Politics

  RAMSTEIN AIR BASE / AP A series of deadly attacks by IS operatives in and around Baghdad may be a sign that the militants are “reverting to their roots” as a terrorist organization, the top US commander for the Middle East said on Wednesday. Army Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of US Central Command, said this does not mean ...

  Jerusalem / AFP Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is close to agreeing a unity government with the main opposition leader, Israeli media said on Wednesday, in a move that could help revive peace talks with the Palestinians. The head of the rightwing Likud has reportedly been engaged in intense negotiations with Labour Party chief Isaac Herzog in recent weeks in ...

  Geneva/ AFP Millions of refugees worldwide risk living on the street due to a lack of funds for shelters, the United Nations warned on Wednesday, urging the private sector to help amid surging displacement. Launching a global campaign called “Nobody Left Outside”, the UN refugee agency said it still needed half a billion dollars to provide adequate shelter. “Without ...

  Paris/ AFP Police across France were to demonstrate on Wednesday against the “anti-cop hatred” they say they have endured during a wave of anti-government protests since early March.Rallies are planned in around 60 towns and cities, with the Paris event to be held in the Place de la Republique, the venue of the youth-driven “Up All Night” movement that ...

  COLOMBO / AFP Massive landslides triggered by torrential rains crashed down onto three villages in the central hills of Sri Lanka, and more than 200 families were missing on Wednesday and feared buried under the mud and debris, the Sri Lankan Red Cross said. Sixteen bodies have already been recovered and about 180 people have been rescued from the ...

  Yangon / AFP A US decision to pare back economic sanctions on Myanmar could unclog investment as the country claws its way out of poverty, Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government said on Wednesday, welcoming the move. Suu Kyi’s party took power in March after clinching a majority at last year’s election, the freest in generations for a nation ...

  Washington / AFP Hillary Clinton claimed a narrow victory in Kentucky as she sought to put away Bernie Sanders, but her resilient rival for the Democratic presidential nomination bounced back to snatch a win in Oregon. With the Kentucky race too close for most US networks to call a winner, Clinton declared victory shortly after Kentucky’s secretary of state ...

  Washington / AFP Donald Trump said he would speak with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in what would be a dramatic shift in US policy. “I would speak to him, I would have no problem speaking to him,” the Republican presumptive presidential nominee told Reuters in an exclusive interview. Until now, the US strategy has been to try and ...

  Caracas / AFP Public outrage over sweeping new emergency powers decreed this week by President Nicolas Maduro was expected to spill onto the streets of Venezuela on Wednesday, with planned nationwide protests marking a new lowpoint in his unpopular rule. The demonstrations mark the strongest challenge yet to Maduro’s controversial declaration of a state of emergency. Opposition-led marches in ...

  Hong Kong / AFP Hong Kong protesters angry at a visit by a top Beijing official shouted pro-democracy slogans on Wednesday but were kept well away from a mission seen as an attempt to bridge the city’s growing political divide. The three-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China’s communist-controlled legislature, is the first by such a senior official ...