Malaysia deports three Turks wanted by Ankara

KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysia has deported three Turkish nationals that it said were wanted by Ankara for alleged links to United States-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, who has been accused of being behind a failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar tweeted that the men were "deported back to Ankara" on Thursday night, despite concerns from rights groups who feared Malaysia was bowing to pressure from Turkey. Mr Erdogan has accused Mr Gulen of orchestrating last July's failed coup, a claim the preacher and his followers deny.

REUTERS

Nepalis voting for first time in 20 years

KATHMANDU • Nepal votes in local elections tomorrow for the first time in 20 years, a major step in the young republic's difficult transition to a democracy more than a decade after the end of its civil war.

The government hopes the elections, staggered over two phases, will lead to a general election later in the year.

A recent dispute between the Himalayan nation's Maoist-led government and the head of the Supreme Court had threatened to derail voting.

REUTERS

Five arrested in India for skinning buffalo

NEW DELHI • Indian police yesterday arrested five men for "animal cruelty" after they were caught skinning a buffalo and beaten on suspicion of killing a cow, an animal considered sacred by Hindus.

The mob bashing in Uttar Pradesh state is just the latest such attack by Hindu vigilantes in India, where there has been a recent spate of assaults on accused cow killers. Police said a Hindu mob raided a dairy farm in Aligarh, where they found five low-caste men skinning a buffalo, an animal not considered sacred and whose slaughter is legal at permitted abattoirs.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE