Politics

Baku / AFP Azerbaijan on Sunday announced a unilateral ceasefire after the worst violence over disputed Nagorny Karabakh in more than two decades, but Armenian forces said clashes were continuing despite international appeals to stop fighting. “Azerbaijan, showing good will, has decided to unilaterally cease hostilities”, Azerbaijan’s defense ministry said in a statement, warning it would “liberate all (Armenian) occupied ...

Belgrade / AFP An explosive device was thrown and automatic weapons were fired at a sports hall in northern Kosovo on Sunday some 12 hours before Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was due to visit, Serbian media reported, adding that there were no casualties. The blast occurred outside a hall at Zubin Potok at around 3:00 a.m as workers were ...

Sydney / AFP The last asylum-seeker children in Australian mainland detention have been freed, the government said on Sunday, although dozens of others are still being held on the remote Pacific island of Nauru. Under Canberra’s harsh immigration policy, asylum-seekers who try to reach Australia by boat are turned back or sent to Pacific camps in Nauru and Papua New ...

Syria / AFP Syrian troops have found a mass grave containing the bodies of 42 people executed by IS extremists in Palmyra, as Washington warned the group’s leader will eventually “taste justice”. IS has in recent months claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in Brussels and Paris, but has lost ground in Syria and Iraq. Days after Syrian troops backed by ...

Washington / AFP The US government is warning its citizens to avoid visiting southeastern Tunisia near the Libyan border as well as the country’s mountainous western areas due to “the threat of terrorism.” In a travel warning out Friday, the State Department warns that IS group extremists have targeted Tunisian security officials, tourists and civilians in the regions. The warning ...

DAKAR / AP The United Nations mission in Congo says it has received allegations of sexual abuse by Tanzanian peacekeepers based in northeast Congo. The statementsaid a response team has been dispatched to investigate Mavivi village where there is initial evidence of sex with minors and transactional sex, as well as paternity claims. It added that Tanzanian and Congolese authorities ...

Vietnam / AFP Lawmakers in communist Vietnam approved a top police general for the role of president on Saturday, making the head of a controversial domestic security force one of the country’s most high profile politicians. Tran Dai Quang won 91.5 percent of the votes during a ballot at the rubber stamp parliament early Saturday, having been nominated by party ...

Johannesburg / AFP A South African anti-apartheid veteran who was jailed with Nelson Mandela has urged beleaguered President Jacob Zuma to step down after a damning ruling found him in violation of the constitution. In an open letter seen Saturday, Ahmed Kathrada, 86, joined a growing chorus of leading figures calling for Zuma to leave office. The criticism comes after ...

Obock / AFP Under a scorching sun, refugees who fled Yemen’s war struggle on in a camp on Djibouti’s rocky shores, a year after Saudi-backed air strikes began devastating their homeland. Over 2,000 Yemenis have made the Markazi camp their home, fleeing the Arabian Peninsula to Djibouti across the narrow Bab Al Mandeb straits—the “Gate of Tears” in Arabic—the key ...

Istanbul / AFP Turkish authorities on Saturday raced to set up reception centres to process Syrian and other migrants two days ahead of the implementation of a hugely controversial deal with the EU for them to be sent back from Greece to Turkish soil. Turkey is due to start receiving migrants who crossed the Aegean Sea for EU member Greece ...