NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Syria conflict: After losing major strongholds and key urban areas across Syria, including its self-proclaimed capital, the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State now controls only 5 percent of the country’s territory, according to Russia’s defense minister. That’s a dramatic decline from the height of the rise of Islamic State in 2014, when the extremist group seized about a third of both Syria and Iraq. Also Tuesday, a report by the security consultancy Soufan Group said at least 5,600 people from 33 countries have returned home after spending time in territory controlled by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
_2 Egypt arrests: Egyptian police arrested 12 suspected militants in a province southwest of the capital, Cairo, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday, days after a deadly attack on the country’s security forces killed at least 16 policemen. The ministry statement said the militants were “cadres” of Hasm, which authorities say is a breakaway faction of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood that has targeted security troops in recent years in a series of brazen attacks. The arrests were made in Fayoum province, 50 miles southwest of Cairo, it said. Police also seized 13 weapons and two explosive devices.
_3 Reporters on trial: Six journalists appeared in a Turkish court in Istanbul on terror charges Tuesday for reporting on a trove of allegedly hacked emails suggesting misconduct by Turkey’s energy minister. The defendants are accused of disseminating propaganda for terrorist groups and other terrorrelated offenses after their reports on Berat Albayrak, a son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The reports were based on emails reportedly stolen from Albayrak’s personal email account by hackers and made available on WikiLeaks. Three of the defendants have been in jail for over 10 months.
_4 Kabul addicts: Afghan police and health workers fanned out across Kabul and under the city’s bridges, to round up drug addicts and try to get them help. The young men, most of whom survive on the street by feeding off garbage and begging or stealing money for their next fix, are then taken to a rehab center where they spend the next three months trying to kick the habit before they are reunited with their families. The process is part of a new campaign in the country with one of the highest rates of drug use in the world, with an estimated 3 million addicts — around 10 percent of the population. Afghanistan is also the world’s main source of opium and heroin. _5 Portugal controversy: Women’s rights groups in Portugal have reacted angrily to a court decision that quoted the Bible and a 19th century law in justifying a suspended sentence for a man convicted of assaulting his ex-wife with a bat because she allegedly committed adultery. The man was given a 15-month suspended sentence and a fine of $2,000 for using a bat spiked with nails to assault the woman in the street in 2015, leaving her covered in cuts and bruises. The prosecutor had argued the sentence was too lenient and asked an appeals court for prison time of three years and six months. But the appeal judges on Oct. 11 rejected his request. In their written ruling, the judges expressed “some understanding” for the attacker, saying a woman’s adultery is “a very serious offense against a man’s honor and dignity.” They noted the Bible says an adulterous woman should be punished by death and also cited a 1886 Portuguese law that gave only symbolic sentences to men who killed their wives for suspected adultery.