Politics

  Kuwait City / AFP The UN envoy said on Wednesday that Yemen’s warring parties were closer to agreement at peace talks in Kuwait as he headed to New York to brief the Security Council. “We are moving towards a general understanding that encompasses the expectations and visions of the parties,” Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a statement. “The discussions ...

Nairobi / AFP Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has claimed the exodus of youth to Europe is a deliberate policy fomented by foreign powers to weaken the country, in a speech released on Wednesday. The hardline regime is accused of jailing thousands of political prisoners while refugees from the repressive Red Sea state have in recent years made up one of ...

  Ramallah / AFP The appointment of a hardline right-winger as Israel’s defence minister represents a “real threat” to regional stability, a senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday. “The existence of this government brings a real threat of instability and extremism in the region,” Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said, adding that the appointment would “result in apartheid, racism and ...

  Kabul / AFP The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday announced Haibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader, elevating a low-profile religious figure in a swift power transition after officially confirming the death of Mullah Mansour in a US drone strike. The surprise announcement coincided with a Taliban suicide bombing that targeted court employees near Kabul, killing 11 people in an assault ...

  Colombo / AFP Sri Lanka appealed on Wednesday for foreign aid to recover from massive floods that caused an estimated $2 billion worth of damage and claimed more than 100 lives. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said 35,000 homes were damaged in last week’s floods triggered by the heaviest rain for early 25 years, with the capital Colombo the hardest ...

  Beirut / AFP Kurdish-Arab forces launched a major assault against the IS in Syria’s Raqa province and Iraqi forces advanced on it in Fallujah, piling pressure on the extremists in two strongholds. The twin offensives marked some of the most serious ground efforts against IS since the group declared its self-styled “caliphate” straddling the Syrian-Iraqi border in 2014. Territory ...

  BERLIN / AP Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a raft of new measures combining “opportunities and obligations” designed to help Germany deal with the influx of some 1.1 million asylum-seekers registered as entering the country last year and help those who stay become “good neighbors and citizens.” The package seeks to provide migrants with better access to ...

  Los Angeles / AFP Protesters opposed to Donald Trump hurled rocks and bottles outside a rally he spoke at in New Mexico, the same day the bombastic billionaire won the Republican presidential primary in Washington state. The victory brings Trump, the last Republican standing in the 2016 US presidential race, one major step closer toward clinching his party’s nomination. ...

  KIEV / AP Russia on Wednesday released Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko as part of a swap for two Russian servicemen jailed in Ukraine, an official in the Ukrainian presidential administration said. Savchenko was being flown to Kiev aboard Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s plane, according to the official. Kremlin-funded television station RT, citing unidentified sources, reported that the two Russians ...

  Stockholm / AFP A Stockholm district court on Wednesday maintained a European arrest warrant against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over a 2010 rape allegation, rejecting his lawyers’ request to have it lifted. “The court considers that Julian Assange is still suspected of rape… and that there is still a risk that he will abscond or evade justice,” it said ...