Politics

  Ankara / AFP Turkey has struck a deal with the United States to deploy American light multiple rocket launchers on its border with Syria to combat the IS group, according to the foreign ministry. The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) “will be deployed on the Turkish border in May as part of an agreement” with Washington, Foreign Minister ...

  NEW DELHI / AP India on Tuesday asked Pakistan to rein in terrorist groups operating from its soil and targeting India, expressing dissatisfaction with action taken so far against suspects of an attack on an Indian air force base in January. During a meeting with visiting Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry in New Delhi, India said it emphasized ...

  PHILADELPHIA / AP Donald Trump is aiming for a sweep of all five Northeastern states holding primaries on Tuesday, including Pennsylvania, leaving his rivals pinning their hopes of stopping the Republican front-runner on a fragile coordination strategy in the next rounds of voting. For Democratic leader Hillary Clinton, wins in most of Tuesday’s contests would leave little doubt that ...

  Yerevan / AFP Two ethnic Armenian soldiers have been killed in a new upsurge in fighting between Azerbaijani forces and separatists from the breakaway region of Nagorny Karabakh, the separatist statelet said on Tuesday. “On the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Karabakh forces, the enemy violated a ceasefire 80 times using all types of artillery and armoured vehicles,” ...

  Banjul / AFP A Gambian court denied bail to 37 opposition activists accused of rioting, illegal protest and other offences and ordered their lawyers to present a written bail application on Thursday, lawyers said. After Monday’s hearing in the High Court in Banjul, the secretary general of the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), Ousainou Darboe, and 31 others ...

  Madrid / AFP Spanish parties restarted coalition negotiations on Tuesday in a surprise, eleventh-hour move just as the deadline to form a government draws to a close and fresh elections threaten. The negotiations kicked off again after Compromis—a small, regional grouping involved in coalition talks—submitted a last-ditch proposal for a government that includes measures to fight corruption and poverty. ...

Hanoi / AFP Communist Vietnam has blocked a motley crew of independent candidates from running for its rubber-stamp parliament, according to official results released Tuesday, a move activists said highlights its empty gestures towards democracy. In an unprecedented showing this year more than 100 independent candidates — including dissidents, a taxi driver and a pop star — tried to run ...

  Chernobyl / AFP Ukrainians held candlelit vigils on Tuesday to mark 30 years since the world’s worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl spewed radiation across Europe and left several thousand people dead or dying. Church bells rang and mourners lit candles and laid flowers at the site’s memorial as the clock turned 1.23 am—the exact moment when the plant’s reactor number ...

  Hanover / AFP US President Barack Obama made an impassioned plea for European unity in the face of rising populism and scepticismon Monday, warning this was a “defining moment” for the continent. “A strong and united Europe is a necessity for the world,” Obama said in the German city of Hanover, in a landmark speech that carried the tone ...

  BRUSSELS / ap The Brussels subway station where 16 people were killed by a suicide bomber has reopened just over a month after the attacks. Security remains high across the underground network, which was hit during the March 22 peak morning travel period. The opening of the Maelbeek station early Monday brought the Belgian capital’s underground network back up ...