AFP, Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his German and British counterparts on the sidelines of the upcoming G20 summit but is not scheduled to have bilateral talks with President Barack Obama, the Kremlin said Friday.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told reporters Putin would be holding “many bilateral meetings” at the two-day summit, which starts on Sunday in Antalya, Turkey, but an encounter with Obama was not on the agenda. “A meeting between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama is not officially planned,” Ushakov said.
Blasts kill 23 in Baghdad
Reuters, Baghdad
At least 23 people were killed and 41 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the funeral of a pro-government fighter in Baghdad on Friday, Iraqi police and medical sources said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast at a mosque in the predominately Shia neighbourhood of Hay al-Amil.
Thousands cheer Modi at London mega-rally
AFP, London
London’s hallowed Wembley Stadium on Friday gave Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a raucous welcome usually reserved for football stars David Beckham and Wayne Rooney as 60,000 people celebrated British-Indian ties.
Members of Britain’s large Indian diaspora, many waving India’s tricolour flag and wearing Modi masks, chanted the visiting leader’s name and let out a deafening cheer as he took to the stage for an hour-long speech, which combined soaring rhetoric with detailed policy strategy.
