Politics

Lesbos / AFP Greek and EU authorities on Sunday fine-tuned an operation to expel to Turkey hundreds of migrants denied asylum in a landmark deal slammed by rights groups. Officials declined to comment on the details of the operation, which is believed to begin early Monday from the Greek island of Lesbos where there are over 3,300 refugees and migrants. ...

Berlin / AFP European Parliament President Martin Schulz said on Sunday the EU must make no concessions to Turkey over human rights but voiced confidence in a deal with Ankara to manage the refugee crisis. Under the controversial agreement, Turkey is due to take back illegal migrants from EU member Greece from Monday, when it will also start an orderly ...

Sydney / AFP Australia opposes Donald Trump’s suggestion that Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons since this would “add considerably” to the risk of regional conflict, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Sunday. The Republican presidential front-runner had declared he would withdraw US troops from both countries and allow them to develop their own nuclear arsenals. But Turnbull said ...

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 ...