Politics

Istanbul / AFP Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested building a new city in northern Syria to house some of the millions of refugees escaping the country’s civil war, reports said on Saturday. Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul that the new city would be located near the Turkish border and said he had even discussed the idea ...

Beirut / AP Lebanon’s trash collection crisis, which sent thousands protesting into the streets last summer, is now in its eight month with still no resolution in sight. Though it has prompted political debates and occasional heated discussions, Lebanese doctors and medical professionals are increasingly alarmed by its effect on health. At the emergency room at the Sacre Coeur hospital ...

Istanbul / AFP Turkish authorities were on Saturday in control of a newspaper staunchly opposed to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after using tear gas and water cannon to seize its headquarters in a dramatic raid that raised fresh alarm over declining media freedoms. Police fired the tear gas and water cannon just before midnight on Friday at a hundreds-strong crowd ...

AL ISSAWIYAH / AP In this Syrian mountain village perched above the Mediterranean, residents say they have enjoyed a measure of peace, even though they live near a border that has seen escalating tensions in recent months between Turkey and Russia. The villagers, most of whom are members of Syria’s Turkmen ethnic minority, have formed their own militia, but they ...

Bloomberg Slovaks are voting in a general election that looks set to hand a third term to Prime Minister Robert Fico, who’s pledging to raise living standards in the eastern euro-area member and protect its citizens from the European Union’s migrant crisis. Having presided over booming growth, Fico’s Smer party holds a strong lead in opinion polls. His support has ...

HAVANA / AP After two years of negotiations, Cuba and the European Union are close to sealing an agreement to normalize relations that soured two decades ago, officials said Friday. Cuban and EU negotiators said talks could be concluded for the March 10-11 visit to Havana by EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. “We have covered all the chapters of ...

IDOMENI / AfP Some 13,000 refugees are crammed in unhygienic conditions on Greece’s border with Macedonia, officials said on Saturday, with all eyes on a key EU-Turkey summit on Monday that is seen as the only viable solution to the crisis. “There are 13,000 people here and nearly 20,000 in this prefecture, over 60 percent of the country’s entire refugee ...

Manila / AFP The Philippines said on Saturday it had impounded a North Korean vessel in response to tough new United Nations sanctions introduced in response to Pyongyang’s recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The 6,830-tonne cargo ship Jin Teng will not be allowed to leave Subic port, northeast of the capital Manila, where it had been docked for three ...

UNITED NATIONS / AP The United States is pressing the UN Security Council for the first time to confront the escalating problem of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers, which has undermined the organization’s credibility. The United States is the biggest financial contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, and US officials said the Obama administration wants the council to send ...

Seoul / AfP North Korea fired six short-range projectiles into the sea on Thursday in a show of defiance just hours after the United Nations adopted the toughest sanctions to date on Pyongyang over its fourth nuclear test and rocket launch. Limited displays of military firepower have become a routine response by North Korea to international pressure over anything from ...