Region

Climate pressures lead to rise in 'new-age orphans' in Sundarbans | Reuters

SANDESHKHALI, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Eleven-year old Srijita Bhangi sits in the waiting room of the jetty boat that connects her island home in Khulna to the mainland Sundarbans, near India's border with Bangladesh. After spending a few days with her elderly grandparents – an effort to lift her most recent spell of depression – she is travelling back to the school hostel where she has lived since her parents left two years ago to find work in a garment factory 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away, in Tamil Nadu.

Russia to ask UN to agree to Arctic borders expansion

Moscow, Oct 30 (IANS/EFE) Russia's Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Sergey Donskoy, said Wednesday that his country intends to ask the UN to allow Russia to expand its land borders in the northern Arctic region in 2015. "The request will be presented to the UN in the spring of next year, as we have plans to expand Russian borders in the Arctic region," Xinhua quoted the minister as saying Wednesday in the Russian city of St. Petersburg.

Turkey to play role in fight against Islamic State

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey is seeking specific roles in a U.S.-led coalition to battle Islamic State fighters, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said after talks with Turkish leaders on Monday, without revealing details.