My Way News - Kerry pushing Israel, Palestinians to resume talks
My Way News reports: "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, engaged in breakneck shuttle diplomacy to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into peace talks, is flying to the West Bank on Sunday to have a third meeting in as many days with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. [...] There is deep skepticism that Kerry can get the two sides to agree on a two-state solution."

My Way News - Tension rises ahead of Egypt protest
My Way News reports: "Organizers of a mass protest against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi claimed Saturday that more than 22 million people have signed their petition demanding the Islamist leader step down, asserting that the tally was a reflection of how much the public has turned against his rule. The announcement adds to a sense of foreboding on the eve of opposition-led mass demonstrations that many fear could turn deadly and quickly spin out of control, dragging the country into a dangerous round of political violence."

Voice of America - Kerry Back in Jerusalem After Talks with Abbas
VOA reports: "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met separately Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Shimon Peres, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The discussions were part of the latest push by the Obama administration to get the sides back to talks on a two-state solution. Kerry returns to Jordan Saturday to meet again with Abbas."

My Way News - Violence flares in Egypt before weekend protests
My Way News reports: "Tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi rallied Friday in Cairo, and both sides fought each other in the second-largest city of Alexandria, where two people were killed - including an American - and 85 were injured while at least five offices of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood were torched, officials said."

My Way News - Phoenix, Las Vegas bake in scorching heat:
My Way News reports: "A blazing heat wave expected to send the mercury soaring to nearly 120 degrees in Phoenix and Las Vegas over the weekend settled across the West on Friday, threatening to ground airliners and raising fears that pets will get burned on the scalding pavement. [...] The heat is the result of a high-pressure system brought on by a shift in the jet stream, the high-altitude air current that dictates weather patterns. The jet stream has been more erratic in the past few years."

My Way News - Islamic extremists target civilians in Nigeria
My Way News reports: "The pastor would not renounce his Christian faith so the Islamic extremists slit his throat. [...] The radical group that once attacked only government institutions and security forces is increasingly targeting civilians. Some 155,000 square kilometers (60,000 square miles) of Nigeria are now under a state of emergency."

My Way News - Kerry: Urgent progress is needed on Mideast peace
My Way News reports: "Secretary of State John Kerry is beginning a new round of Middle East peace diplomacy, arriving Wednesday in Jordan, his base for talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Kerry is to travel from Amman to Jerusalem on Thursday for dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has a lunch scheduled on Friday in Amman with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas."

My Way News - Egypt's opposition criticizes president's speech
My Way News reports: "Those organizing the protests for Sunday - the anniversary of Morsi's inauguration - say he must go because he has mismanaged the country, given a monopoly on decision-making to the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist allies, and encroached on the judiciary."

Report: Russia Evacuates Troops From Base in Syria
ABC News reports: "A Russian newspaper has reported that Russia has pulled out all of its military personnel from its naval base in Syria. The base at Tartus is a minor facility, used mainly to service Russian navy ships in the Mediterranean, but it is Russia's only naval outpost outside the former Soviet Union."

My Way News - Taliban attack shows militant spirit unbroken
My Way News reports: "A week after NATO forces handed all security operations to the Afghans, local forces fought off the attackers on their own, killing all eight militants without calling in any coalition help. But the assault also made clear that the Taliban's fighting spirit remains unbroken and demonstrated their ability to bluff their way past two checkpoints and storm a highly fortified zone of the capital."

My Way News - EU seeks to look beyond Turkey protests
My Way News reports: "Turkey's hope of moving to the next stage of negotiations to join the European Union was kept alive Monday after Germany proposed a compromise that would bind the bloc to expanded talks, but only once it approved Ankara's latest reforms. [...] Germany, which has a sizeable Turkish population, had initially blocked the next step in membership talks last week."

My Way News - 94 in Alaska? Weather extremes tied to jet stream
My Way News reports: "The jet stream usually rushes rapidly from west to east in a mostly straight direction. But lately it's been wobbling and weaving like a drunken driver, wreaking havoc as it goes. The more the jet stream undulates north and south, the more changeable and extreme the weather. It's a relatively new phenomenon that scientists are still trying to understand. Some say it's related to global warming; others say it's not."

My Way News - Latest bird flu strain 'kills more than a third'
My Way News reports: "More than a third of patients infected with a new strain of bird flu died after being admitted to the hospital earlier this year, Chinese researchers report in a new study. Since the new H7N9 bird flu first broke out in China in late March, the strain has sickened more than 130 people and killed 37."

My Way News - Clashes present test for Lebanon's weak military
My Way News reports: "Lebanon's third-largest city of Sidon was turned into a battle zone Monday as the military fought heavily armed followers of an extremist Sunni Muslim cleric holed up in a mosque. [...] Machine-gun fire and explosions from rocket-propelled grenade caused panic among residents, who also reported power and water outages. Snipers allied with al-Assir took over rooftops, terrorizing civilians, and many were asking to be evacuated from the heavily populated neighborhood around the Bilal bin Rabbah Mosque, where al-Assir preaches and where the fighting has been concentrated."

My Way News - Turkish police unleash water cannon on protests
My Way News reports: "Turkish police used water cannon to disperse thousands gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square on Saturday to observe a memorial for four people killed during recent anti-government protests. The officers later fired tear gas and rubber bullets, and in some cases beat people with batons, to scatter demonstrators who regrouped in side streets."

My Way News - Brazil: 250K protest against govt corruption
My Way News reports: "More than 250,000 anti-government demonstrators again took to streets in several Brazilian cities Saturday and engaged police in some isolated, intense conflicts. Anger over political corruption emerged as the unifying issue for the demonstrators, who vowed to stay in the streets until concrete steps are taken to reform the political system. [...] At its height, some 1 million anti-government demonstrators took to the streets nationwide on Thursday night with grievances ranging from public services to the billions of dollars spent preparing for international sports events."

My Way News - Russia raises questions on non-nuclear US weapons
My Way News reports: "Lavrov's comments reflected Moscow's reluctance to conduct further nuclear arms cuts at a time when it is lagging far behind the United States in designing new weapons, and its conventional forces are a shadow of the Red Army's former might. All that has prompted Moscow to rely increasingly on its nuclear deterrent, and it has invested a large share of its petrodollars into modernizing its nuclear missiles and atomic submarines."

My Way News - Lavrov: Syria peace conference could be derailed
My Way News reports: "Russia's foreign minister said Friday that Washington is sending contradictory signals on Syria that could derail an international conference intended to end that country's civil war, warning that U.S. talk about a possible no-fly zone would only encourage the rebels to keep fighting. [...] Russia has been the key ally of Assad's regime throughout the Syrian conflict, which has killed more than 93,000 people, shielding it from U.N. Security Council sanctions and continuing to provide it with weapons."

My Way News - Brazil leaders to meet as protests, violence grow
My Way News reports: "Police and protesters fought in the streets into the early hours Friday as an estimated 1 million Brazilians swarmed through more than 80 Brazilian cities in the biggest demonstrations yet against a government viewed as corrupt at all levels and unresponsive to its people. [...] peaceful protesters were caught up in the fray, too, as police fired tear gas canisters into their midst and at times indiscriminately used pepper spray."

My Way News - Super full moon shines brightly this weekend
My Way News reports: "The biggest and brightest full moon of the year graces the sky early Sunday as our celestial neighbor swings closer to Earth than usual. While the moon will appear 14 percent larger normal, skywatchers won't be able to notice the difference with the naked eye. Still, astronomers say it's worth looking up and appreciating the cosmos."

My Way News - New MERS virus spreads easily, deadlier than SARS
My Way News reports: "A mysterious new respiratory virus that originated in the Middle East spreads easily between people and appears more deadly than SARS, doctors reported Wednesday after investigating the biggest outbreak in Saudi Arabia."

My Way News - Senior Israeli minister endorses Arab peace plan
My Way News reports: "In a sign of rifts within his government, a senior Israeli Cabinet minister on Thursday warmly endorsed a recently renewed Arab peace initiative, saying it was a good basis for negotiations with the Palestinians. [...] The comments appeared timed to support efforts to mediate a resumption of talks between the two sides by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, ahead of his visit to the region next week."

My Way News - Germany blocks Turkey's EU accession talks
My Way News reports: "Germany has blocked the next step in the European Union's membership talks with Turkey over Ankara's crackdown on anti-government protests, a diplomat from an EU nation said Thursday. [...] Pushing ahead with the EU accession talks as scheduled next week would have required unanimous approval at a meeting of top diplomats representing the EU's 27 member nations in Brussels on Thursday."

Comment: This was not entirely unexpected, but it's a significant milestone. It may mark the turning point when Turkey pivots away from the West and toward a rogue alliance with Russia and Iran.Accession talks could well continue, but I'm sure the attitude of Turkey's leaders toward the EU has been fundamentally altered.

My Way News - India floods strand thousands; more than 100 dead
My Way News reports: "Days after floods killed more than 100 people - possibly many more - rescuers used helicopters and climbed through mountain paths to reach about 4,000 people trapped by landslides in a narrow valley near a Hindu shrine in the northern Himalayas, officials said Thursday. [...] The latest rains have affected several states and the capital, New Delhi, where nearly 2,000 people were evacuated to government-run camps on higher ground. Authorities there said the Yamuna River was expected to start receding Thursday afternoon."

My Way News - 1M Brazilians fill streets with protest, violence
My Way News reports: "More than a million Brazilians poured into the streets of at least 80 cities Thursday in this week's largest anti-government demonstrations yet, protests that saw violent clashes break out in several cities as people demanding improved public services and an end to corruption faced tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets."

My Way News - Seeking influence, China hosts Mideast peace forum
My Way News reports: "The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations praised China's growing involvement in the Mideast peace process, saying it enhances the efforts of other nations and should continue to expand [...] China extended diplomatic recognition to the Palestinian Authority in 1988 - four years before recognizing Israel - and has consistently backed efforts to boost Palestine's status at the U.N."

My Way News - G-8 summit turns focus to clampdown on tax-dodging

My Way News reports: "World leaders at the G-8 summit have declared that governments must work together to close loopholes that allow multinational companies to avoid paying taxes in their home countries. [...] The summit is concluding with rapid-fire statements by each departing leader. Obama continues his European trip Tuesday night in Germany."

My Way News - Unions strike, protest to support Turkey activists
My Way News reports: "Labor unions and political foes of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan rallied by the thousands across Turkey Monday, hoping to capitalize on weeks of initially small-scale protest to register broader discontent."

My Way News - Demonstrators flood Brazilian streets in protest
My Way News reports: "Some of the biggest demonstrations since the end of Brazil's 1964-85 dictatorship broke out across this continent-sized country, with more expected Tuesday, protests uniting multitudes frustrated by poor transportation, health services, education and security despite a heavy tax burden. "

My Way News - US war games send signal to Assad
My Way News reports: "Under the watchful eye of stern-faced American advisers, hundreds of U.S.-trained Jordanian commandos fanned across this dusty desert plain, holding war games that could eventually form the basis of an assault in Syria. [...] Dubbed Eager Lion, the 12-day exercise involves combined land, air and sea maneuvers across the country. It brings together 8,000 personnel from 19 Arab and European nations to train on border security, irregular warfare, terrorism and counterinsurgency."

My Way News - Israeli general warns of unrest if no peace talks
My Way News reports: "Failure to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations could stir unrest in the West Bank, Israel's top army commander in the territory warned Tuesday. Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, who commands the Israeli military in the West Bank, said Tuesday that U.S Secretary of State John Kerry's efforts helped calm the situation in the West Bank."

My Way News - Saudi Arabia: 4 more deaths from SARS-like virus
My Way News reports: "Saudi Arabia says four more people have died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing the total number of deaths to 32 in the kingdom at the center of the growing crisis. Overall, nearly 40 people have died from the virus since September, mostly in Europe and the Middle East. That's according to local officials and the World Health Organization."

My Way News - Hard-line Egypt cleric sentenced for burning Bible
My Way News reports: "A hard-line Muslim cleric received an 11-year suspended sentence Sunday for tearing up and burning a Bible, Egypt's official news agency said. [...]  It was a rare prosecution over attacks on faiths other than Islam. Over the past two years, attacks by extremist Muslims against followers of other religions, mostly Christians, have been on the increase."

My Way News - Egypt seen to give nod toward jihadis on Syria
My Way News reports: "The new tone in Egypt risks fueling the flow of Egyptian jihadi fighters to Syria, where the conflict is already increasingly defined by the sectarian divide, with the mostly Sunni rebels fighting a regime rooted in the minority Alawite sect, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam, and backed by Shiite Iran and Hezbollah. The conflict is also becoming more regional after Hezbollah intervened to help Assad defeat rebels in a strategic western town this month. [...]  The United States last week hardened its own position on Assad's regime, agreeing to provide the rebels with lethal weapons."

My Way News - Putin: US-Russia positions on Syria don't coincide
My Way News reports: "While Putin has called for negotiated peace talks, he has not urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power, and he remains one of Assad's strongest political and military allies. The White House did not expect any breakthrough with Putin on Syria during the gathering of the Group of Eight Summit at a lakeside golf resort near Enniskillen and the meeting further highlighted the rift between the two countries on how to address the fighting in the country. "

My Way News - Moderate Iranian leader could hinder Israel
My Way News reports: "The surprising victory of a reformist candidate in Iran's presidential election has put Israel in a difficult position as it tries to halt the Iranian nuclear program: With Hasan Rowhani likely to enjoy an international honeymoon, Israel could have a hard time rallying support for new sanctions - or possible military action - against its arch foe, even as it says the clock is ticking on Tehran's march toward nuclear weapons."

My Way News - EU, US agree to start free trade talks at G-8
My Way News reports: "The European Union and the United States will open negotiations next month on a long-sought deal to create free trade between the world's two mightiest economic regions - an effort that could create millions of jobs but that could also take years to transform from dream to reality. EU and U.S. leaders announced the plans Monday while in Northern Ireland for the G-8 summit of wealthy nations."

My Way News - UK's Cameron rallies world leaders to N.Ireland
My Way News reports: "Speaking hours ahead of the summit's official opening at a lakeside golf resort, Cameron said he expects formal agreement to launch negotiations on a European-American free trade agreement. He said a pact to slash tariffs on exports would boost employment and growth on both sides of the Atlantic. 'This will be a summit that will drive growth and prosperity all over the world,' Cameron declared as he arrived at the summit venue ahead of leaders from the United States, Canada, Russia, Germany, France, Italy and Japan as well as the 27-nation European Union."

My Way News - Riot police end Istanbul park protest:
My Way News reports: "Turkish riot police firing tear gas and water cannon took less than half an hour on Saturday to bring to an end an 18-day occupation of an Istanbul park at the center of the strongest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 10-year tenure. [...] Thousands of peaceful protesters, choking on the fumes and stumbling among the tents, put up little physical resistance, even as plain-clothes police manhandled many to drive them from the park. Just moments before, the park had been full of protesters young and old, as well as families with children."

My Way News - Google launches Internet-beaming balloons
My Way News reports: "Developed in the secretive X lab that came up with a driverless car and web-surfing eyeglasses, the flimsy helium-filled inflatables beam the Internet down to earth as they sail past on the wind. [...] If successful, the technology might allow countries to leapfrog the expense of laying fiber cable, dramatically increasing Internet usage in places such as Africa and Southeast Asia."

My Way News - EU gets deal on trans-Atlantic trade pact mandate
My Way News reports: "The European Union worked around French objections on Friday to agree on a free trade negotiating mandate for sweeping talks with the United States that President Barack Obama wants to officially open next week. [...] A free trade pact would create a market with common standards and regulations across countries that together account for nearly half the global economy."

My Way News - Climate talk shifts from curbing CO2 to adapting
My Way News reports: "Efforts to curb global warming have quietly shifted as greenhouse gases inexorably rise. The conversation is no longer solely about how to save the planet by cutting carbon emissions. It's becoming more about how to save ourselves from the warming planet's wild weather."

My Way News - Hezbollah says it will keep fighting in Syria
My Way News reports: "Hezbollah's leader vowed Friday that his militants would keep fighting in Syria 'wherever needed' after the U.S. agreed to arm the rebels in the civil war, setting up a proxy fight between Iran and the West that threatens to engulf more of the Middle East."

My Way News - Reaction cool to US arms plan for Syrian rebels
My Way News reports: "The Obama administration hopes its decision to give lethal aid to Syrian rebels will prompt other nations to beef up assistance, now that the U.S. has cited evidence that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people. But the international reaction Friday ranged from flat-out disbelief of the U.S. intelligence assessments to calls for negotiation before more weapons pour into the vicious civil war. "

My Way News - Obama to step up military support of Syrian rebels
My Way News reports: "President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time, U.S. officials said Thursday, after the White House disclosed that the United States has conclusive evidence President Bashar Assad's government used chemical weapons against opposition forces trying to overthrow him."

My Way News - Crackdown filling NKorean prisons with defectors
My Way News reports: "North Korea's prison population has swelled with those caught fleeing the country under a crackdown on defections by young leader Kim Jong Un, according to defectors living in South Korea and researchers who study Pyongyang's notorious network of labor camps and detention centers."

My Way News - Iraq increasingly drawn into Syrian battlefield
My Way News reports: "Iraqi border posts along the Syrian frontier are coming under attack, and Syrian truck drivers have been singled out and shot inside Iraq. Syrian soldiers earlier this year sought refuge across the border, only to be massacred by al-Qaida. Combat-hardened Iraqi fighters, meanwhile, are crisscrossing the frontier. Al-Qaida-linked Sunni militants are cooperating with hard-line Islamists among the Syrian rebels, while Iraqi Shiite fighters are joining militiamen from Lebanon's Hezbollah to fight alongside forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad's Iranian-backed regime. U.S. officials believe Iranian arms are still being shuttled to Damascus through Iraqi airspace."

My Way News - Egypt warns all options open for Ethiopia Nile dam
My Way News reports: "Egypt's president on Monday hardened his stance against Ethiopia and its construction of a Nile dam, warning that 'all options are open' in dealing with the project that threatens to leave Egypt with a dangerous water shortage. Speaking in a live televised speech before hundreds of supporters, Mohammed Morsi said Egypt is not calling for war, but it is willing to confront any threats to its water security."

My Way News - Clashes in Istanbul extend into night in Taksim
My Way News reports: "Riot police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets in day-long clashes that lasted into the early hours Wednesday, battling protesters who have been occupying Istanbul's central Taksim Square and its adjacent Gezi Park in the country's most severe anti-government protests in decades."

My Way News - Multinational military exercises launch in Jordan
My Way News reports: "Patriot missiles were deployed for the first time at an annual multinational military exercise in key U.S. ally Jordan on Sunday, Jordanian and U.S. army officers said. The 12-day 'Eager Lion' exercises have brought together 8,000 personnel from 19 mainly Arab and European countries to bolster defense capabilities in the face of a possible flare-up from neighboring Syria."

My Way News - Floods in central Europe continue to create havoc
My Way News reports: "More than 80,000 emergency personnel including firefighters and soldiers were on duty Saturday, working aggressively to contain the most dramatic floods in Germany in a decade. Thousands of residents were still unable to return to their homes, and bridges and streets were impassable in many regions of eastern and southern Germany."

My Way News - Russia offers peacekeepers for Golan Heights
My Way News reports: "President Vladimir Putin offered on Friday to send Russian troops to the Golan Heights to replace the Austrians who are withdrawing from the U.N. peacekeeping force that monitors the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces. [...] council members agreed that Syria and Israel would have to approve a Russian deployment."

Comment: This is a very interesting and unexpected development. On the one hand, I'm tempted to dismiss it out of hand, after all, it's not as if Israel is likely to agree. On the other hand, the presence of a small contingent of Russia troops in harms way may be the "hook" that drives Russia into fulfilling it's prophetic role.

My Way News - After Qusair, Syrian army sets sights on heartland
My Way News reports: "The latest battlefield success, due in large part to Lebanese Hezbollah fighters' increasing role and the West's continued reluctance to arm the rebels, raises the possibility that Assad can cling to power for years, even if he won't be able to recapture all of the country."

My Way News - White House: Obama adjusting cyber offense stance
My Way News reports: "The Obama administration is refining its use of offensive cyber operations to counter evolving threats of electronic assaults against the United States. [...] Obama has ordered national security and intelligence officials to draw up a list of potential cyber targets overseas."

My Way News - Ethiopia summons Egypt's ambassador over Nile dam
My Way News reports: "Ethiopia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday it is demanding an official explanation from Egypt after comments from politicians suggesting Egypt attack or sabotage a Nile River dam Ethiopia is building. [...] Ethiopia a week ago started diverting the flow of the Nile River to make way for its $4.2 billion hydroelectric plant, dubbed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Egypt fears the dam will mean a diminished share of the Nile River."

My Way News - Syrian rebel offensive in Golan jolts Israel:
My Way News reports: "Syrian rebels briefly seized control of a border crossing along the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Thursday, prompting the withdrawal of a major Austrian peacekeeping contingent and heightening fears in Israel that it could soon be dragged into the neighboring country's civil war. [...] Israel fears that Islamic militants who have joined the rebel ranks in trying to oust President Bashar Assad will turn their guns toward Israel if they topple the Syrian leader."

My Way News - When mighty Danube floods, Europe is shaken
My Way News reports: "At least 16 people have died in the flooding of the Danube and Elbe rivers in central Europe this week and at least four others are missing. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in the region, including over 700 in the eastern German city of Dresden, where the Elbe crested Thursday at 7 meters (21 feet) above normal levels."

My Way News - Putin on Russia's naval plans in the Mediterranean:
My Way News reports: "Russia announced on Thursday that it will keep a fleet of about dozen navy ships in the Mediterranean Sea, a move President Vladimir Putin said is needed to protect his country's national security. [...] Russia currently has 16 navy ships in the Mediterranean. The Defense Ministry said it would regularly rotate them to keep a presence of about a dozen."

My Way News - Egypt: Christians come under attack, hold protest
My Way News reports: "Egyptian security and church officials say hundreds of Coptic Christians visiting a southern monastery have protested after coming under attack by unidentified assailants who stole their money and personal belongings and beat them."

My Way News - France, Britain confirm use of sarin gas in Syria
My Way News reports: "France said Tuesday it has confirmed that the nerve gas sarin was used 'multiple times and in a localized way' in Syria, including at least once by the regime. It was the most specific claim by any Western power about chemical weapons attacks in the 27-month-old conflict. Britain later said that tests it conducted on samples taken from Syria also were positive for sarin."

My Way News - Putin: S-300 missiles not sent to Syria yet
My Way News reports: "President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia hasn't yet fulfilled a contract to send sophisticated S-300 air defense missile systems to Syria to avoid tilting the balance of power in the region."

My Way News - China defends actions in maritime disputes
My Way News reports: "China is embroiled in a series of running disputes with its neighbors, including a high-profile one with Japan that has soured bilateral relations, and with several countries around the South China Sea who dispute China's claims to potentially oil-rich areas of the sea."

My Way News - Anti-austerity protests: Spain, Germany, Portugal
My Way News reports: "Anti-austerity protesters on Saturday took to the streets of dozens of European cities, including Madrid, Frankfurt and Lisbon, to express their anger at government cuts they say are making the financial crisis worse by stifling growth and increasing unemployment. Thousands marched peacefully toward Madrid's central Neptuno fountain near Parliament, chanting 'Government, resign.' Around 15,000 people gathered outside the International Monetary Fund's headquarters in Lisbon shouting 'IMF, out of here.'"

My Way News - Turkish PM, president at odds over protests:
My Way News reports: "Turkish riot police launched round after round of tear gas against protesters on Monday, the fourth day of violent demonstrations, as the president and the prime minister staked competing positions on the unrest. [...] The protests are seen as a display of frustration with Erdogan, whom critics say has become increasingly authoritarian. Many accuse him of forcing his conservative, religious Islamic outlook on the lives of secular Turks."

My Way News - Flooding threatens Czech capital
My Way News reports: "Rising waters after days of heavy rains have forced authorities in the Czech capital to start erecting metal walls along the Vltava river to prevent Prague from flooding. After another night of downpours in Prague, and elsewhere in the country, the water in Vltava was still on the rise Sunday and was expected to reach critical levels later in the day."

My Way News - Egyptian Christian lawyer convicted of blasphemy
My Way News reports: "An Egyptian court has convicted a Coptic Christian lawyer in the southern province of Assiut on charges of blasphemy and sentenced him to one year in prison with hard labor. The verdict against Roman Murad Saad was handed down on Saturday. It's the latest in a surge of blasphemy cases following Egypt's 2011 uprising."

My Way News - Saudi Arabia says 3 more die from new virus
My Way News reports: "Saudi Arabia has reported that three more people have died from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 24. The Ministry of Health said Sunday the three deceased were among 38 infected in the kingdom with the respiratory virus called MERS."