AFP, Athens
At least 13 people including seven children, drowned when their overloaded boat capsized in the Aegean, police said Wednesday, the latest tragedy involving migrants seeking a better life in Europe.
The small boat went down off the Greek island of Farmakonisi overnight, sending 29 people into the water, an official with the Greek port police told AFP.
Istanbul airport blast ‘kills female cleaner’
AFP, Istanbul
A female cleaner was killed and another wounded early Wednesday after an explosion of unknown origin beside a plane at Istanbul’s second international airport, with Turkey on high alert for possible attacks.
Airport cleaner Zehra Yamac, 30, died of head wounds hours after the pre-dawn blast on the tarmac at Sabiha Gokcen airport on the Asian side of Turkey’s largest city, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.
Afghan forces battle Taliban men in Helmand
Reuters, Lashkar Gah
Afghan forces on Wednesday battled Taliban fighters who overran the district of Sangin in the southern province of Helmand this week after reinforcements and NATO military advisers were rushed in to try to stop another district falling into insurgent hands.
Acting Defence Minister Masoom Stanekzai said fighting was going on in Sangin where government forces had been surrounded by insurgents who controlled most of the district including roads needed for reinforcements and supplies.
Brotherhood head jailed for 10 years
AFP, Cairo
An Egyptian military court on Tuesday sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie to 10 years in prison over deadly clashes following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, judicial officials said.
Ninety other defendants tried in absentia were sentenced to life terms, which in Egypt runs to 25 years.
Badie and dozens of others were found guilty of participating in clashes that killed 31 people in the canal city of Suez between August 14 and 16, 2013.
