Politics

  Paris / AFP Seven suspected extremists, including the brother of one of the suicide bombers in last November’s Paris attacks, went on trial in Paris on Monday. The men, now aged between 24 and 27, travelled to Syria at the end of 2013 and returned to France a few months later. Arrested in May 2014, they all deny having ...

Bloomberg Splits in the UK Conservative Party pose a growing threat to David Cameron’s chances of remaining prime minister after the Brexit referendum as “blue-on-blue” attacks become increasingly acrimonious. Bookmakers cut the odds on Cameron’s ouster this year as former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove, prominent Conservative campaigners to leave the European Union, said the premier’s ...

  TIRANA / AP NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly urged alliance members on Monday to stand up to Russia’s military assertiveness and to do a better job sharing the burden of collective defense. A unanimously approved declaration called on alliance members “to provide reassurance to those allies who feel their security is under threat, focusing on the eastern and southern flanks of ...

  Jakarta / AFP Beijing insisted on Monday a Chinese boat detained close to Indonesian islands had been fishing legally, in a fresh flare-up of tensions between the countries in the South China Sea. The Indonesian navy seized the Chinese boat in waters near the Natuna Islands on Friday for allegedly fishing illegally, the military said. The boat was towed ...

  Manila /AFP Rodrigo Duterte snubbed his proclamation as the next Philippine president on Monday, reinforcing his image as a maverick outsider intent on challenging the nation’s political establishment. A joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate in Manila endorsed the official count of this month’s election, which saw the trash-talking politician who revels in threats to ...

  Baghdad / AFP Iraq’s elite forces deployed around Fallujah, marking a new phase in efforts to retake the extremist bastion, as concern grew for trapped civilians there and in neighbouring Syria. After almost a week of shaping operations around Fallujah, the arrival of the counter-terrorism service (CTS) signalled that an assault on the IS group inside the city may ...

  Rome / AFP A week of shipwrecks and death in the Mediterranean culminated on Sunday with harrowing testimony from migrant survivors who said another 500 people including 40 children had drowned, bringing the number of feared dead to 700. Brought to safety in the Italian ports of Taranto and Pozzallo, survivors told the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and Save ...

  London / AFP The British coastguard said it rescued 19 migrants on Sunday from the Channel after their inflatable boat began to take on water. “The rhib (rigid-hulled inflatable boat), with 19 people on board was located at 2.00am and the incident handed over to Border Force,” it said in a statement. The mission included the deployment of a ...

  SHINDAND / AP A breakaway Taliban faction is willing to hold peace talks with the Afghan government but will demand the imposition of Islamic law and the departure of all foreign forces, a senior leader of the group said Sunday. Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi told a group of around 200 followers in eastern Afghanistan that his faction had no ...

  Dhaka / AFP At least 10 people have been killed and thousands injured in clashes between supporters and candidates of rival parties during the latest Bangladesh local elections, police and poll monitors said on Sunday. Unprecedented levels of violence and allegations of poll rigging have marred local council elections held in phases since March, with at least 90 people ...