Law & Society

U.S. and allied defence officials, increasingly wary of White House plans to scale back the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, are reviewing new drawdown options that include keeping thousands of American troops in the country beyond the end of 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

At least 717 pilgrims from around the world were killed on Thursday in a crush outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi authorities said, in the worst disaster to strike the annual haj pilgrimage for 25 years.

European far right parties have called refugees streaming into the region "terrorists", a "ticking time bomb", a Muslim "invasion" that will bankrupt nations and undermine the continent's Christian roots.