Politics

Geneva / AFP UN investigators welcomed a “significant decrease” in violence in Syria on the fifth anniversary of the start of the brutal conflict on Tuesday, saying they finally glimpsed hope of an end to the war. “Now, for the first time, there is hope of an end in sight,” said Paulo Pinheiro, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry ...

Seoul / AFP North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered an upcoming nuclear warhead test and multiple ballistic missile launches, escalating Pyongyang’s face-off with the international community just days after being slapped with tough UN sanctions. The order came after Kim monitored what was described as the successful simulated test of the warhead re-entry technology required for a long-range nuclear ...

Bloomberg Malaysia is reviewing plans to bar foreign political donations after Prime Minister Najib Razak became embroiled in a scandal over a $681 million contribution that ended up in his personal bank account. A Malaysian committee working on a framework to regulate political funding also determined that anonymous donations should not exceed 1,000 ringgit ($242) and contributions must be held ...

Ankara / AFP Turkish warplanes pounded Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq on Monday, the day after a suicide car bomb tore through downtown Ankara killing at least 36 people, the third attack on the capital in five months. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest carnage, which reduced cars and buses to charred hulks on a ...

Amman / AFP One in three Syrian children have known nothing but a lifetime of war, UNICEF said on Monday, as the country’s conflict enters its sixth year this week. Forced from their homes and schools, orphaned by violence and drafted into work or fighting, a generation of Syria’s children is being shaped by the conflict, UNICEF said in a ...

Beirut / AFP Aid groups were unable to deliver much-needed food packages to four besieged towns in war-torn Syria on Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross told AFP, citing security problems. Since an unprecedented ceasefire came into force on February 27, aid deliveries have reached thousands of people in areas blockaded by regime and opposition forces. Under an ...

Brussels / AFP The European Union must stand up to Russia to defend core political and security interests even while trying to find common cause on issues such as the Syrian conflict, the bloc’s foreign ministers said on Monday. The ministers gathered in Brussels for a regular monthly meeting which for the first time in a year will review relations ...

Geneva / AFP Agreeing on political transition in Syria is the “mother of all issues,” the UN envoy for the war-ravaged country said on Monday, as a new round of peace talks was set to begin. Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Staffan de Mistura stressed the importance of getting the talks quickly focused on “the real issues,” adding: “What is ...

Beirut / AFP The United States and Russia are pulling the strings in Syria’s five-year war, experts say, pressuring opposing sides and leveraging rival regional powers to reach a settlement. As the conflict enters its sixth year, the embattled regime and fractured opposition are in Geneva for indirect peace talks hosted by United Nations peace envoy Staffan de Mistura. But ...

Bloomberg “Republicans in Ohio and Florida head to the polls this week to help decide who will become their party’s nominee, and whether the GOP will endure in any recognizable form in the months and years that follow. To hear those who have devoted their lives to building the party tell it, if front-runner Donald Trump prevails on Tuesday in ...