World News Update, what you need to know

A defence lawyer for an Al Jazeera journalist on trial in Egypt with Australian Peter Greste has told the judge some of the proceedings against his client "make no sense".

ELSEWHERE

BANGKOK - Thailand's army chief has seized power in a military coup, deposing its beleaguered civilian government but triggering US-led international censure.

VOLNOVAKHA - Pro-Russian rebels firing mortar shells and grenades have killed 17 Ukrainian soldiers, the blackest day yet for the military and a dramatic ratcheting up of tensions just three days before a crunch election.

LONDON - Russia has lodged a furious protest with Britain after Prince Charles reportedly compared President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler, with Moscow saying the comments were unworthy of a king-in-waiting.

LOS ANGELES - A US man has been charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting his ex-girlfriend's daughter for a decade, as the alleged victim in California voiced relief at being free.

WASHINGTON DC - The US House of Representatives has passed landmark reforms curbing bulk collection of citizens' telephone records, the first step toward restricting NSA intelligence-gathering since Edward Snowden divulged the secret program last year.

ISTANBUL - The mining disaster last week in western Turkey, which killed 301 miners, left 432 children without fathers, the social affairs minister says.