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Turkish President Accused of Purging Opponents

Nearly 20,000 members of the police, civil service, judiciary and army have been detained or suspended, as part of a major crackdown in Turkey after last weekend's failed coup.

A major crackdown is underway in Turkey after last weekend's failed coup. According to estimates, nearly 20,000 members of the police, civil service, judiciary and army have been detained or suspended. The US and the EU have cautioned Ankara over its response to the coup, saying it must uphold the rule of law. Some are concerned President Erdogan's government could use the coup as a pretext to detain its critics, and consolidate its power. However, Turkey rejects the accusations. Its foreign minister says criticism of the government's actions amounts to backing for the bid to overthrow it.

The US has started selling energy to the Middle East. The first two shipments of liquified natural gas - LNG - from the US have been shipped to Kuwait and Dubai. For decades the flow of energy has been the other way, with the US a big customer of Middle Eastern oil.

The board of the UK-based microchip maker, Arm Holdings, is expected to advise its shareholders to accept a $32 billion dollar takeover offer from the Japanese technology giant, Softbank. It has committed to doubling the size of ARM's UK-based workforce over the next five years. Arm's chips are used in billions of devices around the world, including Apple's iPhone.

There have been protests at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, where the highly divisive billionaire Donald Trump will be officially chosen as the party's candidate to become US President.

And our regular commentator, Lucy Kellaway, tells us how a bike accident on her way to work made her think again about productivity in the workplace.

Rob Young is joined throughout the programme by two guests from different continents - Madhavan Narayanan in Delhi and Ralph Silva in Toronto.

(Photo: A man holds up a portrait of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while attending a rally in Ankara. Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

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50 minutes

Last on

Tue 19 Jul 2016 00:06GMT

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  • Tue 19 Jul 2016 00:06GMT

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