Politics

Paris / AFP French Prime Minister Manuel Valls unveiled measures on Monday to help young people find work, aiming to quell weeks of protests against the government’s proposed reforms to labour laws. Young people have been at the forefront of mass demonstrations against the reforms over the past month, which the government argues are aimed at making France’s rigid labour ...

Marib / AFP A UN-brokered ceasefire was taking hold in Yemen on Monday, raising hopes that peace talks due next week may finally resolve the country’s devastating conflict. Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, the Shiite Houthi rebels who drove his government out of the capital, and the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen last year all pledged to ...

Jerusalem / AFP An Israeli colonel has been cleared of any criminal charges after shooting dead a Palestinian teen who stoned his jeep in the West Bank last year, the military said on Monday. A rights group that distributed a video showing the shooting denounced the decision, which comes amid controversy over a separate killing of a Palestinian by an ...

Beirut / AFP Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate and allied rebels pushed offensives around northern, central and coastal Syria on Monday, triggering a spike in violence that could threaten a truce ahead of peace talks, a monitoring group said. The IS group also took back control of the town of Al-Rai near Turkey, which rival rebels had captured last week, the Syrian ...

United Nations / AFP The next United Nations secretary general must commit to a new global deal for refugees and to end the death penalty during his or her tenure, the world’s leading human rights groups said on Monday. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and four other groups also said the next UN chief should be prepared to invoke the ...

Kollam / AFP Indian police said on Monday they have filed initial charges against six people over a massive explosion during a banned fireworks display that killed more than 100 people and left many more with horrific burns. Thousands had packed into a Hindu temple in the southern state of Kerala on Saturday night for the show when a stray ...

El-Fasher/ AFP The war-scarred Sudanese region of Darfur voted on Monday in a referendum on its future status despite international criticism and a boycott by rebel groups. Despite ongoing unrest in areas, President Omar Al-Bashir—wanted on war crimes charges related to the 13-year conflict—has insisted voting go ahead on whether to unite Darfur’s five states into a single region or ...

Beirut / AFP The IS group is under growing pressure on several fronts in Syria as rival forces battle to wrest territory from the extremists, who are excluded from a six-week-old ceasefire. The scramble by the regime, anti-government rebels and Kurdish militia to recapture areas from IS has been given added urgency by the prospect of a possible federal system. ...

Paris / AFP The ceasefire in Syria “is about to collapse,” an official from the opposition said in an interview published on Sunday, just days before the resumption of peace talks in Geneva. “Over the last 10 days we have seen a very serious deterioration and the ceasefire is about to collapse,” BassmaKodmani, a member of the High Negotiations Committee ...

Beirut / AFP Clashes around Syria’s second city Aleppo have killed at least 16 pro-regime fighters and 19 members of Al-Qaeda’s affiliate and allied rebel groups within a 24-hour period, a monitor said on Sunday. “Fierce fighting raged past midnight (Sunday) on several fronts in the south of Aleppo province,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah ...