Politics

  Ankara / AFP A Dutch journalist was arrested early Sunday at her home in Turkey for tweets deemed critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to her Twitter account. “Police at the door. No joke,” wrote Ebru Umar, a well-known atheist and feminist journalist of Turkish origin. Umar recently wrote a piece critical of Erdogan for the Dutch ...

  Myrsini / AFP On a long beach framed by a golden Ionian Sea sunset, a group of Syrian boys shout for joy as they race across the sand, the horrors of war and exile they have witnessed briefly forgotten. As the sun finally sets, children make a beeline for a nearby square and mothers with prams step out for ...

  Kiev / AFP Three Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and six injured in a fresh upsurge of fighting between pro-Russian rebels and government forces in the country’s separatist east, the Kiev military said on Sunday. “As a result of hostilities, three Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and another six wounded over the past 24 hours”, military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk ...

  Turkey / AFP German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited a refugee camp on the Turkish-Syrian border on Saturday, kicking off a high-stakes visit aimed at boosting a month-old migrant deal plagued by moral and legal concerns. Merkel, who was accompanied by European Council head Donald Tusk and European Commission Vice President FransTimmermans, headed to the Nizip 2 camp near Gaziantep ...

  Cairo / AFP An Egyptian court postponed on Saturday its verdict and sentence in the trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, who is charged with spying for Qatar. The head judge of the criminal court said the verdict was postponed to “May 7 to continue consultations,” in brief remarks aired on television. If he is convicted it would be ...

  ANKARA / AP A Turkish official says authorities have detained six suspected IS militants who were allegedly planning to carry out attacks in the central Turkish city of Konya. Gov. Muammer Erol said on Saturday that the six — all foreign nationals — were detained in Konya late Friday. He said the group was “in pursuit of attacks” against ...

  Aleppo / AFP At least 27 civilians were killed on Saturday in regime bombardment on rebel-held areas across Syria, a monitor and local sources said, in the latest deadly violence despite a ceasefire deal. Twelve civilians were killed in Aleppo, according to a local civil defence official, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 13 others died in ...

Aden / AP Yemeni forces backed by air power from the Saudi-led Arab coalition launched an operation on Saturday to drive Al-Qaeda fighters out of a southern provincial capital, military officials said. Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in Abyan province advanced towards Zinjibar and the neighbouring town of Jaar, the sources said. Soldiers reached Al-Kud, five kilometres (three ...

Gaza City / AP As peace offerings go, prefabricated metal huts on a sand dune may seem unimpressive, but they are what the Palestinian movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, has chosen. Hamas has set up dozens of new border posts and military checkpoints along the enclave’s border with Egypt in an attempt to improve relations with Cairo after ...

  Rome / AP Libya’s Vice President Ahmed Maetig has expressed hope that the European Union will enter into an agreement with his country similar to that between the EU and Turkey restricting the flow of migrants to Europe. Maetig made the appeal while in Rome meeting with Italy’s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano. “The vice president has asked that we ...