By Yilmaz Kazandioglu

31 July 2018; AA; HAKKARI, Turkey

A roadside bombing by the PKK terrorist organization killed the wife and baby of a Turkish soldier in the southeastern province of Hakkari, the local governor’s office said Tuesday. 

The bomb exploded when a car carrying the civilians passed through the Yuksekova district.

The mother died on the spot, while the 11-month-old child succumbed to his wounds at the Yuksekova Public Hospital. 

An operation to nab the terrorists is under way in the region.

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada

1 Auig 2018; AA; Canada on Tuesday put a positive spin at being left out of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) talks, saying it is a good sign that the U.S. and Mexico are trying to work out differences between themselves.

The U.S. excluded Canada at NAFTA renegotiation meetings later this week with Mexico in Washington.

By Murat Paksoy and Hanife Sevinc

ISTANBUL

31 July 2018; AA; Representatives of minority communities on Tuesday said they were free to follow their faith in Turkey, denying allegations that they were being victimized.

In a joint declaration, Turkey's minority community representatives -- including followers of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches -- said that people of different faiths live "freely".

31 July 2018; AFP; An alleged neo-Nazi was acquitted by a German court Tuesday for a bombing 18 years ago targeting Jewish immigrants, in what angry victims' advocates called a historic "legal mistake".

Ralf Spies, 52, was cleared of 12 counts of attempted murder with a "racist" motive and with causing an explosion in the attack at a commuter rail station in the western city of Duesseldorf on July 27, 2000.

SANAA, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's top Houthi rebel official on Tuesday offered a unilateral initiative to his group's foe Saudi-led coalition forces to halt war in the Red Sea.

"We declare our initiative to halt naval military operations for a specific period and it could be extended and include all battle fronts on the ground if this move is reciprocated by the leadership of the coalition," chief of Houthi Supreme Political Committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said in a statement carried by Saba news agency.

SOCHI, July 31. /TASS/. The international meeting on Syria in Russia’s Sochi will promote peace in that country, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hosein Ansari told TASS on Tuesday.

1 Aug 2018; AFP; A US judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked the online publication of blueprints for 3D-printed firearms, in a last-ditch effort to stop a settlement President Donald Trump's administration had reached with the company releasing the digital documents.

Eight states and the District of Columbia, that houses the capital Washington, had filed a lawsuit against the federal government, calling its settlement with Texas-based Defense Distributed "arbitrary and capricious."

31 July 2018; DW; As details emerge of how a woman managed to slip past security, estimates are coming in for the financial damage. The airport director says the weekend of chaos could cost €1 million.

The bill for the consequences of the Munich Airport security breach could total more than €1 million ($1.2 million), the airport chief said on Monday.

1 Aug 2018; AFP; Under-fire Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro admitted his economic model has "failed" in the wake of food and medicine shortages and public service paralysis, such as Tuesday's power failure that affected 80 percent of Caracas.

"The production models we've tried so far have failed and the responsibility is ours, mine and yours," Maduro told his ruling PSUV party congress, as Venezuela looks to tackle chronic inflation the International Monetary Fund predicted would reach one million percent this year.

Guwahati, Jul 31 (PTI); Exclusion of names of family members in the final draft of the NRC published in Assam on Monday has emerged as a major concern for many among the over 40 lakh applicants whose names do not figure in it.

Many of them whose names did not figure in the final draft of the NRC have pointed out that they had submitted the same set of documents as their family members to establish their legacy date, but were left out.

ISTANBUL; 31 July 2018; AA; The new building at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport’s domestic terminal -- representing a €26 million ($30.5 million) investment -- will boost the airport's annual passenger capacity to over 40 million, Istanbul’s governor said on Tuesday.

"It started with a capacity of 25 million people, reached 31 million, and now is being raised to 41 million," Vasip Sahin said at the building’s opening ceremony.

Looking ahead, he added: "With the second runway, this capacity will reach 63 million."

31 July 2018; AFP; A Turkish court on Tuesday rejected an appeal to release from house arrest a US pastor whose detention on terror-related charges has strained relations between NATO allies Ankara and Washington, state media reported.

The court in the Aegean region of Izmir rejected an appeal by the lawyer for Andrew Brunson, who ran a Protestant church, to have him released from house arrest and have his travel ban removed, state-run Anadolu news agency said.