-old Liu shares some details of his life on social media, including his 2015 marriage to a woman 19 years his junior.
That celebrity meant Liu immediately attracted attention when news broke that police in Minneapolis arrested him Friday and released him a day later.
JD.com said he was falsely accused and police found no misconduct. The company said Liu was back in Beijing on Monday. A police report said the charge 

Chinese e-commerce tycoon part of celebrity tech elite

EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova says the European Commission is set to unveil new rules that could force internet companies to take down suspected terror content.
Jourova told reporters Wednesday that "we should have absolute certainty that all the platforms and all the IT providers will delete terrorist content." She says that a nonbinding European code of conduct on deleting hate speech online has been working well but that terror content poses a "too serious threat and risk" for removal to be voluntary.
Jourova said: "We simply cannot rely anymore on the voluntary action of IT providers." She provided no details about possible penalties.
She said the Commission would unveil the plans later this month.

EU wants to force internet firms to remove terror content

Israeli jets flying high over Lebanon struck at targets inside Syria on Tuesday, Syrian state media reported, in a rare daytime raid that killed at least one person.
Syria's SANA state news agency said the country's air defenses shot down five missiles, adding that one person was killed and 12 others were wounded.
It reported strikes on the Wadi Ayoun area in the western Hama province and on the town of Baniyas in the coastal Tartous province.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the jets targeted military installations belonging to Iran, a key ally of the Syrian government.
Lebanese residents in areas north of the capital, Beirut, reported hearing jets overhead before sunset.
Israel is believed to be behind a string of strikes targeting government and allied military installations in Syria, in order to disrupt weapons transfers between its archenemies Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The Israeli government rarely acknowledges the attacks, and such 

Israeli jets fly over Lebanon in rare daytime raid on Syria

British prosecutors have charged two Russian men with the nerve agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury.
The Crown Prosecution Service says Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov are charged in absentia with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder and use of the nerve agent Novichok.
Prosecutor Sue Hemming said Wednesday that the UK is not asking Moscow to extradite the men because Russian law forbids extradition of the country's citizens.
Police say the men, both about 40, flew from Moscow to London on Russian passports two days before the Skripals were poisoned on March 4.

Britain charges 2 Russians over Novichok poisoning

Police in Denmark say they fined a Turkish tourist 1,000 kroner (USD 155) after she entered a police station to renew her visa wearing a full-face covering.
Police in Aarhus, western Denmark, say the 48-year-old woman wasn't aware of Denmark's recent law that makes it unlawful to wear such garments in public. The much-debated "burqa ban" prohibits garments covering the face, including burqas and niqabs. Both are rarely seen in Denmark.
Police said on Tuesday that the woman paid the fine, removed her full-face cover and walked away. No other details were available.

Danish police fine Turkish tourist for wearing face veil

A South Korean presidential delegation arrived in North Korea on Wednesday for talks to arrange a summit planned later this month and help rescue faltering nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.
It's unclear who the South Korean envoys will meet in the North or whether they will see North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before flying back to the South later Wednesday.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in's office said the delegation led by his national security adviser will be carrying a personal letter for Kim. Moon said the envoys are tasked with a crucial role at a "very important time" that could determine the prospects for lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
While pushing ahead with summits and inter-Korean engagement, Seoul is trying to persuade Washington and Pyongyang to proceed with peace and denuclearisation processes at the same time so they can overcome a growing dispute over the sequencing of the diplomacy.
Seoul also wants a trilateral summit between the ...

South Korean arrives in North Korea to set up summit

An Afghan official says at least two police officers, including a district police chief, have been killed by a roadside bomb in northwestern Badghis province.
Jamshid Shahabi, spokesman for the provincial governor, says Ismail Khan, chief of police for the Muqar district, was on patrol when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb, killing him and a fellow officer.
Shahabi said Khan died of his wounds at a hospital late Tuesday night.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Shahabi blamed Taliban insurgents, who are active in the province and have previously carried out similar attacks in Baghdis.

Official: Roadside bomb kills 2 police in NW Afghanistan

A Jerusalem museum is breathing life into the ancient city with a new virtual reality tour that allows visitors to experience how archaeologists believe Jerusalem looked 2,000 years ago.
The Tower of David Museum, which is housed in the Old City's ancient stronghold, plans to launch the high-tech guided tour this month ahead of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
The virtual reality guide, "Step into History," offers visitors a chance to "walk in the streets of Jerusalem and enjoy the present and take a look back to the past," said Tower of David Museum director Eilat Lieber.
Working with archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority, Lithodomos VR created 360-degree simulations of how Jerusalem's citadel, palaces, streets and ancient Jewish temple are believed to have appeared during its heyday under King Herod in the first century B.C. and during the life of Jesus.
Herod, a Roman vassal who ruled Judaea from 37-4 B.C., invested heavily in large construction projects across his ...

Virtual reality tour brings biblical-era Jerusalem to life

China is trying to defuse a spiralling tariff war with Washington over technology policy by highlighting gains in other trade-related areas.
The Cabinet press office invited The Associated Press to interview the head of the country's patent and copyright office, as part of government efforts to persuade Washington and other trading partners to tone down objections to Chinese industry policy.
The official, Shen Changyu, pointed to improvements in fighting violations, previously a target of complaints by the United States, Europe and other traders.
"China's work on intellectual property protection is solid and very productive," said Shen, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office.
"This point should be evaluated objectively and fairly by the international community."
The interview coincided with a series of events organised by Chinese officials, including briefings for foreign reporters by economists and other researchers, seeking to change minds abroad.
They have ...

China points to other gains in hopes of easing US trade ire

Cambodia's king on Wednesday presided over the opening of the new session of the National Assembly, whose 125 seats are filled by members of a single party following an election widely decried as unfair.
The lawmakers from the Cambodian People's Party are expected to confirm Hun Sen, who has held power for three decades, for another five-year term as prime minister on Thursday.
His party won a landslide victory in the July 29 general election.
The only credible opposition force, the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was disbanded last year by the courts in a move seen as politically motivated.
The 19 other parties that contested the election were seen as either having trivial support or being promoted by the ruling party to foster the illusion of democratic choice.
Many countries branded the election a sham and several poll-watching groups  as well as national contingents from the United States, the European Union and Japan  declined to take part because they also felt the polls were ...

Cambodia's new one-party legislature begins session

US Vice President Mike Pence called on Myanmar to immediately release two journalists who were sentenced to seven years' imprisonment on charges of possessing state secrets in connection with their reporting on massacres against Rohingya Muslims.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo from the Reuters news agency were sentenced Monday in proceedings that were widely decried as unfair. They had reported about the army's brutal counterinsurgency campaign that drove 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. The subject is sensitive in Myanmar because of worldwide condemnation of the military's human rights abuses, which it denies.
Pence on Tuesday tweeted the two should be "commended  not imprisoned  for their work exposing human rights violations & mass killings."
"Freedom of religion & freedom of the press are essential to a strong democracy," he wrote in back-to-back tweets.
"We call on the Gov't of Burma to reverse this ruling & release them immediately." UN Secretary-General Antonio ...

Pence calls on Myanmar to free 2 Reuters reporters

As North Korea prepares for a massive parade Sunday featuring thousands of goose-stepping soldiers and lots of scary-looking missiles, some potentially capable of reaching the US mainland, worry is rising in South Korea that a tentative, hard-won detente is starting to slip away.
An authoritarian nation obsessed with big milestones, North Korea will use the celebration for the 70th anniversary of its national founding to glorify Kim Jong Un as a leader who's standing up for a powerful nation surrounded by enemies.
Kim will also welcome a delegate from his most important ally, senior Chinese official Li Zhanshu, the third-ranking official of the country's ruling party and head of its rubberstamp parliament, whose presence at the parade would underscore Beijing's role as a major player in international efforts to solve the nuclear crisis.
That's a role South Korean President Moon Jae-in covets, and one of several reasons why the pressure will be intense when he travels to North Korea ...

North Korean parade a tricky prelude to inter-Korean summit

The wives of two Myanmar reporters for the Reuters news agency said they were shocked by a sentence of seven years' imprisonment against them on charges of possessing state secrets.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced Monday in proceedings that were widely decried as unfair. They had reported about the army's brutal counterinsurgency campaign that drove 700,000 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority to flee to Bangladesh.
The subject is sensitive in Myanmar because of worldwide condemnation of the military's human rights abuses, which it denies.
Wa Lone's wife, Pan Ei Mon, said at a news conference on Tuesday that she never expected such a harsh punishment "because everyone knows that they didn't do anything wrong." The two men testified that they had been framed by the police.
Pan Ei Mon gave birth to the couple's first child in Yangon on Aug. 10, but her husband has not seen their daughter.
"After I gave birth, I continued to keep strong with the hope that my daughter and her ...

Wives of jailed Myanmar reporters shocked by verdicts

Thousands of people were without power as Tropical Storm Gordon made landfall late Tuesday just west of the Alabama-Mississippi border.
The National Hurricane center said Gordon struck about 10 p.m. and the storm is forecast to quickly weaken as it moves inland across Mississippi, Louisiana and into Arkansas through Thursday.
It did not reach hurricane status.
Gordon strengthened some in the final hours as it neared the central Gulf Coast, clocking top sustained winds of 110 kph.
The National Hurricane Center said Gordon's tight core was about 30 kilometres southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi, or about 55 kilometres south of Mobile, Alabama, where heavy rains and winds picked up shortly before nightfall.
More than 27,000 customers are without power Tuesday night as Tropical Storm Gordon began pushing ashore. Those outages are mostly in coastal Alabama and include the western tip of the Florida Panhandle around Pensacola, with a few hundred in southeastern Mississippi.
The number of ...

Gordon makes landfall near Alabama-Mississippi border

Twitter's CEO says the company isn't biased against Republicans or Democrats and is working on ways to ensure that debate is healthier on its platform.
In prepared testimony released before a House hearing Wednesday, Jack Dorsey says he wants to be clear about one thing: "Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules."
The testimony comes as some Republicans say conservatives have been censored on social media.
Dorsey offered an explanation of how San Francisco-based Twitter uses "behavioral signals," such as the way accounts interact and behave on the service. Those signals can help weed out spam and abuse.
He says such behavioral analysis "does not consider in any way political views or ideology.

Twitter CEO says company isn't biased, wants healthy debate

Officials say three soldiers have been killed and three others wounded in a clash with Islamist militants in western Algeria.
They say two militants, including the chieftain of the group, were also killed.
The prefecture in Sidi Bel Abbes, some 600 kilometers west of the capital Algiers, said Tuesday that the extremists fired on the soldiers during a patrol in the village of Talagh a day earlier.
Local authorities said the group was responsible for the May 22 murder of two imams, aged 64 and 67, at the mosque in Oued Sebaa, another town in the region.
Algeria continues to hunt down extremists years after the so-called "black decade" of the 1990s and early 2000s when violence left an estimated 200,000 people dead.

3 Algerian soldiers, 2 extremists killed in clash

Federal authorities say they have recovered a pair of sequined ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" that were stolen from a museum in her northern Minnesota hometown 13 years ago.
The slippers were taken from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids in August 2005 by someone who climbed through a window and broke into the small display case.
The shoes were insured for USD 1 million. Law enforcement offered an initial USD 250,000 reward, and a fan in Arizona offered another USD 1 million in 2015.
The FBI planned to announce details of how the shoes were found at a news conference Tuesday.
The North Dakota US Attorney Christopher Myers and Grand Rapids Police Chief Scott Johnson were due to attend.
The slippers had been on loan to the museum from Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw.
Three other pairs that Garland wore in the movie are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Smithsonian and a private collector.
The ruby slippers are key ...

Garland's stolen ruby slippers from 'Wizard of Oz' are found

Authorities say heavy rain has forced more than 300 people to evacuate their homes in the Kansas college town of Manhattan.
The Kansas City Star reports that the flooding started after nearly 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain fell from Sunday night into Monday.
Riley County Emergency Management director Pat Collins says at least 20 people were rescued from their homes by boat. City officials say about 750 homes remain without power.
Manhattan's Municipal Government Manager Mark Fehr described the flooding as a 500- to 800-year flood event during a news conference Monday.
Riley County Police posted aerial photographs showing building flooded nearly to their roofs. Two emergency shelters have been established to help those who were displaced.
Kansas State University's campus wasn't affected by the flooding.

AP

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