Politics

  Bloomberg Talks to end Syria’s brutal five-year conflict were to resume in Geneva Wednesday, although the negotiations were likely to be overshadowed by a surge of violence that threatened a fragile truce. Adding more tension, Syrians began voting in government-controlled areas in a parliamentary election which is not recognised by the United Nations or by President Bashar al-Assad’s main ...

  THESSALONIKI / AP New clashes have broken out between Macedonian police and stranded refugees and other migrants trying to scale a fence on Greece’s border with the country. Greek authorities say Macedonian police fired tear gas and stun grenades to deter a group of about 30 people from trying to get over the razor-wire fence using blankets. No injuries ...

DAMASCUS / AP Syrians in government-controlled areas headed to polling stations on Wednesday to elect a new 250-member parliament that is expected to serve as a rubber stamp for President Bashar Assad. Voters began turning up shortly after the stations opened at 7 a.m. Around 3,500 government-approved candidates are competing after more than 7,000 others dropped out. Early on Wednesday, ...

SRINAGAR / AP Indian authorities on Wednesday imposed a curfew in parts of Kashmir to stop fresh anti-India demonstrations following the killings of four people by Indian troops and a general strike called by separatists. The latest death occurred when a man was hit on his head by a tear gas shell fired by security forces and died in a ...

  Beijing / AP Kenyan police will deport 45 Taiwanese to mainland China where they face investigation for fraud, Chinese state media said on Wednesday after Taipei blasted Beijing for “abducting” its citizens. Taipei said this week that Beijing had “illegally” pressured authorities in Nairobi to deport eight of its citizens to the mainland after they had been cleared of ...

SEOUL / AP Exit polls from South Korea’s parliamentary election on Wednesday indicated that President Park Geun-hye’s conservative party would not regain its majority in the National Assembly. Such an outcome would jeopardize Park’s plans to push ahead with controversial economic reforms, and would blow open next year’s presidential race. Pollsters had predicted that the ruling Saenuri Party would crush ...

Kabul / AFP The Afghan Taliban announced on Tuesday the start of their “spring offensive” even as the government in Kabul tries to bring the insurgents back to the negotiating table to end their drawn-out conflict. The Taliban said in a statement they would “employ large-scale attacks on enemy positions across the country” during the offensive they have dubbed “Operation ...

TRIOPLI / AP Italy’s foreign minister has arrived in Tripoli, marking the first visit by a European official to Libya since a UN-backed government convened in the capital. Libyan officials say Paolo Gentiloni was received at Matiga airport on Tuesday by deputies of Fayez Serraj, the head of a unity government that Western countries hope can unite Libya and combat ...

Tehran / AFP UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with a key backer of President Bashar Al Assad on the eve of fresh peace negotiations in Geneva. De Mistura will meet Iran’s deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iranian media reported, ahead of the latest effort to end five years of fighting that ...

ANKARA / AP Turkish artillery units on Tuesday shelled IS group targets across the border in Syria, officials said, hours after rockets fired from Syria struck a Turkish border town, wounding eight people. Two rockets hit the town of Kilis early in the day in the third such cross-border incident at the town in the past five days. One rocket ...