Politics

UNITED NATIONS / AP The UN human rights chief said that many people in Burundi are living in “terror” with increasing reports of torture, almost daily grenade attacks, arbitrary arrests and killings while the perpetrators go unpunished. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein told the UN Security Council that “the country remains on the brink of a sudden escalation of violence to ...

SANAA / AFP UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed arrived on Saturday in Yemen’s rebel-held capital to try to restart peace talks between Iran-backed insurgents and the internationally recognised government. The Mauritanian diplomat met Ali Hajar, a foreign affairs representative of the Houthi rebels, Sanaa airport director Khaled Al Shayef said. It came a day after the UN envoy held ...

ANKARA / AFP A Turkish court detained five people overnight on suspicion of links to a March 13 suicide bombing in Ankara that killed 35, the Anatolia news agency reported on Saturday. The arrests came just hours before another suicide attack in a busy Istanbul shopping street which killed four and wounded 20, the city governor said. It was not ...

Rostov-on-Don / AFP A flydubai passenger jet crashed in southern Russia early Saturday, killing all 62 people on board as it tried to land in bad weather in the city of Rostov-on-Don, officials said. The plane, which came from Dubai, was making its second attempt to land when it missed the runway, erupting in a huge fireball as it crashed, ...

Baikonur / AFP A suicide bombing rocked a major shopping street in Istanbul on Saturday, killing four people and wounding 20 others just six days after a deadly attack in Ankara, Turkish authorities said. The attack took place on Istiklal Caddesi, a pedestrian street that was relatively quiet Saturday morning but is usually thronged with shoppers, strollers and buskers later ...

Brussels / Belgium Top Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam, who was captured in a dramatic raid in Brussels, was to be questioned by Belgian police on Saturday ahead of his speedy transfer to France. Following his release from hospital where he was treated for a slight gunshot wound to the leg sustained during his arrest, Abdeslam was to be quizzed ...

WASHINGTON / AP The US and the Philippines announced five locations where American forces will have access under a new defense pact, including one facing disputed islands in the South China Sea. The announcement came at strategic talks in Washington, where the allies reiterated their opposition to the militarization of outposts in those waters, where six Asian governments have competing ...

United Nations / AFP The UN Security Council strongly condemned North Korea over its ballistic missile launches and demanded Pyongyang to refrain from further violations of UN resolutions. Backed by China, Pyongyang’s ally, the council said in a unanimous statement that “all these launches were unacceptable” and “constituted a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.” The statement was adopted ...

Geneva / AFP Talks to end Syria’s brutal five-year conflict were rattled on Thursday by uncertainty surrounding the arrival of a second opposition group and the declaration by Syria’s Kurds of an autonomous region. UN mediator Staffan de Mistura met for the first time late Wednesday with an umbrella delegation including the so-called Moscow Group, which is demanding an equal ...

Jerusalem / AFP Israel on Thursday ended an eight-month standoff with Brazil over its bid to appoint a controversial former settlement leader as its ambassador to the country. In a dispute that soured relations, Brazil refused to accept the nomination of Danny Dayan, made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last August. Israel’s government initially dug in its heels, refusing to ...