Aleppo / AFP Syrian regime forces advanced on Sunday in Aleppo after Russia unleashed dozens of strikes, even as condemnation kept pouring in over the bombing of the main hospital in the city’s rebel-held east. The devastating five-year war in Syria has ravaged second city Aleppo, once the country’s economic hub but now torn apart between government troops and ...

  Geneva / AFP Civilians under bombardment in Syria’s rebel-held east Aleppo are facing “a level of savagery that no human should have to endure,” the UN aid chief said on Sunday. Stephen O’Brien, who heads the United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA), issued a fresh plea to ease the suffering of some 250,000 people besieged by a Russian-backed Syrian government ...

  Istanbul / AFP Turkish police on Sunday detained a brother of the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who is accused of masterminding the failed July coup aimed at ousting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kutbettin Gulen was detained by police acting on a tip-off at the home of a relative in the Gaziemir district of the western Izmir province, the state-run ...

  Riyadh / AFP Houthi rebels in Yemen are posing a threat to shipping in the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, the Saudi-led coalition supporting the government said Sunday after an attack on an Emirati vessel. The coalition said Shiite Houthi militiamen had attacked the vessel “on its usual route to and from (the southern port city of) Aden to transfer relief ...

  New Delhi / AFP India, the world’s third biggest carbon emitter, ratified the Paris agreement on climate change on Sunday on the birthday of the country’s famously ascetic independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. India, with a population of 1.3 billion people, is the latest big polluter to formally sign onto the historic accord which now takes a major step towards becoming ...

  Bishoftu / AFP Several people were killed in a stampede near the Ethiopian capital on Sunday after police fired tear gas at protesters during a religious festival, according reports. Several thousand people had gathered at a sacred lake in the town of Bishoftu to take part in the Irreecha ceremony, in which the Oromo community marks the end of the ...

  BUDAPEST / AFP Hungary’s populist strongman Viktor Orban was banking on voters on Sunday to defy the European Union and reject its troubled refugee quota plan, but low turnout threatened to taint his camp’s expected referendum win. Surveys showed the referendum turnout might not reach the required 50-percent threshold and therefore be deemed invalid. But Orban has already downplayed ...

  Tripoli / AFP Libyan pro-government forces killed at least 10 IS group extremists as they attempted to flee their besieged stronghold of Sirte, the country’s unity government said on Sunday. “Our forces exterminated a group from the IS gang that were trying to escape,” said the forces in a statement. They said their fighters had recovered the bodies of ...

  AFP Hillary Clinton said she raised a record $154 million in September in her race for the White House against Donald Trump. In August, Clinton raised $143 million and Trump $90 million. It is common for campaign donations to increase as the election approaches. This year the voting is on November 8. The money is in fact divided between ...

  Sao Paulo /AFP Brazilians furious at recession and corruption voted on Sunday in municipal elections amid heightened security after a series of murders of candidates. Voting, which is mandatory in Brazil, got underway at 8:00 am (1100 GMT), with long lines immediately forming outside polling stations. Among the first to cast his ballot in the financial capital Sao Paulo ...